A lot love it, a lot hate it...
.
I am only saying that this book was able to keep my attention and was able to keep me reading it. There is a lot I could comment on, from Orson Scott Card's real life political views ( which are terrible, Orson Scott Card is Peter, Orson Scott Card is a whack job full of hate ) to how a lot in this book relates to real life itself in the aspect of human behavior.
.
For a short story published in 1977, and a novel republished in 1985, the insight of the NET, AKA Internet, and the use of internetworked DESKS, AKA laptops, is one example that is so true to today's real life. The Internet did not even exit in 1985, only the ARPANET existed, and its access in 1985 was very limited. I mean you do not see books from the early 80's diving into the aspect of the NET in the manor in which it applies today. Plus there is the aspect of what... population control.
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The book also throws some random possible off shoots that leave you wondering as you are reading. Such as, "Is the bugger threat really real? Or is it just a ploy used by the I.F. as a way to maintain power and to keep the world focused on a common cause." That is raised. Who is really the bad guy? Are the bugger even real? Are the bugger just a way of uniting Earth? Is someone really playing a game or a deception? Who is really PLAYING who? It sometimes leaves you wondering what exactly is really going on. You have that 1984 type government and that feeling of someone pulling the stings as the FATHER character in the film Equilibrium. Plus, Peter is working on gaining power and destabilizing the various governments of Earth in the effort to take power. It left me wonder if in the end, if Ender would be commanding I.F. ships and forces against his own brother to prevent his brother from seizing control of Earth. There are some twists and turns in the book that leave one wondering and asking question... What is really going on?????
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As for the use of children, that some readers dislike...
This book for sure touches on the dark side of all of us humans. I believe that is why some people hate this book so much. I mean children are gassed in Syria, today, right now! September, 2013. And no one, NO ONE, cares enough through out the world to take action. In part, people do not want to believe humans can really do that to other humans. People wonder how Hitler came to power with the promise of hate and death and how no one cared or was willing to accept responsibility and the reality that Hitler was KILLING CHILDREN. No one in American cared until Pearl Harbor. Anyhow.
.
I can certainly say I was bullied in school by other kids, some I fought, and that I have had to contend with extremely unfair treatment by adults through my professional career. Humans are very unfair, dishonest, immoral, unethical creatures who wake up each day and say, "Who can I cheat, or con, or ripoff, or blackmail, or take advantage of today?"
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I know of no one who has not cheated on their taxes or who does not try regularly, to get away with something.
I will run a stop sign, call in sick, drive over the speed limit, tail gate other drives, cut in front of others, pay fast food workers minimum wage, outsource jobs so I can make more money... I need to make 20, not 15, million.
"How, or who do I cheat today so I am better off tomorrow?"
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This book touches on that aspect, or dark side, of human nature. Look at health care in America, it is one big profiteering ripoff game. Pay up, or I let you die. No one really cares about anyone, people just use people.
It is all so sad. But it is very much real to life.
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I am giving it a high rating.
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Hopefully the film, Ender's Game, is as true to the book as possible.
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I am appending comments I made about someone's review:
.####
Narrow-minded reviews:
Now the idea that six year old kids, like Ender, would get a crash combat course on the way to the front lines is a bit of a stretch. And when you factor in that Ender is not only supposed to fight when he arrives, that he's actually supposed to command an army, credulity reaches a snapping point. It's a six year journey, yes. But would Earth really appoint twelve year olds to plan and lead an invasion? Worse still, Ender Wiggins military training is essentially nothing more than laser tag in a zero-gravity chamber. And this training goes on and on, dominating nearly two thirds of the book. I, and other readers, just couldn't see how this was turning young Ender into the next George S. Patton.
.####
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There are some issues with you analysis. Kids are NOT loaded onto a spaceship and shipped directly to the front lines. Their military training is NOT conducted in route.
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They train in a military training school orbiting Earth, the BATTLE SCHOOL. Ender was NEVER on the front lines. The closest he got to the front lines was the Eros station, used as a ploy to trick Ender into thinking it was COMMAND SCHOOL. Eros was a previously held bugger station that was closest to Earth. It was further from the bugger home world and the front line, than anything other bugger facility or bugger station.
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Earth DID NOT really appoint twelve year olds to plan and lead an invasion. Adults planned and controlled everything. Ender played games, using STRATEGY and TACTICS at the Eros COMMAND SCHOOL, that later turned out to be real battles on the front line. It kind of reminds you of the DRONES in Afghanistan controlled by DRONE operators in Texas. Open your mind.
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If you think about, yes think, most likely the ship crews and fighting men and women on the front lines never even knew they were receiving orders from a KID. The ships left Earth,what, around 100 years earlier. I am sure the ship crews and fighter pilots were lied to just as Ender was. If they lied to Ender, they are going to lie the soldiers on the Front Lines. Front Line Crews took commands and fulfilled and followed their ORDERs without even knowing who was commanding them in battle. I am sure that for all they knew Ender was a Patton, a full fledged fully grown adult highly trained tactical battle strategist.
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HEY WAKE UP... SPACE is zero-gravity. Ships is zero-gravity are the equivalent of Ender playing laser tag in a zero-gravity chamber. Are you too narrow minded that you cannot make the connection. Each child in the laser tag in a zero-gravity chamber was the equivalent or representation of a ship in zero-gravity outer space. Wake up. I picked up on that when I read about them first entering the zero-gravity chamber with Alai and Ender learning to use their flash guns. Each kid was a ship.
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You say you are not narrow minded, but you are.
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George S. Patton was a tactical and small theater strategist. That is what Ender was. That is also why George S. Patton never got promoted to the big league of large theater wide command. That is who Ender was. Ender commanded small fleets at the COMMAND SCHOOL. The big wig, adult commanders, ran the theater wide command strategy for the push into bugger territory, not Ender. The big wig, adult commanders, deployed the fleets and commanded the over all picture. Ender only jumped in, via the ansible ( Philotic Parallax Instantaneous Communicator ) to command or conduct the battles.
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THINK. OPEN your mind. How are real wars fought? Who was General Marshall? Who was General Eisenhower? Who was General Bradley? Who was General Patton? What ROLLs did each play? What roll did Ender PLAY? THINK !!! Ender could be compared to Patton. But look at all of those who were above Patton. Think.
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Actually read this book and THINK, yes think, think of how it truly relates to real life, to what is going on right now, with the Internet, DRONES in Afghanistan and Yemen, chemical weapon attacks against 400+ children in Syria. Think!!!
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The DRONE operators of tomorrow just might be twelve year olds... WOW...
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If a nation can GAS hundreds of kids to execute them, a nation can use them as DRONE operators to win a war.
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Popular Highlights in this book
Perhaps it’s impossible to wear an identity without becoming what you pretend to be.Highlighted by 8,364 Kindle readers- Ender’s anger was cold, and he could use it. Bonzo’s was hot, and so it used him.Highlighted by 6,283 Kindle readers
- It made Ender listen more carefully to what people meant, instead of what they said. It made him wise.Highlighted by 5,879 Kindle readers
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