We just finished listening to one of Jason's favorite books on audio book - Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. I was very resistant to reading this book because it seemed very very sci-fi (I generally prefer fantasy to sci-fi) and I was afraid it would be too difficult to follow, but listening it definitely held my attention. I have to say, I loved it! It's set in the future and Earth has been involved in a war with an alien force called the Buggars. Children are monitored and certain children are selected to go into space to battle school to learn military tactics to fight the Buggars. Ender is thought to be the most brilliant military mind of the age and is kind of the "chosen one" to beat the Buggar army - and he's only 6 years old when he leaves for battle school. The story chronicles his life at battle school, his training to defeat the Buggars, and the rigors of battle school in general. It was very futuristic and rather eerie at the same time. It was published in 1985, but Card predicted a lot of different technologies. For example, the children in battle school use "desks" that are essentially the same as laptops. People get their information from "the Nets," which is essentially like today's internet. Pretty crazy stuff - I wonder what else could be predicted from that book! There have been talks of an Ender's Game movie for decades now but it's never come to fruition because the Hollywood execs want to make the character of Ender older, but Orson Scott Card won't consent to it. It is essential to the story that Ender is an innocent child, so I hope Card holds out for a studio that will honor his wishes. I would love to see a movie of this! Highly recommended, something everyone should read in their lives!
Photo credit: http://blastr.com/2010/09/enders-game-film-is-back.php
