Ender's Game
(Ender #1)
by Orson Scott Card
science fiction
copyright 1977
read in March 2021
rated 6/10: read to pass the time
I think that -- in its time -- this book could have rated seven. Reading it now my main thought is, How could people be so cruel?
The training regime is cruel. The reasons are sound -- as one option -- but unpleasant. Is the author's message that we should not treat children this way? I suspect that the author supported the approach that he describes.
It's real old-school brutality. Break the soldier so that he can save humanity... which, on the evidence, is not worth saving. Sacrifice small children in order to -- possibly -- save the world? Nasty.
When I saw this book I remembered that I had read it before, many years before. I remembered the twist at the end. I also remembered the book as being not worth reading. The twist is still unpleasant. The book is unpleasant -- but not as bad as I remembered. Not quite.
It's a book of its time. Read it to get a feel for the attitudes of its day. Hope that humanity survives as a quality rather than just a collection of people. And check the definition of hegemony, it's the most-used word in the book.
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
... Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
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All we can do is what we can do... Leonard Barrens in The Forever Watch
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