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Ender's Game


Summary: 
Ender is a Third in a world where families are only allowed to have two children. His sadistic older brother and a school bully make his young life miserable. Then his monitor is removed and he is taken up to Battle School. Ender is pushed by his teachers and Bonzo, the battle school bully, to his absolute max. Ender is successful in the battle room and is quickly promoted to Command School. Realizing that his accelerated promotion means that the commanders believe he may be the next great military mind, Ender feels the pressure as he realizes that winning the Bugger War and the fate of Earth both lie in his hands.

Strengths: 
Orson Scott Card creates a immersive future world with disturbing clarity. The government programs set up to identify gifted children and the world of Battle School are well described. The slightly more controlled, Lord of the Flies type world is believable. The story is told in third person with almost all of the narrative focused on Ender, though there are some sections told by the adult commanders as well as a few inner chapters that focus on the political scheming of his two older siblings as they work to affect Earth's political landscape in preparation of the end of the Bugger War. The violence in the book is unflinching and brutal. The brutality of war both in a physical and mental sense is a strong theme in the book.

 Card, O., & Harris, J. (1991). Ender's game (Rev. ed.). New York: Tor. 

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