Ender's Game

The Book

The interesting Reader's Game to always play with science fiction novels written in the past, is to see how right they got it.
Ender's Game was written in 1977 and is set in an unspecified future. It explores the preparation needed to establish a successful army and future leaders in preparation for an interstellar conflict.
Children are monitored for the best behaviour and thought patterns that will single out possible leaders. They are then sent to space training camps in order to teach them about strategy, loyalties and distancing emotion.









Ender learns a lot using a computer game which explores a fantasy world and reacts to the gamer depending on their choices. Computer games were not around in 1977, so its an astute assumption. Orson raises all the questions we worry about today with regards to children losing their innocence and being able to understand what's a simulation and what's real.



Ender's sister and brother establish themselves on Earth as influential thinkers by setting themselves up with false identities on the net and playing off each other and others to establish a creditable persona. Again this is a brilliant supposition linked to the internet, social media and trolling.
What ironically dates the text is the use of the word "buggers" for the insect race that the humans have to defend themselves against. The unfortunate choice of slang word may be more telling of the author, however, who is noted for his homophobic views.  


Generally, however, as a story, I found myself becoming bored of the varying scenarios of tactical battle and the End Game lost a bit of its excitement by being veiled as just another training exercise.



 Official movie website




The Film

The 1977 book has been brilliantly realised as a 21st century film and benefited from being on the big screen. The visualisation of the weightless tactical game room and the space battles with the formics (as opposed to buggers) are wonderful; CGI at its best. The appearance of the last formic, (not seen in the book - you never get a description), was handled really well and conveyed the intelligence of the alien. Where man had chosen to stamp out anything alien it saw as a potential threat, the formic turns from revenge and forgives.
The script is polished and cuts out much of the strategic classroom learning (Ender leaps from Launchie to Commander in only three onscreen training battles) and the side story of Peter becoming the major leader on Earth.




Ender's Game is the first in a series of novels but it seems clear that this is not the start of a film franchise, providing a clear finish with Ender choosing to live in self-imposed exile and penitence for his mass destruction of the formic race, looking for a new home for the surviving Queen egg.   
Notable acting from Viola Davis as Major Anderson, the voice of compassion in the military machine and Moises Arias, so quirky and funny in The Kings of Summer, as the resentful and insecure Bonzo. Ben Kingsley, however, seems to always feel the need to put on an accent and at first I thought his Mazer Rackham was from South Africa until the Maori face markings were explained.
Of course, 1977 was also the year when Star Wars first came to the cinema screens and having watched it very recently it was a reminder of how time passes, seeing Harrison Ford and his bushy old man eyebrows in high definition.

If you enjoyed the book, try others in the series by Orson Scott Card

If you enjoyed the film, you could give Starship Troopers a watch for a different take on insect wars.