“This is considered a sort of sci-fi classic, and itâs easy to see why. The science fiction elements are just about perfect, lots of new and strange technology, all of which has a completely realized and thought-out feel to it. When the game, the different technologies and the scenes of little boys beating each other nude in the shower come up, it all feels very futuristic.
The part that didnât impress me quite so much was the larger political and social statement of the book. I wonât kill the book for anybody, but basically the idea is that making little kids be soldiers is bad, and also trusting the government to run everything is bad.
In fact, thereâs this whole political subplot that couldnât be more tedious and superfluous. Itâs not too long, but itâs a little off-putting because itâs fairly deep and involved and then it pretty much disappears from the book.
The difference between good sci-fi and great sci-fi is that good sci-fi tells us about cool technology or some such shit, but great sci-fi uses the genre to tell us something about the way things are now, within our current context, the theory being that we can see things more clearly when weâre removed from the thick of it all.
For example, if I told you that we discovered a race of humanoid beings that harbored parasites, it would sound weird. Then I would tell you that the people wanted these parasites, some really, really wanted them, and that they would go through a lot to get them, even giving up their entire previous lifestyle, even though the parasites drained the life out of them.
Then, BOOM, I reveal that these âparasitesâ are really HUMAN BABIES, bitches! Oh man, we were so tricked! Or wait, maybe theyâre apes. You know what, doesnât matter. The point is, the good sci-fi elements of Enderâs Game were good, really good. But the great aspect, the political sections and the parts that ask the big human questions, were a little heavy-handed and didnât really amount to a whole lot.
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