Plan Zero Blog

I’d had Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card on my list of books to read for a while, but a friend of mine persuaded me to bump it up to the top. And I’m glad she did, for it is, as she described it, “like crack on paper”.

The book follows the path of a child, Ender, as he is carefully (and somewhat sadistically) crafted into a tool to save the human race from a long feared enemy. Now the thought of a book focusing mostly on a single kid didn’t really make me think “ooh, what an exciting concept”, but Ender is no ordinary kid.

Every child in Ender’s society is implanted at a young age with a monitoring device through with they are closely observed. The powers that be are always there, watching and feeling; knowing everything that the children know, looking for those special few who can help save the world. And Ender is chosen as the ultimate saviour.

As I read this book, I could feel what Ender was feeling; think as Ender was thinking. Images formed in my mind as vividly as they would were I watching Ender’s Game, The Film. I found myself unable to put the book down. At times I only stopped because my head started hurting from staring at those yellow-white pages for too long.

The advice of my friend when we first spoke about the book was that if I liked the first chapter, I should buy the next two books in the saga. And I wish I had followed her advice. I now have to wait several days for my copy of Speaker for the Dead, and quite frankly, I need my fix.

I highly recommend this book, and if you do buy it, and you do like the first chapter, please, for your own sake, follow my friend’s advice and buy Speaker for the Dead at the first opportunity!

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