Ender's Game

Special 20th Anniversary Edition

By: Orson Scott Card

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Harlan Ellison, Gabrielle de Cuir

Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards

In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut - young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister. Is Ender the general Earth needs?

But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.

Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is the winner of the 1985 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1986 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Browse more titles in the Ender Wiggin series.

©1977, 1985, 1991 Orson Scott Card (P)2002 Fantastic Audio, an imprint of Audio Literature

Critic reviews

• Nebula Award Winner, Best Novel, 1985

• Hugo Award Winner, Best Novel, 1986

"'Intense' is the word for Ender's Game." (The New York Times)

Worth it.

I purchased Ender's Game after hearing from numerous friends that it was their favorite sci-fi book of all time and also because I saw the trailer for the movie. I decided to give it a shot. I am so glad I did. The book itself is well written and the voice actors for the most part did a very good job. I enjoyed it so much, I'm now scared to see the movie because I feel it can't be done proper justice.

I will say that out of the voice actors the one I found the least enjoyable was the female voice actor. Not to say that she was horrible, but in terms of personal taste, how she read wasn't for me.

Best in the Series

Excellent audiobook. Ender's Game is by far the best book in the 4 book series.

Sci-fi at it's best.

The Ender Wiggins series is as good as sci-fi gets! My only regret--- there is no book to date, after Children Of the Mind. Orson Scott Card promises one if he lives long enough. Be careful, you will have to listen to all four books, Speaker For The Dead, Xenocide and Chilren Of The Mind, if you elect to listen to Ender's Game! The narrators Gabrielle de Cuir and John Rubinstein and others make the cast come alive. Unlike a lot of audio books, the characters can be idenfied by their voices alone. This is a purchase in time and money you will not regret!

Great book very well read

I finished this book in 2 days. It such a great book. I'm downloading "Speaker" right now. This is the first science fiction book I read and I'll continue reading the genre.

CLASSIC SCIFI AT IT'S BEST!

I really enjoyed this book. Stayed up way past bedtime because I couldn't turn it off.
This is one of the best books I have listened to this year.
If you haven't read or listened to Ender's Game, do yourself a favor and get it now.

Incredible story

Loved the story. I've listened to this book and the series several times over. The narrators are amazing and I'm looking forward to even more from card.

Outstanding! Outstanding! Outstanding!

Very well written and the readers were fabulous. I became so captivated by the story of Ender, that I wanted more when the book was over. Fortunately there are three other books in the series. The next book, Speaker for the Dead was good, but not as good as this one. It took so long for Ender to reappear, that I kept thinking, "where's Ender!" I can't say enough about how fun this book was to read!

I should have read it years ago.

My wife has been telling me that I should read this for years. I finally did and love it. I listen in the car between appointments and I find myself not wanting to get out of the car.

I wonderer if J.K. Roling read Ender?s Game before writing Harry Potter. I see many similarities. Kids playing an airborne game, the school is divided into teams, the teams live together in a dorm, the main character a has feelings of inadequacy, he is hated by the other kids and he is basically good but does struggle with the battle between good and evil.

The recommendations are right

All the recommendations of Ender’s Game as one of the best science fiction books of all time are right.

This book was so sad, but at the same time, triumphant. Or the other way around. It tells the story of Andrew (Ender) Wiggin, a little boy (he is six at the beginning of the story) who is thought to be the one who can save Earth from the invasion of the space aliens they call the Buggers.

But time is running out. The military authorities in charge of the war have only a short time to turn a nice, if brilliant, boy into the person who will destroy an entire civilization. It is fascinating to watch how the trainers go about their work, first teaching their students (Ender isn’t the only one; they take in new classes of six-year-olds every year) to become competent fighters, and then honing their skills at mastering strategy. And all this is done by means of games, especially the combat games.

The first thing they do to Ender is to separate him from anybody who might be his friend – ever. He does earn the respect of many of the best students, and over the long run, these become his most trusted lieutenants. And he even earns the love of a few of them, although the rigors of the training make sure that isn’t allowed to last. But he also acquires a few enemies, although not intentionally. These enemies keep pushing until he has to take strong measures to eliminate them. Because, despite all the pushing, Ender doesn’t become a monster (how he manages this, I don’t know), he is depressed by the repeated need to eliminate his enemies.

The entire last part of the book is a surprise. Things are not as they seem. And, as Ender finds out, they haven’t been as they had seemed since long before he was born.

There is also a kind of scary side plot involving Ender’s siblings. His vicious older brother, Peter, tormented Ender for the entirety of the time he was living at home, while his sister, Valentine, protected him and reassured him that he wasn’t like Peter. Becoming like Peter was Ender’s greatest fear while he was in school, a fear reinforced by the fact that that is almost exactly what his training was intended to make of him. But once Ender is no longer at home, Peter decides he wants to take over the world. He plans to do this, not with his native cruelty, but with a kind of deceptive diplomacy. And he pushes Valentine into joining him in his plot.

This is an anniversary edition. It contains not one but two commentaries by the author at the end.

Interesting twist on sci-fi

What made the experience of listening to Ender's Game the most enjoyable?

While certain parts were extremely descriptive, the story moved at a quicker pace than initially anticipated. Very unique story with an interesting mix of characters.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Ender's Game?

The battles plot twist near the end took me by complete surprise.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Different voices for each of the main characters was a refreshing change from most standard monotone readings.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

There were certain moments when you forget that the characters are so young. When you recall their age during certain moments and conversations there tends to be an eeriness that creeps unto you.

Any additional comments?

Interesting story that resulted in focusing more on the characters and their development versus the adventure itself.