Ender's Game

Special 20th Anniversary Edition

By: Orson Scott Card

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

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.

©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)

enders game

Man - I am having a great time with audible.com and my OTIS thingy. I have listened to about 10 books so far during commutes and only one was a stinker. Enders Game is wonderful, and I don't really dig Science Fiction much any more. I did as a kid, but now I am really into political intrigue and legal intrigue novels. This book is great and you will enjoy it.

Material and Presentation Both Incredible

What an amazing story, and what a wonderful production! The author says as much himself in the bonus material! The readers were wonderful, but so was the production. The director knew exactly what voice to use at what time to create a flowing experience that pops out and inspires awe right when it needs to.

My new favorite author

I spend a lot of time trying to find authors that I can enjoy the story, sure, but the speed of the story, the twists I did not see whilst still wanting to read science fiction or fantasy. Orson has done it all, it was a seed change for me in science fiction which can be sooo serious about itself. This just gets on with the story and a great story it is. Well done.

Why have you not read this book yet?

This book is a classic. Wonderful story that also makes a good social point. It is what science fiction is meant to be.

One of the best

Just listened to the entire book on my drive up to NYC and back. What a terrific book! I'm so glad I got it. What I've found lately is that the best Sci-Fi books use Sci-Fi as a backdrop to a bigger better story and not make Sci-Fi the real focus of it. Ender's Game does this very well. Ender is a terrific character. Although he is very much super human, he is still human. He is still a child. I highly recommend this book.