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)

Third time around and it keeps getting better.

I just finished it for the third time. I really enjoyed the storyline and production. The novel really speaks to me.

Great story great performance

This is been one of my all-time favorite book since high school. I listen to it multiple times and always enjoy it.

great book

Awesome book. Great story evolution with an ending that did not dissapoint! Looking foward to seeing if the series holds.

loved it!

this was a great choice. my son and i listened to it and both enjoyed it. narrators were great

Finally got a chance to experience this classic!

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

I've listened to a lot of audio books, so maybe around tenth.

What did you like best about this story?

I love being apart of Ender's thought process!

What does Stefan Rudnicki and Harlan Ellison bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Attitude and variety. I love audio books for opening me up to a different way to see the story.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

He's our only hope, and he's six.

AweSome book, great job, very intense, fantastic,

Cool, nice, great, good luck bro, thanks for the AweSome book, cool cool cool yea.

Great Rendition of a great book

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

I loved Ender's Game before I listened to the audio version, and I love it more now. All too often, I find that books focus on action, to the detriment of character, and vice versa. Here, the action and character progression are inextricably tied together. As the action escalates, Ender and his siblings become increasingly vivid and realized. Their mental activities are just as interesting, to me, as their physical feats. I love that this underdog story, while it does highlight the spirit of ingenuity and dogged determination to overcome obstacles that is popular in sci-fi, also raises philosophical questions about the ethics of survival. The actors that portray each person/character, really do enhance the cinematic qualities of the novel. One or two were a little less than perfect, but they were still highly listenable, overall. I'll listen to this one over and over again.

great

This was a very enjoyable audiobook. I thought I had found a series I could become immersed in, but some of the other books in the series did not live up to the original. This one, however, was great

Great reading, really enjoyed the story

What did you love best about Ender's Game?

I can really see why this is a classic. The way the author explains how a soldier becomes a hero is quite fascinating.

What did you like best about this story?

I really liked how you could see the person (Ender) in each situation, making grown-up decisions that affect civilians and non-civilians.

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

I loved the twist at the end. Perhaps many people knew it was coming, but it caught me off guard. Bravo.

Any additional comments?

The fight scenes were a little long. But the dialogue was incredibly powerful. I underlined passages as I listened that I wanted to remember, and they were countless. Very powerful statements made that are truly timeless.

Deffinating a book the sets a high standard

If you could sum up Ender's Game in three words, what would they be?

fascinating, human, driven

What other book might you compare Ender's Game to and why?

The whole Ender's game and Ender's shadow series and side books are an excellent look at humanity.

Which scene was your favorite?

Remember the enemies gate is down.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

not sure but would love to see a true solid adaptation is done