Ender's Life

Before reading this book I expected a futuristic story about a kid playing space games. After the first five chapters I began to think it was a kid's version of Brave New World. Now after five more chapters I'm really thinking that it's a satirical commentary on all historical, current and future world politics! The chapter about Valentine and Peter, aka Demothsenes and Locke really threw me as I was not expecting such political and historical undertones. It seemed to make the story a whole lot bigger and made me wonder where the book and the series was going. I guess I'll have to wait and see.

Ender is clearly brilliant and yet so lonely. Poor kid is really being put through the ringer to make him "the best." I'm glad he got a small window of realative happiness, but it seems that is over now. I am certainly on Ender's "side" if you can call it that. I have really enjoyed reading about his friends, his games, his tactics and his strategies, far more than I expected. This is not the typical book that I'd pick up to read, but I'm glad I was given the opportunity to read it...just hoping things on earth don't get too weird.

One other thing that really moved me was the using and in my opinion, breaking of Valentine. Not all torture is physical and what they did clearly had a profound and negative effect (emotionally) on both her and Ender, though it clearly acheived what the teachers wanted. To take and break a child through isolation, seperation and hardship is cold, to use a child's greatest love and ali against them is just cruel. I hope Ender realizes she didn't mean to do what she did and was forced into it, but it doesn't seem clear to me exactly what his thoughts were on the incident.