When most people think of a military genius, they think of a grizzled war veteran who has seen everything combat offers. What they probably do not think of is a six-year-old boy. Regarding the child known as Ender Wiggin, nothing follows expectations.
Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card, follows the journey of the gifted children Ender Wiggin, Valentine Wiggin, and Peter Wiggin. The main character, Ender, spends most of the novel in the Battle School, learning to be the best general and commander he can be. He does this under the mentorship of Colonel Graff, who simultaneously isolates, manipulates, abuses, and cares for Ender. On earth, his two siblings, Valentine Wiggin and Peter Wiggin, vie for control of the world Hegemony through writing inflammatory columns online. Throughout the book, Ender deals with exhaustion, ostracization, and danger while studying to be the next great general of the Bugger Wars.
As an avid Sci-Fi fan, I have made it a point to read all of the classic novels in the canon. Ender’s Game thoroughly surprised me. Whereas other sci-fi writers like Frank Herbert and Isaac Asimov write complex, philosophical, and frankly hard-to-read books, Orson Scott Card effectively writes a complex story without being weighed down by hard-to-read dialogue.

Card keeps the dialogue simple and concise, which is how I like it. I was never lost in the murky water of double entendre and hidden meaning that Sci-Fi dialogue often offers up. I was always able to understand just what a character was truly saying.

Similarly, the writing was easy to understand, and with the few minor exceptions of me having to look up some information, I was never lost. This is not to say that the writing does not have complex concepts and messages.
Topics such as gamification, manipulation, isolation, and abuse make up the entire novel and help tell the story of Ender’s forced maturity effectively.

The topic of gamification is especially effective in telling the story of Ender. The novel practically revolves around the games that Ender plays throughout his childhood. Ender is first exposed to pain and cruelty from the games he played with his brother Peter. This game set a precedent for the rest of the novel on how Ender was going to be treated. Later in the novel, he plays the games in the battle school where he is pushed to his limits in his strive to be the best commander he can be, and even later in command school, he plays the simulator game to insanity and exhaustion.

Also intriguing was the topic of isolation. The way that Ender realized he was slowly becoming a commander and not a friend was exhilarating and fun to read. Ender progressively loses his friends but also simultaneously gains their respect. Through the constant isolation and overperformance, some students eventually want to kill him. This easily introduces a conflict in the story between Ender’s childhood and others.
The actual structure of the story is also well done. In the rising action, the gradual build of tension in Ender’s mental state gives the reader an accurate gauge of how close the story is to the climax. The climax itself was an exciting twist that I was not expecting, and it accurately coincided with Ender’s mental state, which reached a depressing climax as well. The resolution offered a release of tension while still keeping the story intriguing and continuing to deliver twists that were not expected.
Despite the book being dated, it still teaches lessons that are applicable in Modern life. In high school, and especially here at Floyd Central, the competition is fierce and ruthless. Students often forget to be good to themselves and push themselves to their limits in academic greatness. Ender’s game teaches that if you pursue something without rest and to exhaustion, your mental state will eventually suffer from the constant pressure. This lesson is especially needed in a time like ours, when mental health is at an all-time low.
Overall, Ender’s Game has cemented itself as one of my favorites in my sci-fi library due to its clever but simplistic writing, interesting themes, and thoughtful lessons. Any person that even vaguely likes Sci-Fi would enjoy this book, and I would recommend it to anybody who loves to read.