If you are a big fan of science fiction novels you have more than likely heard of Ender’s Game. Though whether or not you have read it yet is a matter of time and personal preference.

            For me, I am only a moderate fan of science fiction, my interests lean more towards fantasy, however even as a moderate fan of science fiction I still heard about Ender’s Game. So I up and bought it.

            The book starts through the eyes of who else but Ender Wiggin. We join him as he is having what the author calls a “monitor” removed, which is a tiny piece of technology that allows a select group of people to see and hear everything that Ender does. Now the reason our boy Ender is wearing this device is because the military officials who installed it are eager to find the next super soldier in the war against the “buggers,” an alien race that has attacked the Earth twice. Still with me?

            Once Ender’s monitor is removed he quickly discovers that he is now on his own, where as when he had the monitor, he was kept safe by the watchful eyes of the military. But now all the bullies are free to wail on him as much as they want. Luckily Ender is above and beyond normal intelligence, even at a young age and can easily fend for himself.

            But it should also be known that Ender is a special case for the military. He is what the book calls a “third” which is basically just a third child of two parents. In the future families are restricted to how many children they can have, and so everyone was baffled that the military asked this family specifically to have a third.

            I always try to avoid spoilers in these reviews, but it is hard to find a medium where I can tell you just enough without ruining anything. So I will try to sum up a few things.

            Ender’s brother and sister were also in this monitor program in hopes they would be these super soldiers, but neither passed the test. Ender, however, excelled more than they expected and at an early age he is whisked away to what they call “battle school” where he will learn the ways of war.

            This book far exceeded my expectations, and I really had no idea what the book was about when I picked it off the shelf. It was good enough to make me forget that I liked fantasy more than sci fi, and that is saying something

            The best parts of this book have to be the battles that take place in the battle school. They have these little skirmishes in a zero gravity battle room, where they use a special type of gun that freezes their enemies. The way Orson Scott Card writes the action of these battles is amazing. I found my eyes glued to the page each time I entered the battle room until they left it once again. It is truly some of the better action sequences I have read in any book.

            Orson Scott Card also does a great job of describing battle tactics and formations. I know nothing of the military or even strategy, but everything he described I could picture, and if at first I couldn’t picture it, just the description of how it played out helped me understand.

            This is one of those books that lives up to the hype, or in this case its reputation. I have heard some people who would say it is nothing special, but that is there opinion and they are entitled to it. But my opinion is that this book was worth every penny and should not be missed by any science fiction fan, or fans of books in general for that matter.