Ender's Game Can't Live Up To Expectations

Ender’s Game Can’t Live Up To Expectations

Nick Perez

Ender’s Game

Written by Orson Scott Card

Imagine a futuristic world, in which humanity is recovering from a devastating war of worlds. In this futuristic world, the entire human race is scared, and the military is willing to find the one who will save the world from anywhere. This set-up presents us with Ender Wiggin, our main character, as well as the plot, which features Ender going through the steps on the path to becoming a military commander. Now, this plot sounds very interesting and had the potential to be great. However, the book falls short too often for it to live up to that potential.

At first, I was excited to read this book. The idea behind the book seemed interesting, and I thought the author would be able to create some interesting characters to go along with the good backstory he had set up. However, in the first chapter, we are met with our main character Ender. He is what they call a Third, meaning he is the third child in his family, something frowned upon in the new world. However, outside of that there seems to be nothing compelling behind his character. He is picked on by the other children, however he beats another kid up brutally, kicking him when he is down and generally fighting dirty. After the fight, he shows little remorse, which makes it impossible to be sympathetic with his character. His family is just as uninteresting, as his brother Peter is always hitting him, and coming close to killing him at times, and his parents don’t seem to love him or even acknowledge that he is their son at some times. His sister Valentine is the only member of Ender’s family that seems to have some genuine love for him, but we don’t get enough time with these characters before Ender is shipped off to Battle School. When the main character is unlikeable and the author makes it so we don’t have enough time to learn or care about him and the characters surrounding him, it really is a disconnect from the story. In addition to this, the location is unfamiliar, and a lot of the backstory is not clear. The location is a future Earth, devastated by a war (one that we never learn much about), and later on Battle School, a type of private academy run by the world’s military (something we never learn much about) where they train the young men who they think will become commanders. The description of Battle School is very brief and vague, giving the reader not much clarity on where it is that the majority of the book will be taking place. This again creates a disconnect, as the reader cannot be immersed when they don’t know where the book is taking place. The backstory is much the same, as though the reader can follow the plot without much of an issue, the motivations behind the actions from some of the characters can be confusing. The reasons Ender is so violent at some points in the novel can be perplexing, as he switches between violent and kidlike seemingly at will. All of the other children at Battle School seem to be very rude, and refuse to include Ender. It does not make any sense, as Ender hasn’t done much to most of these children, so the motivation behind being rude and making him not feel welcome is confusing. These problems really plague the book, and make it feel like it could have been a better book than it was.

On a more positive note, this book does some things well. The novel sticks to the storyline for the most part, which is good, because straying from the plotline would have made the novel more confusing. The author is very good about progressing the story at a good pace, and keeping the action interesting. Also, during the battle scenes, he is able to keep a good balance, and allow the reader to keep up with what is going on. Because a fair amount of the scenes in this book involve battles between the humans and the alien enemies, known as “Buggers”, it is very fortunate the author was able to write a comprehensive battle scene. The dialogue between characters also seems authentic, which gives the characters a bit more humanity. This is good for character building, and immersing you in the world of the novel. Though this novel may have some weaknesses and pitfalls, it also has some bright, shining moments of greatness. However, that makes the bad moments in the book feel that much more disappointing.

Overall, it’s pretty obvious I did not enjoy this book so far. However, I feel like if you are a person who likes science fiction novels and movies, especially ones that enjoy ones that have to do with war or space battles, I think you will enjoy this book, and I would highly recommend that you read it.