Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Image Unavailable
Color:
-
-
-
- To view this video download Flash Player
- 2 VIDEOS
Audible sample Sample
Follow the author
OK
Ender's Game (The Ender Saga, 1) Paperback – May 4, 2021
Purchase options and add-ons
From New York Times bestselling author Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game―adapted to film starring Asa Butterfield and Harrison Ford―is the classic Hugo and Nebula award-winning science fiction novel of a young boy's recruitment into the midst of an interstellar war.
In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut―young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.
Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.
Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.
Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is the winner of the 1985 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1986 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
THE ENDER UNIVERSE
Ender series
Ender’s Game / Ender in Exile / Speaker for the Dead / Xenocide / Children of the Mind
Ender’s Shadow series
Ender’s Shadow / Shadow of the Hegemon / Shadow Puppets / Shadow of the Giant / Shadows in Flight
Children of the Fleet
The First Formic War (with Aaron Johnston)
Earth Unaware / Earth Afire / Earth Awakens
The Second Formic War (with Aaron Johnston)
The Swarm /The Hive
Ender novellas
A War of Gifts /First Meetings
- Print length256 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions6.1 x 0.65 x 9.15 inches
- Publication dateMay 4, 2021
- ISBN-101250773024
- ISBN-13978-1250773029
Books with Buzz
Discover the latest buzz-worthy books, from mysteries and romance to humor and nonfiction. Explore more
Frequently bought together
Similar items that may deliver to you quickly
Get to know this book
What's it about?
Brilliant young boy trains as soldier to lead Earth's defense against hostile alien invaders, facing psychological battles amidst isolation and pressure.Popular highlight
It made Ender listen more carefully to what people meant, instead of what they said. It made him wise.11,055 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it’s impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves.11,004 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
There’s only one thing that will make them stop hating you. And that’s being so good at what you do that they can’t ignore you.10,305 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
Perhaps it’s impossible to wear an identity without becoming what you pretend to be.8,429 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
Ender’s anger was cold, and he could use it. Bonzo’s was hot, and so it used him.6,306 Kindle readers highlighted this
Editorial Reviews
Review
About the Author
Orson Scott Card is best known for his science fiction novel Ender's Game and its many sequels that expand the Ender Universe into the far future and the near past. Those books are organized into the Ender Saga, which chronicles the life of Ender Wiggin; the Shadow Series, which follows on the novel Ender's Shadow and is set on Earth; and the Formic Wars series, written with co-author Aaron Johnston, which tells of the terrible first contact between humans and the alien "Buggers." Card has been a working writer since the 1970s. Beginning with dozens of plays and musical comedies produced in the 1960s and 70s, Card's first published fiction appeared in 1977--the short story "Gert Fram" in the July issue of The Ensign, and the novelette version of "Ender's Game" in the August issue of Analog. The novel-length version of Ender's Game, published in 1984 and continuously in print since then, became the basis of the 2013 film, starring Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Hailee Steinfeld, Viola Davis, and Abigail Breslin.
Card was born in Washington state, and grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He served a mission for the LDS Church in Brazil in the early 1970s. Besides his writing, he runs occasional writers' workshops and directs plays. He frequently teaches writing and literature courses at Southern Virginia University.
He is the author many science fiction and fantasy novels, including the American frontier fantasy series "The Tales of Alvin Maker" (beginning with Seventh Son), and stand-alone novels like Pastwatch and Hart's Hope. He has collaborated with his daughter Emily Card on a manga series, Laddertop. He has also written contemporary thrillers like Empire and historical novels like the monumental Saints and the religious novels Sarah and Rachel and Leah. Card's work also includes the Mithermages books (Lost Gate, Gate Thief), contemporary magical fantasy for readers both young and old.
Card lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Kristine Allen Card. He and Kristine are the parents of five children and several grandchildren.
