Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card is not a very nice man, in the nicest way of putting it, or is a raging homophobe and racist, in the less nice but more accurate way of putting it. After having read his book, I’d hazard a guess that he’s also a wee bit of a misogynist.
Reading Ender’s Game, it was very difficult to separate the man from the book, especially with delightful quotes such as “A few girls. They don’t often pass the tests to get in. Too many centuries of evolution are working against them.” And OSC doesn’t make it easy. The books starts out kind of child abuse-y, with Ender, at 6 years of age, being whisked away to an off-world Battle School where he is trained to be a military soldier. Turns out he’s one of many young prodigies, one of whom must rise to become Commander of an invasion fleet sent to do battle against an alien enemy. The young children learn to fight through battle simulations and some unhealthy isolation and competition where teenagers beat the crap out of 7 and 8 year olds. Charming.
Eventually, Ender gets a bit older (let’s say 11 or 12) and the book gets easier to read and more enjoyable as a result. I think it’s because it’s less creepy and disturbing to envision a 12 year old prodigy learning to fight space battles than a kid who should just be learning rhyming words. It’s a bit of a shame because the story itself is clever and engaging otherwse. There are two more books in the series, but the first one wraps things up well enough that there’s no particular or compelling need to read the others, and I doubt I will. But I don’t regret reading this one at all.
Rating: Borrow it. Be very careful to borrow it, and if it’s gifted to you then pass it on to the next person you see who hints they might buy it. Let’s keep the money out of OSC’s pockets and donate it to an LGBTQ organization instead.