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Reread Ender's Game
Jul. 30th, 2008 08:33 pmOver and over again I hear how great the novel Ender's Game is from people complaining about the rant de jure by the author Orson Scott Card. I too thought it was a great piece of writing... when I was 14. Upon reading it again once I was an adult I no longer saw what was so great about it. Previously it appealed to my arrogant 'better than most adults' teenage attitude. Reading it as an adult it had lost the magic.
What's so fantastic about it? It is just a so-so SF novel reusing the same plot from his 1977 short story without adding anything new or interesting to it. True the idea (if it was original to him) has become a standard trope. Thought I might also argue that it is just a dramatic science fiction variant of "The Man Who Knew Too Little" where someone is fooled into doing something thinking it is just a game or trick. The writing in the novel isn't even good prose, just more. It lies limp upon page rather like a mound of overcooked spaghetti.
As for the big moral questions that is supposedly raises, it actually sidesteps them. For example instead of questioning the morality of purposefully creating a dedicated killer (indeed a whole bunch of them) to win a war, the whole affair is given a pass. Somehow responsibility for the murders that 'poor, unfairly beleaguered Ender' committed is no where. Not with Ender himself, because he's a windup soldier, or with the leaders and scientists who wound him up an put him in situations where he was sure to kill someone and this isn't even questioned. And then there is the 'awful' genocide, that, of course, is given a total pass due to victor's justice.
If you want to argue with me and you are an adult who has not read Ender's Game in years, go back and read it again. No, really go do it. Then without the rose tinted memories from the golden age of science fiction[1] come back to argue how wrong I am about what a mediocre[2] novel this is.
[1] The Golden Age of science fiction is from age 11-15.
[2] In the true sense of not being bad, but not being good either. Bland, but solid, like oatmeal.
Edit: This post was edited after an unfortunate error of fact was discovered by James. It was not a fatal fact and in fact it probably improved by writing. And I got to snark in the comments that as a novelist Orson Scott Card is a great short story writer.
What's so fantastic about it? It is just a so-so SF novel reusing the same plot from his 1977 short story without adding anything new or interesting to it. True the idea (if it was original to him) has become a standard trope. Thought I might also argue that it is just a dramatic science fiction variant of "The Man Who Knew Too Little" where someone is fooled into doing something thinking it is just a game or trick. The writing in the novel isn't even good prose, just more. It lies limp upon page rather like a mound of overcooked spaghetti.
As for the big moral questions that is supposedly raises, it actually sidesteps them. For example instead of questioning the morality of purposefully creating a dedicated killer (indeed a whole bunch of them) to win a war, the whole affair is given a pass. Somehow responsibility for the murders that 'poor, unfairly beleaguered Ender' committed is no where. Not with Ender himself, because he's a windup soldier, or with the leaders and scientists who wound him up an put him in situations where he was sure to kill someone and this isn't even questioned. And then there is the 'awful' genocide, that, of course, is given a total pass due to victor's justice.
If you want to argue with me and you are an adult who has not read Ender's Game in years, go back and read it again. No, really go do it. Then without the rose tinted memories from the golden age of science fiction[1] come back to argue how wrong I am about what a mediocre[2] novel this is.
[1] The Golden Age of science fiction is from age 11-15.
[2] In the true sense of not being bad, but not being good either. Bland, but solid, like oatmeal.
Edit: This post was edited after an unfortunate error of fact was discovered by James. It was not a fatal fact and in fact it probably improved by writing. And I got to snark in the comments that as a novelist Orson Scott Card is a great short story writer.