Wow. What a book!

Oh, you wanted more? Ok, here it is. Ender’s Game, written by Orson Scott Card is far and away the best Science Fiction book I have read. Ever. Even better than the book most often held up as the pinnacle of Sci-Fi, Herbert’s Dune.

Ender’s Game tells the story of young Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, the child of parents who are never named, who just go by Father and Mother. A “Third” child, uncommon in a world concerned with population control, Ender has had a monitor attached to the back of his neck since he can remember — a monitor that allows his every senses to be monitored every moment of his life by the International Fleet (IF), in the hope that the IF can determine if he is the one that they’ve been waiting for. An older brother, Peter, and a sister, Valentine, had both also been monitored, but both had been eliminated: Peter for being too heartless and agressive, and Valentine for being too caring and feeling. The IF had hoped that Ender would be a middle ground, and succeed where his siblings had failed. Then, one day when Ender is six, his monitor is removed. The Ender experiment had failed.

Until an IF officer by the name of Graff shows up at Ender’s door to tell Ender and his family that the experiment had not failed, that the removal of the monitor had simply been the next step. The following step is the transfer of Ender to Combat School, where Ender is to train to become an officer in the IF.

From the beginning, Ender is purposely isolated from his peers. If he develops any friendships, either he or his friend(s) are immediately transferred. Ender is also purposely treated as a “teacher’s pet”, to futher increase his isolation from his peers. When they are not in classrooms (and little is said about classrooms), Combat School consists of, well, combat. Each student (ranging in ages from 6 to about 13) is placed in armies, and each army is constantly pitted against each other in zero-gravity simulators. They are being trained to be soldiers. Cold, calculating, efficient soldiers.

Throughout Ender’s story, we are given hints of the reason why Earth needs soldiers and commanders: many years ago, Earth was in an interstellar war with aliens described roughly resembling giant ants. “Buggers” they are called. Then, Earth was involved in defending itself from a second invasion from the buggers. Completely outnumbered, and with all hope lost, Earth was saved at the last minute by the brilliant tactics of the legendary Mazer Rackham. But that was many years ago. Earth needed a new savior. Earth needed Ender.

Ender advances through Combat School at unprecendented speed, all the time wondering if the people he knew were really his friends, or just doing their job. He slowly grows harder and colder, and becomes a masterful leader of people. He becomes everything they were hoping for. And he’s only 11.

The ending is fast, furious, and troubling. What price does the savior of humanity pay to become the man he needs to be to complete his mission? How will mankind react to a child who can kill and kill and kill? All these questions find answers in Card’s masterpiece. I strongly recommend you find this book, and discover these answers yourself. You won’t be disappointed.