Blaine's Reviews > Ender’s Game

I decided to reread Ender’s Game before tackling the rest of the series. My feelings about it are more complicated than on my first reading. There’s some religious stereotyping and homophobia that haven’t aged well at all. And there’s not just an absence of women in the story. Women are actively disrespected by the men, who explain their almost total lack of representation by stating “too many centuries of evolution are working against them.” Gross.

Ender Wiggin, however, remains a fascinating character. His calculated use of violence—winning one fight to prevent all other fights—is both logical and chilling. He is believable as a potential Napoleon, even if his consistent positioning as a form of Goldilocks between his hyper-violent brother Peter and his pacifist sister Valentine is a bit too convenient.

The story, moreover, remains a really interesting exploration of certain philosophies, as well as interpersonal and military strategies:

There is no teacher but the enemy. No one but the enemy will tell you what the enemy is going to do. No one but the enemy will ever teach you how to destroy and conquer. Only the enemy shows you where you are weak. Only the enemy tells you where he is strong.

In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it’s impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves. And then, in that very moment when I love them.... I destroy them.

There is quite a bit of subtle foreshadowing that is apparent on a reread: “The adults are the enemy, not the other armies. They do not tell us the truth.” Still, even knowing the ending does not dilute the story’s power, or its anti-war message.

Ender’s Game is not a perfect book, but even if some of its views are regressive, many are not. Above all, it is an entertaining read, for young and old. Highly recommended.

P.S. When asked the difference between science fiction and fantasy, Mr. Card once said you can forget all the other explanations you hear. The difference is “science fiction has rivets; fantasy has trees.” A perfect explanation that I wanted to preserve for posterity, and this review was as good a place as any.

Buddy read with Meg (2024).