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)

Good book! Would recommend!

4.5 stars! A great read and entertaining narrators. Valentine's voice is too breathy and whiny. Everything she says sounds like she's pleading. Other than that, superb performances.

Great story and well read...

What did you love best about Ender's Game?

The story started a little slow but well worth the wait. Great story and I really enjoyed the reader.

Love the Enderverse

Ender's game is consuming. It begins a bit slow, but once you get interested you are hooked! Battling with fear and trying very hard to understand what is behind the actions of all the adults, is Ender Wiggin genius child-warrior, the great hope of Earth. The story follows Ender through battle school, where he is being trained to fight an enemy that came close to erradicating the human race. The Buggers, at once feared and hated, but as Ender finds - you can only know your enemy if you love him... I have heard all of the Ender titles, the shadow series stuck with me more than the rest of the Ender series. All are great.

Awesome story

Just from looking at the title the book did not seem interesting at all. I promised my students that I would read the book and share my discovery with them. First, I read numerous reviews and became discouraged. One reader mentioned something about sexual abuse and naked boys. I don't know what he was reading, all I know is that it wasn't Ender's Game. There is one scene in the book where a Ender was taking a shower after war games. His team had won the games where the odds were against him. Ender and his team had to battle to military teams at once. While he was in the shower a boy who led another team comes in to fight him. Ender beats the boy and leaves him bleeding on the floor in the shower. The only part I didn't like is how the children were taken from their parents as toddlers. The military wanted to see if they would be intelligent enough to fight against the Buggers. If they were rejected, they were returned to their parents to live a normal life. If they were considered a genius, they were sent to military school to be trained to fight in the war against the Buggers.

The best production value I've ever heard

The quality of the recordong/performance of this book is absolutely unmatched by any other audio book. The writing definitely lends itself to such oral storytelling, but the fact is that the narrators (there are several) truly brought this book to life. Highly recommend to literally everyone.

Love the book. Love the story. Hate the author.

It's a weird situation. First time I read this book I did it all in one sitting. Later I found out about the author and his feeling about gay people. Really wish I didn't love this story.

Excellent Book!!

As a traveling PC Tech, I do a lot of driving. That is why I started listening to audio books. I have listened to a lot of audio books, and this is very high on my list of favorites. This book was very well detailed, and kept me interested. I am looking forward to listening to the next book in this series.

loved it

I'd not heard of the author or the series before selecting this. It was wonderfully creative and enjoyable.

Love this story

Read this as a kid and wanted a audio book versions so I got this... I do wish it had the old cover art vs the one from the movie though as I was not very happy with the movie at all

Definitely Recomend

Where does Ender's Game rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's in my top two favorite.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I really like Valentine. They say that she's too tender hearted, but I think she has a bad ass side. I like Ender too. It's hard not to fall in love with the hero of this story.

Which scene was your favorite?

The scene where they defeat two teams in the clump. I thought the strategy was hilarious.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Absolutely. I almost did. It definitely didn't take me long to finish it.

Any additional comments?

This was an amazing book. I listened to the end commentary and thought it was absolutely amazing. There's a reason that this book has become a classic. I also really appreciated that the author thought the audio book was the perfect platform for his materials. It makes me feel like I'm in a theatre performance. The imagery was beautiful. I can't wait to listen to the next book.