Ender's Game book summary
Ender's Game is a science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card, published in 1985, which tells the story of humanity's war against the alien race of the Formics, set on Earth in the year 2070.
The plot introduces us to Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, a teenager who at the age of six was separated from his family to be trained as a military strategist at the Battle School, a war training unit for gifted young people.
Ender must not only go through his preadolescence, torn between his desires and his duties, but also constantly fighting in a process of introspective journey that will mark his decisions and actions throughout his life.
In the human society of the year 2070, only two children are allowed per family, but since the Wiggin family has failed to "produce" a child who meets the requirements and passes the tests to belong to Battle School, they are allowed to have a third child.
From his beginnings in Battle School, Ender stood out among his peers for his extraordinary intelligence and combat skills, earning him the hatred of almost everyone in the academy.
Little by little, Ender manages to consolidate a group of companions to form a battalion of soldiers for combat practices and consolidates close relationships with his group of friends, led by Petra, one of the best soldiers in the school.
combat training
Once his practice squad is formed, Ender begins his combat practices, strengthening his position as a born leader and begins to reap successes in training, which earns him more followers and fewer antagonists in the school.
One of the strongest and most interesting aspects of the story of Ender's Game summary is the author's treatment of video games as a learning tool, in which the cadets, their scruples suppressed by the "unreality" of the game, make decisions based solely on their desire to achieve victory, disregarding the "cost" of it.
Navigating a virtual environment, players feel free to make decisions without the limits imposed by empathy, responsibility, and moral values in real life.
This is how Ender begins to stand out as the greatest combat strategist who has studied at the academy, coldly objectively analyzing the best possibilities to emerge victorious from each of the combats.
Meanwhile, the teachers do everything in their power to make life difficult for the students, in the search for them to learn to overcome all the difficulties that may arise, measure their value and their learning.
In this line of action and thought, the instructors are implementing new rules and prohibitions, which seek to strengthen Ender's will, to the point that they manage to separate him from his best friend, Alai, transferring him to another squad and emotionally distancing him from Ender.
Little by little Ender begins to consolidate himself in the first place of the classification among squad commanders and experiment with battle strategies never seen before in the Battle School.
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Orson Scott Card, author of Ender's Game
Ender's Game characters
In the Ender's Game Saga summary (06 books), a large number of complex and not so complex characters interact, fulfilling a role in the learning process of our hero.
- Andrew "Ender" Wiggin: The hero of the story is the third of the three Wiggin brothers, standing out for his innate battle skills, leadership skills and analytical ability, which accompanies a sharp intelligence and wisdom far superior to his few years . From the beginning of him in the Battle School he is emerging as the only one capable of winning the third war against the buggers, for which they are being prepared.
- Mazer Rackham: Battle Commander, led the troops in the second war against the buggers and is considered the greatest strategist in history. He becomes Ender's advisor when he is promoted to the High Command School, with the aim of passing on to the new strategist everything he has learned about the invasive species they are about to combat.
- Bonzo Madrid: Bonzo is one of the commanders of the Battle School, who will become one of Ender's worst enemies, whom he even tries to kill in a fight that ends with his own life. Bonzo was a very violent and ambitious young man, who felt that he had to fight and win, no matter the cost.
- Colonel Hyrum Graff: Graff is the headmaster of the Battle School and manipulates Ender by anticipating his needs and feelings. Although he is always tough and insensitive, his goal is to prepare Ender to assume his position as the leader who will fight the buggers in the future third invasion and make him win.
- Petra Arkanian: She is the best marksman in the school and Ender's best friend. She is very skilled and efficient, but she is also compassionate and fair and she always supports Ender in everything he tries and gives him all the help she can.
- Valentine Wiggin: She is Ender's sister and his main emotional support. They were always very close and Ender admires the empathic and compassionate qualities of her character.
- Peter Wiggin: He is Ender's older brother and is the only person in the world who has the ability to kill him. He has always hated Ender for considering him better than him, since he could not enter the Fleet or Battle School, which was his greatest aspiration.
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Book Review
Although this book is a story starring children, it is not, by any means, a typical children's story, because in reality, at the beginning of the book it is very hard to “believe” that Ender is only six years old.
Ender's personal and spiritual journey, which exponentially exceeds the capabilities of a young child, is one of the great wonders of Orson Scott Card's book.
By miracles of genetics, the three Wiggins brothers are gifted children with above average intelligence and Ender, who is the third child of the marriage (where they can only have two), could only be conceived because his older brothers were not up to the task. access the recruitment system.
Valentine is empathetic, affectionate and too compassionate to be able to be a good combatant and on the contrary, Peter is a sociopathic, egotistical and cruel individual, who cannot be a combatant either because he has no compassion in any of the bones of his body.
One of the great internal struggles of Ender, who widely identifies with Valentine, who is his great family love, is the fear of resembling his cruel older brother. Nothing further!
Ender's journey begins with the internal struggle against his cruel brother at home, against all those who out of envy, hate him in the Battle School and eventually, with all the enemies he collects on his way.
Ender begins to stand out in the only way he knows how to do it and that is by pushing himself to the maximum to try to be better than the others. He is disciplined and focused, he is good at doing things well, so little by little, he is climbing to the top of the ranking in the Academy.
