Ender's Game Critical Essays

Ender's Game presents the age-old science fiction conflict of human against alien. While the plot is timeworn, many critics have observed that Card's storytelling ability, as well as the story's details and characterization, are vivid enough to maintain the reader's interest. Reviewer Roland Green, for example, stated in Booklist that Ender's Game is "a seamless story of compelling power." Card's peers and fans concurred, as the novel won both the Nebula (given by science fiction writers) and Hugo (given by science fiction readers) Awards.

Card originally wrote Ender's Game as a short story that he submitted to the leading science fiction magazine Analog after having had one story rejected by the publication. Not only did the editor like Ender's Game enough to publish it, others took notice. The short-story version won for Card the World Science Fiction Convention's John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1977. Encouraged by his success, Card continued to write and to further develop his skills. He began working on the novel Speaker for the Dead and realized that the main character should be Ender Wiggin from Ender's Game. This inspiration led to Card's writing the full version of the short story Ender's Game. When Tor Books published Ender's Game as a full-length novel in 1985, reviewers especially applauded Card's compelling portrayal of Ender as an innocent child being manipulated by controlling adults. A Kirkus Reviews critic noted that "long passages focusing on Ender are nearly always enthralling—the details are handled with flair and assurance."

Card depicts Ender as an "abused" child in the sense that adults use him for their own purpose to save the world for the good of mankind. This manipulation, and the resulting sympathy readers feel for Ender, underlie the "compelling power" about which reviewer Green spoke. Readers can identify with Ender throughout the story, even though he eventually annihilates an entire species of beings. Ender is very much the typical...