Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Originally posted at Goodreads

So, here's the search for the Napoleon who will never lose, for the Alexander who will die of old age and for the Caesar who's fidelity to his ideals define him. Here's Ender's Game.

I have put off reading Ender's Game for innumerable times now, for a reason I cannot fully comprehend, which is strange since Ender's Game easily occupy the top spots of the myriad of sci-fi book lists that exists out there. The book's following is noticeable, the appeal conspicuous, the devotion emphatic. Of course, who doesn't want to be the genius? The commander? The leader? The prophetic revelation? The savior? It's fairly easy to fall in the routine (surprising as it is) of kids defeating the bully, both personal and imaginary, and saving the world through video games (who could have thought of a more convenient way?).

The bone I'll be picking however is as conspicuous as the appeal of this book.

I have strangely felt that I was not reading a sci-fi book at times, but a psychological epic, bluntly guilty under such theme of extended internal monologue. Admittedly, there is depth in the book even under the purview of sci-fi conventions. That is to say the psychological meanderings and military motif give it a worthwhile kick. But then again, Ender's Game seemingly exist in a pole, in the extremities, which is conspicuously embodied in 1) The repeating, intense desire to kill both in and outside a military training facility; 2) the love between siblings bordering future incest; 3) and (in perhaps the most fiddling negligible example) sleeping naked in a room of 40 people you have just met. Nuances exists as do occasional irksome parts like this:

"Since he hadn't fired a shot, he had a perfect record on shooting-- no misses at all. And since he had never been eliminated or disabled, his percentage there was excellent."

It is worth emphasizing that there is no statistic if the variable is null.

There was no difficulty relegating the rating to Ender's Game, which due to Goodread's lack of a more defined rating system, is three stars.