This past week, I both started and finished reading Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. I know, I know, what science-fiction nerd hasn't read this series? The answer to that would've been me, until very recently.
But I'm now here to tell you that if you haven't read this book and you at all enjoy science fiction, you must get your hands on the nearest copy.
Card somehow manages, within Ender's Game, to create children warriors. Until this book, I'd never seen that done successfully. He writes children in a way that I've never seen before, in a very fluid manner that makes the reader almost forget that they're reading about children at all.
Through the whole of the story, as one might expect, we follow the life of young Ender Wiggins. He's a small boy, only six years old at the start of the book, but he's very bright, sees things in ways no adult sees them, is able to sense compassion and realistically rationalize the actions of others, as well as thinking three steps ahead (to paraphrase), in order to prevent the bullies from ever coming back and harming him again.
The thing with Ender, I believe, is that there is a part of him that is relatable to every person on this planet.
That, in my mind, is what makes this book one that truly transcends science fiction and becomes something that more than just geeks and nerds can enjoy.
In this world where Ender resides, there are creatures called Buggers. They've attacked earth before, but humans haven't seen them in many, many years. Still, they train young boys (and a few girls) in the art of war. Humanity was only able to defeat the Buggers in the war through the leadership of Mazer Rackham, whom I was led to believe had been dead for some time.
The premise of the story is that Ender is a miracle child, that he is the one whom the humans will train to be their leader in the case that the Buggers return and try to kill them all.
But all at once, it's far more than that.
Card reveals to us what children warriors would be like, how it would be if we forced our children to play war games instead of learning their arithmetic (though the characters do still have regular classes as well, I'll admit). Through this, we watch as Ender loses his childhood to become what humanity needs him to be, all for the love of his sister, Valentine.
This story...
Well, it's probably the best story that I've read in a very long time. I bought the books months ago, but I never sat down to read them. Now, I find myself having already finished the second book in Ender's tale, Speaker for the Dead, and have started reading the third, Xenocide.
What's that to you?
I'll tell you.
It takes a lot for me to sit down and finish a book like this in a matter of days. It takes more than a good plot to make me stare into the pages for hours on end, and stay awake at night thinking about how the story will continue.
But now, I doubt that Ender will ever leave my side. He'll always be there, the compassionate little boy who always knows the right things to say and the right moves to make, long after I finish Children of the Mind, the final book in the collection.
[love]
{RA Divine}
p.s. Don't forget to stop by on Friday for Deanna Leah's next post!
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