Product details
- Publisher : Tor Trade; 4th edition (May 4, 2021)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 256 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1250773024
- ISBN-13 : 978-1250773029
- Reading age : 6+ years, from customers
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.1 x 0.65 x 9.15 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,029 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #18 in Space Marine Science Fiction
- #32 in Space Operas
- #41 in Science Fiction Adventures
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Orson Scott Card is the author of the novels Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, and Speaker for the Dead, which are widely read by adults and younger readers, and are increasingly used in schools. His most recent series, the young adult Pathfinder series (Pathfinder, Ruins, Visitors) and the fantasy Mithermages series (Lost Gate, Gate Thief, Gatefather) are taking readers in new directions.
Besides these and other science fiction novels, Card writes contemporary fantasy (Magic Street, Enchantment, Lost Boys), biblical novels (Stone Tables, Rachel and Leah), the American frontier fantasy series The Tales of Alvin Maker (beginning with Seventh Son), poetry (An Open Book), and many plays and scripts, including his "freshened" Shakespeare scripts for Romeo & Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Merchant of Venice.
Card was born in Washington and grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He served a mission for the LDS Church in Brazil in the early 1970s. Besides his writing, he teaches occasional classes and workshops and directs plays. He frequently teaches writing and literature courses at Southern Virginia University.
Card currently lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Kristine Allen Card, where his primary activities are writing a review column for the local Rhinoceros Times and feeding birds, squirrels, chipmunks, possums, and raccoons on the patio.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviews with images
-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
(Now a Major Motion Picture)
By Alexander Casillas
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card is an exhilarating fast paced steep into the future of tactical space combat and the troubled life of a young soon to be Admiral of Earth’s greatest defense weapon, the International Fleet.
Years prior to the story there was an invasion of Earth that sealed a bond between the countries of the world. After eighty years the bond that was once strong is starting to shred and the scraps it is becoming are being tested with every passing day.
In its prime the bond gave the humans of Earth a fighting chance in their defense against the alien foe known only as the Buggers. After the successful defense of the planet the International Fleet started taking measures to ensure that the Earth was safe from any future assaults. The Second Invasion came and went, but still the International Fleet is unsatisfied.
Ender Wiggin is a Third in a world where parents are only permitted two children, with few exceptions. Though he is a very lonely Third, Ender is an extremely intelligent six year old on his way to finishing his basic training on Earth when he is whisked away from his family and launched into orbit by Colonel Graff to train in the renowned Battle School.
Upon entering Battle School Ender is socially isolated from the members of his team and the members of all of the other teams. He doesn’t let his isolation stop him in the slightest as he proves his worth in class and in the competitive team based battle game of the Battle Room.
After years of battles and endless torment from his superiors and other soldiers alike Ender is assigned to command his own army, Dragon Army, comprised of a ragtag group of outcast veterans and inexperienced launchies. Though the infamous name holds an inevitable season losing streak Ender works his tactical mind and turns his downcast team into a superpower that works its way up to the top of the Battle Room roster.
After proving himself a worthy candidate for Admiral of the International Fleet he is promoted to Command School on a once bugger-infested asteroid called Eros where he becomes the apprentice of the greatest war hero from the Second Bugger War, Mazer Rackham. During his apprenticeship Ender conducts fleets of starships in simulation battles to prepare himself for the his greatest task: To make it impossible for the Buggers to ever attack Earth again.
Throughout the entire story Ender is continually pushed to his limits and his grasp on his mental and physical stability wears down until he is left questioning everything and everyone.
As Ender fights for peace in zero gravity his brother and sister, the First and Second children of his family, stay very much grounded on Earth fighting for the salvation of the peace between the nations through the use of a couple of pseudonyms and many articles and debates in political forums. This part of the story takes up a much smaller portion of the book, but it is a nice treat that strengthens that storyline and the world that Orson Scott Card creates.
This story pays a great deal of attention on the character and personality of Ender. It has a strong emphasis on why Ender makes the choices he does rather than the choices alone, and the why is often the more important factor in the story and in life in general.
I like how this story promotes a lot of character analysis, and how it offers a great deal of political and military tactical reasoning. The futuristic world Orson Scott Card makes is very creative, well thought out, and easily believable. It simply feels real.
I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. The character and world building is impeccable, and the plot is so tight and complete that there is an answer to everything in the end.
