Ender’s Game is set in a type of dystopia that’s so far in
the future, population control is one of the major issues of the day. As is the potential for invasion from alien
entities known as the Formics. Having
failed once the “buggers” as the Formics are more commonly named, are
determined to destroy humanity, or so the International Fleet would have the
people of earth believe.
The story centers around a boy who is put through a rigorous
education to become the best commander in history. It can almost be called a psychological drama
because the way the adults of the story play with Ender’s mind is like a sick
joke at times. They manipulate him and
break him down until at the age of eleven he is unknowingly put in command of
the fleet in an all out invasion on the Formic home world.
Ender is forced to murder, to command, to segregate and then
without even knowing it, he commits a brash act of genocide. It makes sense that he would break at the
news, but to come so far and facing so much miscommunication, Card leaves the
reader thinking Ender could have known better.
In his unique style, Card employs many simple techniques
that in concert make a complex and intriguing story. I think that the fractured way the story
comes out works in his favor it makes for a more exciting story. Once the reader gets past the set ups in the
first few chapters and understands the context of the adult dialogue at the
beginning of each chapter, the story flows well and really does pull the reader
into it, page after page.
