Ender’s
Game
By Orson Scott
Card
Brief Summary:
Ender Wiggins is
a meticulously selected and intelligent juvenile from the planet Earth in the
somewhat distant future. Ender is given a choice by a military commander to join
a battle school in the asteroid belt of Earth’s solar system in order to train
to fight the buggers, a type of telepathic and insect-like alien species that nearly
destroyed the outer space armies of humanity decades earlier in two separate
invasions. Ender agrees to train at the school, and he encounters several hardships
as he adjusts to his new life and training. As he finally gains the trust and
admiration of his peers and excels in training at battle school, he is promoted
and becomes a commander among his peers.
Elements of the Science Fiction Genre:
Pacing: The pacing in Ender’s Game is generally “exterior,
with more action and adventure elements included” (Saricks, 2009, p. 250),
since there is a great amount of action that occurs at Ender’s battle school.
However, between the action scenes, there is additionally a bit of slower
pacing from Ender’s philosophical and psychological thoughts (Saricks, 2009, p.
250). So, the rate of the pacing varies according to the amount of action that
is present within an individual scene in the book (Saricks, 2009, p. 250).
Storyline: The novel acts as a piece of “speculative fiction that appeals to the reader’s
intellect” (Saricks, 2009, p. 245). Specifically, the story contains philosophical
issues that involve moral and social questions about society (Saricks, 2009, p.
246). In addition, the book also contains “general questions about power and
authority” (Saricks, 2009, p. 246). These questions are associated with the
idea of a science fiction novel that considers “moral, social, and ethical
issues while exploring philosophical, technical, and intellectual questions” (Saricks,
2009, p. 246). Also, ambiguity is a key part of the novel, and there are “seldom
clear-cut answers to what is right and wrong” at certain parts of the book (Saricks,
2009, p. 246). The book is additionally an inviting tale with intriguing and accessible
ideas (Saricks, 2009, p. 246). Ender’s
Game also exhibits a cinematic quality through its action, time period, and
locations in the story (Saricks, 2009, p. 246).
Characterization: The novel places a great
emphasis “on ideas and setting” through Ender’s moral dilemmas, the idea of
gifted individuals, and the outer space locations (Saricks, 2009, p. 249). The
book focuses on “the issues, story, and frame” more than the characterizations (Saricks,
2009, p. 249). However, the book still contains a wide variety of characters at
Ender’s battle school (Saricks, 2009, p. 249); these characters appear “in a
wide enough variety of sizes, shapes, colors, motivations, histories, and
beliefs” (Saricks, 2009, p. 250).
Frame/Setting: The novel’s setting is “consistently
evocative and visual” by focusing on color (Saricks, 2009, p. 247). Briefly,
the book describes at least one new and alternative world that is inhabited by
an alien species in its setting (Saricks, 2009, p. 247). There are also a great
number of technical and scientific details that are part of the novel’s frame (Saricks,
2009, p. 247).
Tone/Mood: The novel’s tone is
generally depressing and paranoid. However, the book’s tone is hopeful at specific
times. This clash in tone highlights the aspect of the science fiction genre’s
wide range of tone in this novel (Saricks, 2009, p. 249). In addition, the book’s
tone utilizes the aspect of the science fiction genre’s appeal to the intellect
(Saricks, 2009, p. 249). Also, the book’s tone frequently disorients readers by
“taking them outside their comfort zones and forcing them to reimagine
situations and events in other contexts” (Saricks, 2009, p. 249).
Style/Language: The language of the book
is “idiomatic, jargon-filled, and often incomprehensible” (Saricks, 2009, p. 248),
since the novel exhibits the language aspect of the cyberpunk science fiction
subgenre (Saricks, 2009, p. 248). The otherness of the future of Ender’s Game is also highlighted by “the
disorienting effect of the language” (Saricks, 2009, p. 248), since the novel
exhibits its unique terminology.
Read A Likes:
The dark
forest by Cixin Liu. The novel explores the idea of successfully “protecting
Earth against powerful alien invaders” through one person (EBSCO Industries,
Inc., 2018, n.p.). The book is also “riveting and emotionally involving”
through its plot and compelling backstories (EBSCO Industries, Inc., 2018, n.p.).
