Ender’s Game

Book Review

Ender’s Game is a classic science fiction novel that my tweens loved. It follows a young boy, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, as he leaves his family to attend a special military school for geniuses. Battle School trains child officers for the defense of Earth against intelligent alien insects referred to as “buggers”. This is a complex story dealing with challenging topics like bullying, death, and the morality of creating child soldiers. On Earth, Ender has two siblings, both geniuses in their own rights, who are plotting to take over the government of the world because they think that they can do a better job than the adults.

What We Liked

Ender is a growing boy that is not talked down to and babied. He is very intelligent, determined, and has a moral compass which makes him (and us) examine the situations that he is put into. There are wonderful fantasy fight scenes set in zero gravity that have my children visualizing each battle’s movements and strategies. It is nice that Ender is not depicted as a cold-hearted intellectual. Bonus – there is also a twist ending, which the kids did not see coming (I have read the book before, so I knew).

What We Disliked

The story is primarily set in a battle school, so there is frequent violence and hazing. Be warned that there is bad language and swearing between the cadets. There are some gruesome scenes where children die and again in a video game that Ender plays. Some of the political intrigue on Earth may have been too complex for younger children to fully understand, but did not take away any of enjoyment from my boys.

Audiobook

We both read from the book and listened to the audiobook in the car. My boys insisted on continuing the book during a recent road trip. The audiobook had different narrators for the main characters and was enjoyable to hear.

Movie Tie-In

Yes, there is a PG-13 movie version of Ender’s Game from 2013. My kids were excited to watch it on Netflix after we finished the book together. We liked the action and visual effects. The movie shows Ender very briefly on Earth as a setup to Battle School, so much of the beginning of the book is skipped. The book spends a lot more time setting up his family life than the movie. In Battle School, most of the characters from the book are present, which we liked. We would like to see more battles between the child armies. Once Ender leaves his family we barely see them again in the movie, yet his brother and sister have chapters devoted to them and their Earth politics in the book. The ending is changed slightly to condense it down for the movie.

The Verdict

I would recommend this young adult book for middle school and above due to language and violence. My tween loved this book and enjoyed the watching the film afterward. Everyone agreed that the book was better. But really, when is the movie better than the book?