Ender's Game

I have been listening to the ENDER’S GAME series and have enjoyed the novels. The book Ender’s Game has become very popular and it (combined with its companion novel, Ender’s Shadow) is being made into a movie that will come out this year. If you like science fiction, like I do, then this is a good series to read. Orson Scott Card writes well, though he isn’t the best science fiction writer I have read, but he is better than most. His style reminds me a little of Ben Bova, one of the greatest science fictions writers of all time.

I just finished Shadow of the Hegemon and I hope to find the rest of the books I haven’t read so I can finish both series. I recommend these series because Card does a good job of combining multiple perspectives into a coherent story. He uses psychology, history, religion, military strategy, politics and sociology to weave stories with a lot of depth and insight. While I enjoy the story and I also feel that I am gaining valuable insights along the way. I don’t always agree with Card’s perspective (He’s a Mormon), I am always challenged to deepen and broaden my perspective on many subjects.

One of the ways in which I was challenged by these books was considering the dynamics of global politics. Card’s characters either struggle to gain world dominance or try to stop others from gaining hegemony, revealing the thought processes, strategies and tactics that might have taken place in the minds of Hitler, Alexander, Napoleon or others. International politics is a complex subject, but I feel that the Ender’s Game series has helped me at least start to think about global issues in a better light, hopefully laying some groundwork for future reading and study.

If you enjoy science fiction, I highly recommend this series. Here are the books in the Ender’s Game series (the ones marked with an “x” are those I have already read):

FIRST SERIES:
Ender's Game (x)
Speaker for the Dead (x)
Xenocide (x)
Children of the Mind
Ender in Exile: Ganges (working title)

SECOND SERIES:
Ender's Shadow (x)
Shadow of the Hegemon (x)
Shadow Puppets
Shadow of the Giant (x)
Shadows in Flight

OTHER:
First Meetings