I just finished Ender's Game

[smiling_bandit]

I loved this when i first read it. When I went back, I realized three things:

1. The books have no place in a kid’s school. I’ve been a kid. We could be disgusting and violent, but not that vicious without being true psychopaths. That’s not a kid’s school.

2. The plot, while well constructed, was not really believable. It was an excuse to have kids who didn’t act like kids lead armies. Sorry, just can’t buy it anymore. They weren’t really kids at all and have nothing to do with children. It was a mere pretension.

3. Xenocide was good. The new books are really kind of silly. Frankly, most of those kids would have their heads blown off by adults annoyed by their pretensions in five minutes.

4. Mazer Rackham was totally wasted.

[Kyla]

@smiling bandit

2. The plot, while well constructed, was not really believable. It was an excuse to have kids who didn’t act like kids lead armies. Sorry, just can’t buy it anymore. They weren’t really kids at all and have nothing to do with children. It was a mere pretension.

I agree. There are, apparently, quite a few people who really identified with the kids in the book. I am honestly a little frightened by that. They really felt they were being used by their families and governments for their brains and weren’t treated like they were kids because they were smart? I mean, I was a “gifted” kid when I was in elementary school, and I don’t feel that way at all.

I was 23, I think, when I read the books.

[Leviosaurus]

@Kyla

I agree. There are, apparently, quite a few people who really identified with the kids in the book. I am honestly a little frightened by that. They really felt they were being used by their families and governments for their brains and weren’t treated like they were kids because they were smart? I mean, I was a “gifted” kid when I was in elementary school, and I don’t feel that way at all.

I was 23, I think, when I read the books.

I was 19 when I read it. I certainly didn’t identify with the aspects of being used by my government, but I did relate to the parts about being isolated and lonely and feeling that teachers and kids were needlessly cruel. I suspect the previous posters meant that, as well.

Having a bit more maturity and having experienced more of life and literature since my initial reading, I must agree that the plot is outrageously unbelievable. It’s still fun, though.

[clairobscur]

Like apparently many others, the book prefered in the serie was “Speaker for the dead”. I especially liked the concept.

I liked “Ender’s game” too, but I had read the short story long before the novel, so there was no chance I could be surprised, and besides, I think this original short story was very good and didn’t necessarily need to be extended to a full fledged novel.

By the way, I can’t avoid to mention another short story by Scott Card, that I read in the same book : “Unaccompagnied sonata” which is my favorite SF short story ever.

[smiling_bandit]

I did relate to the parts about being isolated and lonely and feeling that teachers and kids were needlessly cruel. I suspect the previous posters meant that, as well.

That’s fair enough. The second time I read it it was simply so impossible that I couldn’t accept it.

[Ludovic]

@Ludovic

he puts far too much credence in the power of Internet trolls to change the world

@Unauthorized_Cinnamon

I thought the Demosthenes/Locke story was a bit rushed, but I did find it amusing. It seems Card’s vision of the net was one with a centralized authority, so I cut him some slack about the influence they attain. If the internet weren’t a free-for-all, maybe something like that could happen. (Still, LOL at **Ludovic’s ** troll comment.)

Update: SMGDFH That has to be the biggest missed I’ve ever missed.

[Chronos]

[Moderating]

If we’re just going to be bumping this thread to comment on the current political situation, this isn’t the place for it. Take it to GD, Elections, or the Pit.