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)

Very enjoyable listen

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

Child prodigies that win wars against aliens are interesting, but the next two books in the series have much more intellectual meat, are much more satisfying and thought provoking.

AMAZING

I love this so much that I have listened to them all probably 5 or more times. just AMAZING!

LOVE this story! I can't stand Valentine's voice.

This is a classic story and so wonderful to read over and over again. The audiobook switches between voices for chapters that are from other character's points of view. I don't mind any of them but I really can't stand Valentine's voice. It's awful and drawing. I'm trying to get past it but I probably won't listen to this again any time soon. The story itself is terrific though!

I love this story

This book is a childhood favorite and the narrator has a pleasant voice and excellent pacing.

Ender's Game

I am using this audiobook with my struggling seveth grade readers in combination with the written version. They are glued to the book - boys and girls alike. It really gives me a chance to discuss things at a higher level. The characters and themes are deep and the students really connect with them. Though I often have behavior problems, I don't when we are listening and I can tell by our discussions and journaling that they are really engaged in the book. This is also a great book for higher level readers, in that there is so much depth to it. This is a book for middle schoolers and up. Anyone who enjoys the fantasy genre will be hooked on Ender!

One of my all time favorite reads

I highly recommend this book. Orson Scott Card does an amazing job at making the reader love his characters. Say what you will about the author, he writes an amazing story. After Ender's Game you should also listen to Ender's Shadow. It complements Ender's Game perfectly and adds an entirely new perspective to Ender's story.

Great narration of a flawed but worthy book

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

I'm rather new to audiobooks, but I'd wager Ender's Game should be able to hold a top 5 spot for quite a while.

If you’ve listened to books by Orson Scott Card before, how does this one compare?

It has proved to me that I can enjoy Sci-Fi in audiobook format.

Which scene was your favorite?

Most of the story is presented from Ender's perspective, with the occasional shifts from this perspective providing some delightful insights and surprises.

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

Nothing, really. If anything, the narration added much to my overall enjoyment of the book.

Any additional comments?

While I liked Ender's Game, I can see why some people are completely turned off by it. To me, good Science Fiction is that which makes you believe a scenario could happen. It did it for me, but that's not to say I could just overlook the book's flaws - mainly the lack of a decent explanation for the hopes placed in Ender, the emphasis given to the batlle room (where zero G mock battles between kids with lasers take place) while on a tight schedule to train a kid to be commander of humanity's fleet of *ships*, the confusing and mostly unnecessary desk game and the poorly explored ventures of Peter and Valentine.

I started out wanting to give Ender's Game four stars, because that's how I felt after I finished hearing the book. But the truth is, after thinking about it, I can't say that this book has been satisfying enough to earn that much. It's interesting and I would hear it again if I had to, but given the above plot holes' defiance of suspension of disbelief, the overall depressive mood of the book, and the amount of time spent on plot points unrelated to this story with actual payoffs in other books, I would be reluctant to recommend it to someone who wants a world to escape to but is not already into sci-fi and a somewhat mature reader.

That said, the narration is definitely among the best I've heard.

favorite book

this was a wonderful performance of this book. it was hard to turn it off at night and go to bed. loved it.

Best. Sci-fi. Ever.

I’ve read most of Orson Scott Card’s work because of my love for this novel. I have come to know his strengths and flaws as a writer, but am hard pressed to find said flaws in Ender’s Game. It is my favorite sci-fi story, and I mostly read sci-fi. If you like it half as much as I did, I recommend the entire Ender Saga and the complimenting Shadow Series.

Also, this is easily the best combo of narrators on Audible.

Best book ever!

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

Brilliant, space, reality

What did you like best about this story?

This is not a normal story. No love story and not trying to be smart. It is a smart book! I think it is smart by making the characters do really smart things but no unrealistic and it gives the readers full information. Everything becomes very clean simple and elegant. It doesn't try to complicate anything.

What about Stefan Rudnicki and Harlan Ellison ’s performance did you like?

They read the book in a way that made you think about the story and not that someone was reading. No anoying voices and all was very clear.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The final test and one particular moment: when main character (Ender) fought a bully without confronting him. I thought that was really smart and a fantastic way of dealing with the situation.