Ender's Game

[realisticphish]

who has read this book (and the rest of the series). IMHO, once of the most interesting sci-fi series since the Foundation series. And its always in the childrens section at my local library...:wtf:

:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[LeftyMom]

1. I have

I like all of them, but I'm a big fan of Card's writing even if he is a conservative and kind of a jerk about it.

I'm not surprised it's in the kid's section, some of the schools around here read it as a class. I don't think it's a children's book, as it deals with rather adult issues, but there's a tendency on the part of a lot of adults to assume any books about children are writen for children and somehow beneath them. The sequels are clearly not children's books. The whole theme of his wife's pain and estrangement from the family and her first romantic relationship and the effect it has on her children and her beloved's kids (I'm really straining to keep this out of spoiler territory, can you tell?) is definitely for relatively mature teens and up, in my opinion.

Have you had the misfortune of reading the paralell series centered around Bean? The first one is okay, but the most recent was so forgetable I accidentaly bought a second copy because I'd completely forgot I'd read it.

[realisticphish]

7. yes i have

at least the first one. it wasnt TOO bad, though i didnt like the way it basically said "ender didnt do shit in the first book". havent read the others in that series


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[Streetdoc270]

17. read it in Jr High.

And was in College with OS Card when he was doing his Graduate work in English at UNC-Greensboro

[phantom power]

2. Good book. I gradually lost interest in the sequels.

The same thing is happening with his "Alvin Maker" books. He doesn't seem to know how to get to the end. It's a shame, because the whole frontier/folk magic universe is so great. It's just starting to feel like a soap opera, more than a story.

[realisticphish]

6. I LOVE the maker books

but i agree that they are starting to fall apart. the first few were fantastic


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[CBGLuthier]

3. I actually enjoyed another of his more

The Worthing Chronicles.


Ender's game was a great short story, a good novel, and a boring series. I just hate it when authors turn one work into an entire career. I know it can be the publisher's fault and I have nothing against series fiction but some stories need to just end.

[CBGLuthier]

4. One more though about OSC

I assume you guys know that he is so far to the right he makes Heinlein look like a hippie.

[realisticphish]

8. really?

i really dont detect that in his writing, maybe i missed some subtle stuff. in any case, as long as it doesnt interfere too much with the writing, ill read an author regardless of politics. same with bands, like Dream Theater, one of my favorites, even though they lean right


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[CBGLuthier]

10. Sadly, yes

If you want to enjoy his work then do not ever go to his website;


http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/index.html




Myself, I will never let this man have another penny of my money.

[realisticphish]

11. i never have

thats what libraries are for :)

and i didnt click the link. id rather not know


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[Wilber_Stool]

15. I feel much better now

having stolen his books from a news group. I didn't get them all but they'll probably show up again.

[Touchdown]

5. Maybe I'm thinking of another series...

but I thought Ender's Game was an anti-military counter-point to Starship Troopers' jingoism. Aren't they fighting a race of insects as well? Am I thinking of something else?

[realisticphish]

9. hmm

i dont know if its really anti-military. they ARE fighting insects, but you learn way more about the insects than in ST...and in the later books, i suppose there is a tiny bit of anti-military. plus, i didnt really get much jingoism out of starship troopers. it seemed like it was painting a really brutal picture of the military, with their psychotic training methods


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[lazarus]

12. jingoism?

I never picked up jingoism in Starship Troopers. The book was very, very good.

The movie was fascist nonsense, from what I can tell.

[Touchdown]

13. Read my take on the movie here...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=210&topic_id=861&mesg_id=1177

Sorry. Not a fan of Heinlein's over the top adoration of military heroism...this is coming from a vet...and I think Verhoeven skewered Heinlein's polemic exactly the way it should have been. IMO, it was irresponsible to market this book at youth, which it was in 1959. The battle suits were cool, but it's the polemics of ST that I had a real distaste for.

[lazarus]

14. I'm a vet as well

and didn't find it the least bit over the top. The book, that is.

What polemics particularly did you dislike?

[Enraged_Ape]

20. The movie was actually quite a clever look at our superficial society...

and how we would react to a somewhat concocted war with a mysterious "enemy".

Try watching it again with post-9/11, post-Iraq eyes. You will marvel at Paul Verhoeven's foresight about our jingoism, right-wing cheerleading from the media, etc.

I thought the book AND the movie were fairly decent, if not amongst the best that science fiction has to offer.

[kcr]

22. Sigh

Do we really have to have this fight again? :)

[Fleurs du Mal]

16. I have

Ender's Game was fantastic when I first read it. Speaker for the Dead was also good. I agree with some others that Card sometimes has trouble keeping the story interesting.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

18. "Speaker for the Dead" was my favorite ..................

of the series that I have read so far (I'm a few books behind now). The part with young girl obsessively tracing the woodgrain still freaks with me. Card is an excellent author.

[bobbieinok]

19. E's Game--as a short story great and as book; rest of series boring

the Maker series..I read somewhere they're based on the Book of Mormon .... Card is a Mormon

[LeftyMom]

21. I dunno about Alvin Maker but

The Homecoming: Harmony and Homecoming: Earth books are based on the BOM. They're also boring as hell and have some of those awful sci-fi cliche "x'xx" apostrophe'd names. I expected better form him when I bought those, they're lousy.