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Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card 
The Buggers, insect-like aliens from another galaxy, had attacked Earth
twice. The Buggers were only narrowly defeated the second time. To forestall an
inevitable third attack, Earth has sent an invasion fleet towards the bugger
home worlds, hoping to surprise them in their own territory. The journey across
the galaxy will take 50 years. Now all that Earth needs is someone to command
the forces and defeat the Buggers.
Towards that end, trained personnel monitor young children. The ones that
show promising command traits are sent to battle school. At battle school the
children are pitted against each other to see which ones could possibly be
developed into future leaders.
Ender Wiggin is a mere six years old. His older siblings, Peter and Valentine
had shown great promise and therefore his parents were encouraged to have a
third child (Ender). Peter and Valentine were rejected from the program but
Ender was accepted and sent to battle school. Less than 10 years remain before
the Earth fleet reaches bugger space. The teachers at the battle school must use
every possible tactic at their disposal to mold Ender into the supreme commander…even
at the risk of Ender’s sanity. For Ender Wiggin represents Earth’s last,
best hope for survival.
This story is reminiscent of Starship Troopers by Heinlein, although
it is presented from a different perspective. In Starship Troopers, the
story is told from the perspective of an infantry soldier sent to fight
insect-like aliens. Here, the action focuses on the training of the leaders of
our forces instead of on the common foot soldier. The plot, while inventive, was
fairly easy for me to figure out. However, the book is very easy to read (you
can breeze through it in a weekend) and remains engaging until the end for most
readers (about 75% of the people I know who have read this book didn’t see the
end coming). The character development is fairly deep for Ender and his siblings
and represents a good effort for Card’s first novel.
Reviewed by: Alan
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Ender's Shadow by
Orson Scott Card
The release of Ender’s Game, Card’s
first novel, firmly established him as a major talent in the science fiction
genre. Card wrote several sequels to Ender’s Game, but they took place
thousands of years in the future due to the quirks of faster-than-light space
travel. As a result, many fans felt unsatisfied with the sequels, even though
they loved the original novel.
In a vast departure from the norm, Card wrote Ender’s
Shadow, a parallel novel to Ender’s Game. A parallel novel takes
place at the same time as the original novel, but is written from the viewpoint
of a different character. This is a very difficult type of novel to write since
presumably the reader already knows how the story will end. However, Card
brilliantly executes this story by using a relatively minor (but engaging)
character from Ender’s Game and providing enough new material that the novel
never feels repetitive.
Twice the Buggers, an insect-like alien race, have
attacked the human race. The first two wars went poorly for Earth and so a
battle school has been established to train new leaders for our military forces.
An invasion fleet has been launched towards the Buggers’ home worlds. Because
of the vast distances of interstellar space, the battle school has time to turn
out the supreme commander and his lieutenants before the fleet is in position to
attack. The best and the brightest of Earth’s children are recruited and
brought to battle school to be trained as the future Napoleons of Earth.
Although Ender Wiggin eventually became the
supreme commander, there were other candidates at the battle school. Bean, a
small child even younger than Ender, possessed an uncanny strategic intellect
and eventually became Ender’s right hand man during the war against the
Buggers. Card now tells the story of Bean’s early years and his recruitment to
battle school.
Barely surviving amongst the street gangs of
Rotterdam, Bean used his vastly superior intellect to gain acceptance into a
children’s gang. Eventually, he molded his gang into a template for all other
street gangs in the city. Bean’s exploits attracted the attention of a battle
school recruiter and he became the youngest person ever to enter the school.
Once there he must use all his mental might to ensure that he becomes one of the
few leaders that will have the chance to save Earth from destruction at the
hands of the Buggers.
The first half of the book covers Bean’s life
before battle school and therefore covers totally new ground. Once Bean is
recruited and sent up to the school, the action begins to overlap with the
original novel. However, Card does a masterful job of constructing the action
from Bean’s perspective. Even some scenes that were included in the original
novel seem fresh and new this time around. This is a very difficult type of
novel to write, but Card executes it flawlessly. While this book did not have
the surprise ending of Ender’s Game (same ending, but we already knew the
surprise), it is still a well-paced novel that did not fail to hold my interest.
If you enjoyed Ender’s Game, you’ll love this book too!
Reviewed by: Alan
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Enchantment by
Orson Scott Card 
Most of us probably heard the fairy tale of
Sleeping Beauty when we were children. Card takes the classic fairy tale and
gives it a unique, modern spin.
Ten-year-old Ivan finds an unusual clearing in a
dense, Carpathian forest. In the center of the clearing is a pedestal encircled
by fallen leaves. Atop the pedestal is a sleeping maiden. However, Ivan detects
a sinister presence beneath the leaves and runs for the safety of his cousin’s
farm.
Years later, Ivan is a graduate student in
America. Shortly after becoming engaged, Ivan returns to his native land to work
on his doctoral thesis. Unable to forget that clearing in the woods, Ivan
returns to determine if what he saw was merely a young boy’s fantasy. Finding
the clearing just as he left it, he does not run away this time. Ivan awakens
the sleeping maiden with a kiss and is transported into a kingdom that vanished
over a thousand years ago.
This is a love story unlike any I’ve ever read
before. Card touchingly describes the love that grows between two strangers from
vastly different worlds. Deftly transferring between 9th century
Russia and the 1990’s, Card tells the classic tale of witches, enchantment,
knights and princesses. Card meticulously researched Russian folk tales to give
the story an authentic Russian flavor. The original Sleeping Beauty tale had a
happy ending, but Card keeps you guessing about the outcome of his version until
the very end.
Card’s first novel, Ender’s Game,
featured a very inventive, engaging plot but scant character development.
However, it still established Card as a major force in the science fiction and
fantasy genres. With the release of Enchantment, Card demonstrates his
growth as an author. Enchantment shows that not only does he continue to
generate creative plot lines, but that first-rate character development is
firmly within his grasp. Children from 8 to 80 can enjoy this book!
Reviewed by: Alan
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