Guest Post from Steve: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Hi, its Steve again. Hope you're all keeping well.

Ender's Game is my favouritest book ever. SO good I'm risking Sangu's wrath by making up words in her blog. Its the first and best of a series of books by Orson Scott Card that feature mostly the same character and universe.

Usually, I enjoy books that make me feel clever when I can predict whats going to happen. Or at least tell myself that I knew. But Ender's Game has a brilliant twist at the end which I have no intention of telling anyone here. It completely and utterly fooled me, but in a way that made the book completely endearing (instead of "aren't you clever for outsmarting me *places book in bin*").

It also creates a very clever and believable universe. It is based around a war with aliens, and Earth's search for brilliant children to be commanders of the future. The most brilliant of these (until you read Ender's Shadow) is the eponymous Ender Wiggin, who is fast-tracked to the top of the school in record time. The 'school' is "Battle School", where children are taught military history and tactics, along with the physics of space battles.

It leads to a hyper-competitive, violent environment, that Ender and a very small number of allies rise above. But the brilliant part of the book is the very end, and I can't recommend enough that you pick this book up and read it.

:-)