Ender's Game

Original Title: Ender’s Game (Ender’s Saga, #1)
Turkish Title: Ender’in Oyunu (Ender Serisi, #1)
English Title: Ender’s Game (Ender’s Saga, #1)
Author: Orson Scott Card
Pages: 295
My Rating: 3/5

WHY THIS BOOK?
I don’t really remember how many times people suggested this book to me. Being a sci-fi lover, I had to spare some time for Ender.

THE STORY:
Ender’s Game is set somewhere in the future. An alien race attacked Earth twice and almost destroyed mankind. So as to be prepared for a possible new attack, an international battle school was established in which the world’s most talented children are trained for war. Their early trainings are simulated battles in the form of games in a zero gravity area.
Our hero, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin is the most talented, most genius child ever. Ender enters Battle School at the age of six. When everyone is questioning if humanity will win this war against the alien race, Ender grows up fast and develops any skill needed to save humanity.

MY COMMENTS:
The things I liked about this book were fewer than the things I disliked:
The story was told as an internal monologue of Ender himself. This way I was emotionally connected with the main character of the book. I easily followed how Ender dragged himself away from his family and adapted himself to Battle School. The problem for me was I didn’t like Ender.

The author himself stated that he designed the book in such a manner that even those who never read sci-fi feel comfortable reading it. I think Card managed to do this really well. Still, when I checked it with the book lovers around me, I saw that no one was interested in reading it.

The main content of this book focuses on children getting trained for war. The idea of training children for war was so disturbing for me. I didn’t like the conditions in Battle School and the pressure they put on Ender. I was annoyed by the way Battle School students talked, thought and acted like adults although I am well aware of the fact this happens in some parts of the world today. Maybe I was too well connected with the main character that I couldn’t succeed in liking what he went through. I believe those who liked the idea of “adult kids” ended up loving this book. At least, this is what I observed in a good number of reviews in Goodreads.

In short, my failure to like this sci-fi classic was because of the fact that I didn’t manage to read it as a sci-fi book.

APPLICABLE CHALLENGES:
I finished reading it on June 12 so I can count it for Spring Reading Thing 2012.
It was my first Orson Scott Card book so I can count it for New Author Challenge.
It was dystopian so I can count it for The Dystopia 2012 Challenge.
It is a book chosen for the U.S. 2012 World Book Night so I give myself 5 points and count it for Semi-Charmed Summer 2012 Book Challenge.
This is a book I had decided to read for WFTM Science Fiction Reader Challenge.
I chose this book for Summer Reading Challenge 2012 as “a banned or contested book”
This book was also in my list for The Classics Club.