Genre: Science Fiction

Setting: Outer spaceNumber of pages:

324

MAYA SINGH

Written by: Orson Scott CardAuthor, critic, professor, columnist

poet, and political activist. born August 24, 1951 in Richland,

Washington. 3rd born of 6 kids.Grew up in Santa Clara, California.Currently lives in Greensboro,

North Carolina.Writes in seven different genres,

but is best known for science fiction.

Character: Ender (protagonist)Intelligent, resourceful, talented, mature, quiet.Small for his age. Ridiculed for being a “Third” (third-born with a 2-

child policy).Lives with his parents and 2 siblings, Valentine and

Peter.Very close to Valentine, but Peter always tormented

him.At the beginning of the story he is 6 years old and

has just passed entry to battle school, where he will train to fight against the invasion.

Character: Peter (antagonist)Oldest of 3 siblings.Torments both Ender and Valentine.Sadistic, manipulative, abusive, but still

intelligent.Somewhat of an “evil genius”Tortures small animals. (skins them alive)Almost passed the test for battle school, but

he was too impulsive and aggressive.His parents don’t realize what he’s actually

like.

Character: ValentineMiddle child, and the only daughter.Caring, timid, shy, intellectual,

loving.Protects Ender from Peter.Also failed the test; intelligent, but

too timid. Not mentally “strong” enough for war.

The only person Ender cared about leaving behind for school.

SummaryEnder has been chosen to go to a battle school to train.His siblings are all smart and talented, but only Ender

passed.He’s told that he should leave his parents for school so

they don’t have to be ashamed of breaking a 2-child policy.Ender accidently kills one of his classmates, and begins

wondering if he’s more like his brother than he thought.He’s promoted to command school strangely fastAlthough he’s unhappy, he trains.After a while, his body can’t cope and he gets sick but he

recovers and continues.He has to do his final test to graduate.

Likes DislikesInteresting plot Confusing for the first few chapters

Very unique story The ending doesn’t explain what happens to all the characters; only some.

Detailed, mostly easy to follow Narration got boring sometimes; at some parts I wanted to skip pages.

Suspenseful

All major questions were answered

Characters evolved a lot.

Vocabulary WordsApathy: Lack of interest and enthusiasm. The

student showed apathy towards the project.Hegemony: The dominance/leadership of one

group or nation. The family's hegemony over the town finally ended.

Revere: regard with deep respect/admiration. He is revered for giving up a $3 million contract to join the army.

Contempt: lack of respect, often with intense dislike/disgust. The officer was surprised by my contempt for authority.

More VocabularyDr. Device: The M.D. Device stands for

Molecular Disruption Device (aka Dr. Device/Little Doctor). A weapon that makes it impossible for any two atoms to coexist in a molecule; it causes total destruction of the object. They all trained their Little Doctors on the enemy.

Formic: A race of aliens that is attacking Earth in the book. The Formic aliens had almost won the last invasion.

ThemeSometimes lies are more

dependable than the truth. Throughout the book Ender is lied to, from the doctor telling him “it won’t hurt a bit!”, to his teacher saying that he would be helping his parents if he left home. All those lies helped him make major decisions, because he thought he had nothing to lose.

Age and size don’t matter. Despite Ender only being 6(and still small for his age), he is among the top at his school, and his teacher’s believe he could be the one that saves the planet.

ReviewI enjoyed this book a lot and I can understand why

it’s gotten so many positive comments; it’s really well written and keeps your interest from start to end. Despite being a sci-fi book and sounding like it was all about end-of-the-world theories, it wasn’t at all like that. I definitely recommend you read this book.

I’d give this book 4.5/5 high-fives.

Title or Ending?I would change the ending.

Change it so Valentine isn’t brought back into the story so much; by the end of the book I didn’t like her. She changed for the worst and I didn’t like how happy her ending was despite her actions.

I’d also change the ending so that it goes farther into what happens after everything.

Would I want to be the main character?Yes and no.Yes, because I really admire all of the things that

Ender does, and also his wit. I also think it would be cool to live in the future, because there seems to be a lot of really useful technology.

No, because his life seriously sucks; his home is being attacked, he constantly has people lying to him/trying to kill him, he thinks he’s a killer, and he is expected to save the world.