Warchild
by Karin Lowachee. This science fiction novel is fast-paced and follows “the
coming-of-age of believable young characters who make decisions effecting whole
worlds” (EBSCO Industries, Inc., 2018, n.p.). The book is additionally gritty
and dark and addresses the concept of sexual abuse (EBSCO Industries, Inc.,
2018, n.p.).
Starship
troopers by Robert A. Heinlein. This book is centered on the concepts
of war and politics (EBSCO Industries, Inc., 2018, n.p.). Also, the novel focuses
on the idea of young recruits enduring “rigorous training to fight insect-like
enemies” (EBSCO Industries, Inc., 2018, n.p.).
References:
EBSCO Industries,
Inc.. (2018). Read-alikes for Ender's
game. Retrieved from
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/novp/detail?sid=732a75d5-fd9c-41d6-9bdc-dc3dec8c77d0%40sessionmgr4009&UI=UI+018835&vid=6
Saricks, J. G.
(2009). The readers’ advisory guide to genre fiction (2nd ed.). Chicago, IL:
American Library Association.
Hi Megan! So, did you like the book? Ender's Game was recommended to me years ago when I worked at B. Dalton. This was one of my male co-worker's favorite books. I ended up purchasing it, but I've never got around to reading it. It seems like it's more a young adult sci-fi book. Am I wrong in that assessment?
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry Katie, but I didn't really like the book. I've liked other sci-fi novels, such as the Dragonriders of Pern series, to an extent, but I didn't appreciate this book. It was surprising that it didn't entirely focus on outer space as much as I expected it to, which went against my expectations. I was not bothered by the book's unexpected locations and the direction of the story. However, I was bothered by the writing. The book was written like a bad Marvel film. It had witty dialogue, but it didn't have much substance throughout much of the novel, which bothered me. Also, the dialogue was often efficient and held its surprises, which was a good thing, but this still did not give the dialogue much substance. This construction of dialogue clearly revealed the author's background in theater, which was mentioned in an introduction at the beginning of my copy of the book. There were also jokes that were obviously told from the perspective of the adult male who wrote the novel. Despite the setting of a cyberpunk science fiction novel, it was far-fetched that juveniles in the novel would utilize somewhat mature and profane terminology. Some of the ideas in the novel were also a bit implausible.
DeleteKatie, I don't think that the novel is a young adult sci-fi book. Ender's Game is mentioned in our textbook as an example of a science fiction book (Saricks, 2009, p. 246), so I don't think that it would be a young adult sci-fi novel. However, it is described as "a coming-of-age story"(Saricks, 2009, p. 246), so it might seem to be a young adult novel at first glance. At around 220 pages, Ender's Game is a pretty long read for a young adult novel, so it really doesn't fit in the category. Furthermore, the textbook implies that Ender's Game appeals to a wide range of readers(Saricks, 2009, p. 256).
References
Saricks, J. G. (2009). The readers’ advisory guide to genre fiction (2nd ed.). Chicago, IL:
American Library Association.
Great detailed review on this book. I was always curious about this book, but didn't think it would really be all to interesting. I'm always skittish about reading a YA books, its a silly bias because I've enjoyed a few before.
ReplyDeleteMasada, I don't think that this novel is a young adult novel. If a book is about young adults, it does not mean that the book is written for young adults in real life or is part of the young adult genre. It merely means that the book happens to focus on the subject of young adults or has characters that are young adults. The course's textbook also implies that Ender's Game is a book that appeals to a wide range of readers (Saricks, 2009, p. 256), so it is unlikely that the novel focuses on the young adult genre.
DeleteHowever, I didn't really like this book, although it contained a few good surprises. Much of the novel was too implausible. I honestly enjoyed skimming through Dune last summer, but I did not really enjoy reading parts of this novel for this annotation. Compared to Ender's Game, Dune was probably the better science fiction novel.
References
Saricks, J. G. (2009). The readers’ advisory guide to
genre fiction (2nd ed.). Chicago, IL:
American Library Association.
Great annotation! You did an excellent job expanding on the elements and reinforcing them with Saricks. Your summary was very well written and contained no bias which is great after discovering you were not a fan of this in the comments, sometimes it's challenging to write a summary of a book we dislike! Sorry you weren't a fan of this classic, but certainly Orson Scott Card is not for everyone (personally I can't stand the man and his writing is just average). Full points!
ReplyDelete