Continuation
In the future, Ender will become the greatest commander to ever live, ultimately saving humanity from extinction in the war against the Formics. Ender's Game is a truly impressive story, with a tightly woven narrative that leaves us wanting more at the end of each chapter.
The author's writing style is clear, direct, precise and very successful and the characters are quite believable, deep and invite us to accompany them throughout their process of evolution and personal growth.
The book is also very emotional, since love, family, sadness, friendship and a sense of honor and duty accompany characters who, on occasions, are situated on the limits of being human.
As with all literary works, not everything can be good news, because the novel also has some aspects that could have been better treated.
One of the biggest problems with Ender's Game summary is that, in a way, the plot justifies some violent activities, assuming the typical "the end justifies the means," which could be portrayed differently.
Similarly, the plot is geared towards presenting the fairest possible version of Ender's character, which is normal for the hero, while the antagonist characters don't receive the same level of attention.
This leaves us with the feeling that the antagonists are villains for no reason, without a process that gives us some justification for their actions, basing their actions on motivations that can seem silly and superficial.
The human race, in a general point of view, does not fare very well in the story either, leaving us with the idea that we are quite bloodthirsty, opting for war instead of seeking peace. We are also portrayed as a race of arrogant beings, with airs of superiority, selfish and egotistical, so we do not look very pretty in the photograph.
All the books in The Ender Saga
The first book in the saga, which already has six installments, published in 1985, was the recipient of the most prestigious prizes awarded to science fiction literary works, winning the Nébula Award for Best Novel in 1985 and the Hugo Award for Best Novel. Best Novel in 1986.
In 1999, Orson Scott Card began a series of parallel action novels, called the Shadow Saga, set in the same universe and historical setting as the Ender Saga, which consists of six books and follows the adventures of some of the secondary characters of the main plot.
Ender's saga
- Ender's Game (1985).
- The Voice of the Dead (1986).
- Ender the Xenocide (1991)
- Children of the mind (1996).
- Ender in exile (2008).
- The children of the Fleet (not yet published in Spanish).
The Shadow Saga
- Ender's Shadow (1999).
- The Shadow of the Hegemon (2001).
- Shadow Puppets (2002).
- The Shadow of the Giant (2005).
- Gift War (2007).
- Shadows on the Run (2012).
Other novellas set in the same Ender universe
- The Unsuspecting Earth (2012).
- The Earth in flames (2013).
- The Earth Wakes Up (2014).
- The Swarm (2016).
- The Hive (2019).
- The Queens (future publication).
Saga Comics: Published by Marvel Comics
- Golden Bug (2007).
- Ender's Game: Battle School (2008).
- Ender's Shadow (2009).
- Ender in Exile (2010).
- The War of the League (2010).
- Formic Wars: Earth in Flames (2001).
- The voice of the dead (2011).
Ender's Game: Film Adaptation
In mid-2012, filming began on the film "Ender's Game", based on the book of the same name in the saga, with a script written by the same author, Orson Scott Card.
The film was released on October 25, 2013, starring Asa Butterfield as Ender, Harrison Ford as Colonel Hyrum Graff, and Hailee Steinfeld as Petra Arkanian.
Plot of the movie Ender's Game summary
Ender's Game summary : It is a futuristic science fiction film that takes place in the year 2070. After an alien invasion, the human race has to fight for its preservation and prevent Earth from falling under the domination of these aliens, whom they call "Bugs."
With these goals in mind, the humans create the International Fleet, a military unit made up of an army of elite soldiers, with the mission of ending the threat of the invaders.
The former commander of the International Fleet, Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), will have in his hands the task of preparing Ender Wiggins so that he can face the future that awaits him, as commander of the land army.
All the hopes of the earth rest in the hands of Andrew "Ender" Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a boy with exceptional skills and abilities who, along with other cadets, is recruited by the company to lead and lead the future fights against the Buggers. .
In the Battle School, Ender will try to stand out among the others, climbing the ranks until he is chosen commander of the Dragon Squad, in command of forty soldiers.
Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) will become his tutor, pushing him to the limit with extreme training, both physically and psychologically, in order to train him as the future commander of the International Fleet.
Distribution
- Asa Butterfield in the role of Ender Wiggin.
- Harrison Ford in the role of Colonel Hyrum Graff.
- Abigail Breslin as Valentine Wiggin, Ender's sister.
- Kathryn Newton in the role of Perry Olser.
- Hailee Steinfeld in the role of Petra Arkanian.
- Aramis Knight in the role of Bean.
- Moisés Arias in the role of Bonzo Madrid, Ender's sworn enemy.
- Jimmy Pinchak as Peter Wiggin, Ender's older brother.
- Suraj Parthasarathy as Alai, a student at the battle school.
- Conor Carroll in the role of Bernard, a student boy originally an enemy of Ender.
- Khylin Rhambo in the role of Dink Meeker.
- Brandon Soo Hoo in the role of Fly Molo; when he is incapacitated by injuries, he hands over Petra to join the dragon army as her replacement.
- Ben Kingsley in the role of Mazer Rackham.
- Viola Davis in the role of the older Gwen Anderson, who is the psychologist who cares for the children of the Battle School.
The film, in many respects, departs from the introspective journey of the characters in the book and many scenes do not correspond to the text of the original novel.
Regarding this, Orson Scott Card commented: “ My book is already present in the mind of every reader. This is Gavin Hood’s film, so the words were his and the scene was his .”
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