I’ve been meaning to read this novel and didn’t get to it until just recently — and now I can see why it’s one of his most well-known works. (And why it’s a much-anticipated movie coming out later this year.)
I’m not a big sci-fi fan — I’m more into swords and castles than ray guns and spaceships, as it were — but this book was incredible. I already knew one of the major twists, but somehow it was still a surprise, and there were even more surprises waiting after that. Even better, it all ends up making sense and coming full circle.
Ender would seem like an unrelatable character if you just read about his life (super-genius kid who goes to Battle School in space so that he can someday save the world), but after an initial feeling of alienation, it became easy to identify with him. It did not ever seem normal that he and his siblings were kids and still talking the way they were talking…but I guess that was the point. Anyway, points for complex but believable character psychology, engaging storytelling, and incredibly imaginative worldbuilding.
Card *almost* never disappoints me, except of course in Hart’s Hope, of which I read 25% (plus some peeking ahead) before finally deciding that I just couldn’t read it.
In sum: highly recommended. Will I read the rest of the series? Not sure, because I tend to get lazy about series books even if I like them. Leave a comment if you’ve read the rest of the series and think I should make an exception to my laziness.
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P.S. I also just read Seventh Son, the first in OSC’s Alvin Maker series, and I tell you … this man’s imagination is incredible.
