Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ender’s Game (1985) by Orson Scott Card is one of those books that cleave to the reader’s interest as the story flies by on the page. Card has a story to tell and it shows in each and every sentence. The author is not writing for poetics or the beauty of language; he is writing for the story alone. I call this “precision writing.” Clean. Sharp. And to the point. And what a story it is.

Earth has been invaded twice by an alien species called Formics, or “buggers,” which are insect like. In order to prepare for a third invasion, the International Fleet (I.F.) is training young children in hopes of preparing them for a final solution to the bugger invasion. I.F., however, intends to invade the buggers on their home world.

Ender’s Game can be divided into three sections. The first section is Andrew Wiggin (aka Ender) on Earth and at school. In a world where families can only have two children, Ender is a Third, and he is also a genetic creation of modern science, making him a genius. At age six, Ender then is picked up by the I.F. and taken to Battle School. Most of the book takes place at Battle School where Ender (from age 6-11) learns how to work in teams and take command of other soldiers who are children. While at Battle School, Ender becomes a legend and he graduates early.

The real exciting part of the book (which will likely be most of the movie) takes place at Command School on Eros. Ender and friends are further prepared for the third invasion by playing computer games, or flight simulations, using star fleets. Ender is pushed to the brink of insanity in order to prepare him as the top commander that will lead the star fleet against the buggers. But first, he must pass the final examination. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Peter, Ender’s older brother, is planning to take over the world under the alias known as Locke. The surprise ending–during and after Command School (i.e., on Ender’s World)–really takes this book from story to epic. And so begins the Ender Saga.

Personally, I could not put this book down and finished it in about three days. It is such a great story and reminded me of the Dune Saga (1965) by Frank Herbert with Paul Atreides and company. Ender’s Game is classic Sci-Fi and a real page turner. A very strong recommend for those who love stories told extremely well.

 

Trailer – Ender’s Game

Introduction to Ender’s Game

 

CG FEWSTON is an American novelist who is a member of AWP, a member of Americans for the Arts, and a professional member and advocate of the PEN American Center, advocating for the freedom of expression around the world.

CG FEWSTON has travelled across continents and visited such places as Mexico, the island of Guam, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand, Taipei and Beitou in Taiwan, Bali in Indonesia, and Guilin and Shenzhen and Beijing in China. He also enjoys studying and learning French, Vietnamese, Cantonese and Mandarin.

CG FEWSTON earned an M.Ed. in Higher Education Leadership and Administration (honors), an M.A. in Literature (honors) from Stony Brook University, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Fiction from Southern New Hampshire University, where he had the chance to work with wonderful and talented novelists, such as Richard Adams Carey (author of In the Evil Day, October 2015; and, The Philosopher Fish, 2006) and Jessica Anthony (author of Chopsticks, 2012; and, The Convalescent, 2010) as well as New York Times Best-Selling novelists Matt Bondurant (author of The Night Swimmer, 2012; and, The Wettest County in the World, 2009, made famous in the movie Lawless, 2012) and Wiley Cash (author of A Land More Kind Than Home, 2013; and, This Dark Road to Mercy, 2014).

Among many others, CG FEWSTON’S stories, photographs and essays have appeared in Sediments Literary–Arts Journal, Bohemia, Ginosko Literary Journal, GNU Journal (“Hills Like Giant Elephants”), Tendril Literary Magazine, Prachya Review (“The One Who Had It All”), Driftwood Press, The Missing Slate Literary Magazine (“Darwin Mother”), Gravel Literary Journal, Foliate Oak Magazine, The Writer’s Drawer, Moonlit Road, Nature Writing, and Travelmag: The Independent Spirit; and for several years he was a contributor to Vietnam’s national premier English newspaper, Tuoi Tre, “The Youth Newspaper.”

You can read more about CG FEWSTON and his writing at

www.cgfewston.me & https://www.facebook.com/cg.fewston/ & https://hk.linkedin.com/in/cgfewston

A TIME TO LOVE IN TEHRAN won GOLD for Literary Classics’ 2015 best book in the category under ”Special Interest” for “Gender Specific – Female Audience”…

Finalist in the 2015 Chatelaine Awards for Romantic Fiction…

Finalist in the 2015 Mystery & Mayhem Novel Writing Contest…

Praise for A TIME TO LOVE IN TEHRAN:

“Fewston delivers an atmospheric and evocative thriller in which an American government secret agent must navigate fluid allegiances and murky principles in 1970s Tehran… A cerebral, fast-paced thriller.”

— Kirkus Reviews 

“A TIME TO LOVE IN TEHRAN is a thrilling adventure which takes place in pre-revolutionary Tehran. Author CG FEWSTON provides a unique glimpse into this important historical city and its rich culture during a pivotal time in its storied past. This book is so much more than a love story. Skillfully paired with a suspenseful tale of espionage, A TIME TO LOVE IN TEHRAN is a riveting study of humanity. Replete with turns & twists and a powerful finish, FEWSTON has intimately woven a tale which creates vivid pictures of the people and places in this extraordinary novel.”

— LITERARY CLASSICS

CG FEWSTON‘s new novel,

A TIME TO LOVE IN TEHRAN, was published on April 2, 2015 —

10 years to the day of the publication

of his first novella, A FATHER’S SON (April 2, 2005)

“Thus one skilled at giving rise to the extraordinary

is as boundless as Heaven and Earth,

as inexhaustible as the Yellow River and the ocean.

Ending and beginning again,

like the sun and moon. Dying and then being born,

like the four seasons.”

found in Sources of Chinese Tradition, p 5