The future depicted by Orson Scott Card is a frightening one. Humankind has been under siege by a mysterious breed of insect life-forms, crudely dubbed "Buggers" out of sheer terror. After barely surviving two catastrophic invasions by the Buggers, the world is under constant military martial law out of the fear of a third invasion.
The military's one and only trump card for surviving the second invasion was the strategic prowess of Mazer Rackham. Due to his example, the military has made it their top priority to find promising new tactical geniuses and train them at a very young age. This is done by monitoring their every action and progress via devices placed in their necks. The atmosphere in Orson's vision of the future is very reminiscent of a totalitarian government, exercising its power by monitoring and controlling the population. The difference here is that these measures have been taken out of fear and desperation for the very survival and preservation of the human race. Which brings up an over-arcing theme that I found in Ender's Game. When the Buggers attacked, they didn't break our spirit or morale. They struck deeper, they destroyed our sense of humanity. The leaders are more then happy to sacrifice the childhood and overall happiness of children for the sake of the human race. To steal a quote from Mr. Spock, "the needs of the many, outweigh the few." What's really disturbing about this is that we'd all most likely turn a blind eye towards their heinous acts if this was reality, it's horrible but it's unfortunately true. Yet the quote is really put to the test in this book.
This brings me to the focus of Ender's Game: Ender himself. Orson Scott Card has been described as a very strong character driven author, focusing more on the individual's problems and how they solve them. In this case, it's a little boy with the fate of the world resting on his shoulders, no pressure. The protagonist Ender Wiggin is easily one of the most well realized and unique characters that I've ever seen in literature. From the very beginning, the military recognizes Ender as the genius child who has the wisdom and tactical knowledge needed to defeat the Buggers and ultimately save humanity from annihilation. Because of this, he is given the option to leave his family and join Battle School, an orbital station in space. There he is to learn to become a soldier and if he plays his cards right, will eventually discover what it takes to become a leader. At the same time though, he must contend with the harassment of the other children and the administration constantly putting the odds against him.
One thing I quickly learned about Ender's Game is that this isn't some typical inspirational underdog story. From the very beginning to the very end, both the reader and the officers in charge know that Ender is the best there is. He showcases his superiority through his deep evaluation of people's mannerisms, strengths, weaknesses, and overall state of mind. Another large example is his tendencies early on to befriend people for the sake of forging alliances that he can call upon. Nearly every move Ender makes has some ulterior motive behind it. At times, it's quite disturbing to see these kinds of dark thoughts coming from a mere child. Which brings me to another point. As the story progresses and as he deals with more inhumane harassment from the senior officers and the other children; the child inside Ender slowly begins to die. His childhood slowly fades away, until there's nothing left but a cold leader of men. The exact leader that the military needs Ender to be. Yet you'll constantly be asking "was it worth it?"
The supporting characters are also very well realized thanks to Mr. Card's prowess. The most interesting ones were Ender's siblings Valentine and Peter. The relationship between these three characters was very unique; the two of them acting as personifications of Ender's personality. Both Valentine and Peter were turned down as Battle School candidates for differing reasons. Valentine was to compassionate and humane, while Peter was to cruel and heartless. Ender fits in the middle of the spectrum, possessing their strengths but neither of their shortcomings. He possesses the kindness of his sister, but not the hesitation and mercy. From Peter, he possesses the will to destroy his adversaries, but not for pleasure and sport, instead he does it for self-defense. This causes Ender to constantly fear that he may one day become like his brother if he continues down the wrong path.
Ender's Game is truly worthy of all of its acknowledgement and easily stands up today. It's a truly entertainment and thought-provoking science fiction story that makes you think and question our own humanity.
Top reviews from other countries
Acá mi review:
No entiendo cómo nunca antes supe de esta grandiosa pieza de literatura con toque SciFi pero sobre todo, un tributo a la Humanidad y la sabiduría infantil.
Orson Scott Card es el Julio Verne del siglo XX.
Creo que todo amante de las matemáticas y la ciencia debería leer "El juego de Ender".
Eu só não gostei muito do final: parece mais uma deixa para uma sequência do que um final verdadeiro (e, de fato, o é). Isso, porém, não me faz baixar a nota do livro; só me faz não querer ler os outros do Quinteto.
Recomendado.