Ender's Game

Ender’s Game (1985) is a best-selling dystopian science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card. The story follows a precocious boy’s fight against space aliens and his own government. The essence of the story first appeared in a small sci-fi journal in 1977 as a short story of the same name. Card expanded the premise into a series that includes 15 novels and 13 related short stories. In addition to winning a Nebula Award in 1985, the book was adapted into a blockbuster film in 2013. Its themes include Self-Sacrifice for the Greater Good; Understanding the Enemy; and Trickery, Manipulation, and Choice.

This guide refers to the 1991 Tom Doherty Associates ebook edition.

Plot Summary

The novel opens with six-year-old Andrew (Ender) Wiggin having a monitor removed from his neck. All his life, Ender Wiggin has been told by his family, school, and government that a hostile alien force threatens to return to destroy planet Earth. Humans around the planet have dubbed these aliens the “buggers.”

Colonel Hyrum Graff of the International Fleet (I.F.) recruits Ender to Battle School, an operation that attracts the most promising children from around the world and trains them in battle tactics that will defend Earth from the upcoming alien invasion.