Review: The government has limited the number of children couples can have to two, but the Wiggin family has a third. Their first two children, Peter and Valentine, are geniuses, but their personalities are polar opposites. Peter harbors a sadistic soul while his sister Valentine projects benevolence and empathy. Their youngest sibling is Andrew Wiggin. Due to his status as a “third”, he is marginalized by his classmates and peers, and he serves as a constant reminder to his parents of their unorthodox situation. Meanwhile, the world is constantly vigilante against another alien attack by what are known as the “buggers”. The species, which resemble giant insects, launched devastating attacks on Earth years ago, and the government keeps the populace reminded of the potential for another assault.

At the age of six Andrew is chosen to attend the prestigious Battle School, which educates and orbitally houses the smartest of Earth’s children in order to determine their potential as the military’s next great commanders. Andrew must navigate his way through this school as he constantly tries to fit in with those around him as well as find success. There are classes to be passed, but the real challenges are games, the ultimate of which is in the battleroom, an arena with zero gravity where teams of children assail each other in mock space battles. Andrew feels compelled to be the best student at the school because he also believes he may need to be the one who will save the world.

Recommendation: Of all the books in my mediocre-sized book collection, Ender’s Game is the most beat up. It’s pages have become yellowed, the cover is like a soft peace of papyrus, and the spine looks as though it has gone three rounds with Mike Tyson. On some pages are thin, wavering lines of pencil which show my first attempts as a sixth grader to annotate my school books. I would bet money that I have read this book on average once a year since then. There were some years when I read it more than once and other’s when I did not read it at all. It spawned a series of sequels, some of which I have read but none of which capture the original aura of this book. There is something to be said about the imagination required to give birth to these ideas, and even the foreshadowing of events and situations that have come to pass. A government keeping the populace at the edge of fear. The restrictions on family size. Dessimination of misinformation and political agendas. The book was published when I was six and the science fiction is not so fictional anymore.

Irregardless, the story of an unlikely hero is always hard to beat, and I can never stop cheering for Andrew Wiggin as he faces obstacles and manipulation that all of us have or will someday face. Andrew is the best kind of hero, the one that struggles to retain the humanity that makes us good.

Card, Orson Scott. Ender’s Game. Tor Books, New York, 1985

Currently Reading: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

On Deck: When A Crocodile Eats the Sun by Peter Godwin