Ender’s Game follows a brilliant 6-year-old kid named Andrew “Ender” Wiggin. Set in the future, humans are fighting a war with an alien race called “buggers”. The humans win the war, but are fearful of another attack, and so they train gifted children in a satellite called the “Battle School” to become future commanders against the buggers. Ender is born as a third child in a world where only two children are allowed due to the giftedness of his siblings, Peter a sociopath and Valentine, a caring sister. He gets into a fight at school, and his promise is seen by Colonel Graff, a commander of the Battle School, and so Ender joins, training to be a future commander. He is challenged in many tasks, like battles between teams of the school, and strategy games, where he is quickly seen as one of the most gifted at the school. He needs to deal with his own feelings and the rigidness of Battle School to overcome many challenges.
Ender’s Game is incredibly well written, it is near impossible to put down and keeps you gripped throughout. Ender is a complex character, and seeing his struggle, as well as what is going on back on Earth are endearing, and the battle scenes are very gripping. The book grapples with real life problems, although is occasionally too violent. It tries to see if the means justify the ends, and it makes for some hard decisions and consequences. Overall Ender’s Game is a 4 out of 5, and a must read for sci-fi fans.