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Books Read: Ender's Game
Aug. 3rd, 2003 11:55 amI actually finished Ender's Game about a week and a half ago, on my first day in Indianapolis. I vaguelly recall collapsing on the bed for a bit, and finishing it off before CA & I began running about, talking to people, and generally beginning 5 days of extreme busy-ness. But, I've been pretty burnt to a crisp since I returned from Indy, and so I haven't writ about it yet.
This was my second time through on Ender's Game, inspired by my reading of Ender's Shadow just prior to my trip. What amazes me the most is how much of a better writer Orson Scott Card is now than he was back when he wrote Ender's Game. It was originally his first science-fiction short, published in 1977, then revised into a novel in 1985, and compared to the much better characterized Ender's Shadow, it's clearly a freshman effort.
The question is, then, why did Ender's Game win the Hugo and the Nebula? After a rereading I'd agree that those awards were probably justified, but not necessarily based on the strength of the style of the writing--but rather on its ideas.
Ender's Game was in many ways a shocking book, about training children for war. It was also one of the earlier books that I know of that seriously addressed the issue of hugely intelligent children (Beggars in Spain wouldn't follow for almost a decade, and Manifold: Space would be even further down the line). The themes of childhood innocence contrasted with brutal violence and adult manipulation do still resonate today.
Card also manages to cleverly inlay some twists into Ender's Game that I suspect might have, more than anything else, won him the awards.
Overall, a very good book, worth rereading. I was going to say that I have some regret that the older, more mature Card didn't write this piece, but I suppose he actually did, under the title Ender's Shadow.
This was my second time through on Ender's Game, inspired by my reading of Ender's Shadow just prior to my trip. What amazes me the most is how much of a better writer Orson Scott Card is now than he was back when he wrote Ender's Game. It was originally his first science-fiction short, published in 1977, then revised into a novel in 1985, and compared to the much better characterized Ender's Shadow, it's clearly a freshman effort.
The question is, then, why did Ender's Game win the Hugo and the Nebula? After a rereading I'd agree that those awards were probably justified, but not necessarily based on the strength of the style of the writing--but rather on its ideas.
Ender's Game was in many ways a shocking book, about training children for war. It was also one of the earlier books that I know of that seriously addressed the issue of hugely intelligent children (Beggars in Spain wouldn't follow for almost a decade, and Manifold: Space would be even further down the line). The themes of childhood innocence contrasted with brutal violence and adult manipulation do still resonate today.
Card also manages to cleverly inlay some twists into Ender's Game that I suspect might have, more than anything else, won him the awards.
Overall, a very good book, worth rereading. I was going to say that I have some regret that the older, more mature Card didn't write this piece, but I suppose he actually did, under the title Ender's Shadow.