Though many will disagree, one of the greatest books of all time is Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I recently reread it during a time without a book and, once again, it hasn't failed me. Here is a synopsis.
Background Information:
Roughly 50-100 years in the future, humanity has mastered intergalactic travel and has begun to make discoveries and journeys throughout the universe. On these journeys, humans encounter an intelligent alien race, referred to throughout the novel as "the buggers". This discovery paves the way to galactic war between the human and bugger races. Initially, the struggle occurs on an asteroid named Eros, and ends with the humans obliterating a colonization attempt by the buggers and recovering alien technology, enabling humans to make breakthroughs in physics and other sciences. To prepare for a possible third invasion threat, humanity establishes the International Fleet, a multinational space military organization whose sole purpose is to prevent another colonization attempt. In order to have the best success against their hyper intelligent enemies, the I.F recruits the world's prodigies to breed an army of young military geniuses under a program called the Battle School.
Side Blurb: The world's government is controlled by three ruling parties known as the Hegemon, Polemarch, and Strategos.
Synopsis:
The protagonist is Ender Wiggin, a six year old genius who is recruited to the Battle School, which he doesn't want to attend because he will have to separate from his sister, Valentine, whom he loves dearly. Valentine and Ender's brother Peter, a highly intelligent sociopath, are also geniuses, but weren't recruited due to their extreme natures: Valentine too empathetic and Peter too brutal. Ender reluctantly joins the Battle School and excels at the schools competitive war simulation, eventually being promoted to captain of his own team. Ender's success continues and he exhibits great leadership and loyalty, gaining many friends and enemies.
Meanwhile on Earth, Peter begins publishing political essays under the pseudonym "Locke" and gaining respect in the political community. Valentine, though reluctantly, publishes alongside Peter under the name "Demosthenes". Together, they gain the attention of governments and highly ranked officials.
Ender soon proves to be too good for the simulation and is promoted to Command School, a school for Battle School graduates who will actually go on to becoming military leaders. By doing this, Ender has skipped several years of training and eventually reaches the command school, which is located at Eros, in the center of the inter-species war. Ender soon meets Mazer Rackham, a retired, legendary military general who prevented the first bugger invasion.
Rackham begins introducing harder level simulations for Ender to engage in, which, unbeknownst to Ender, are actually real battles where Ender is controlling real fleets in battle. As the battles become more challenging, Ender is joined by other Battle School friends who aid him in the simulation. Despite the successes, Ender is more and more depressed by the isolation and his separation from his sister.
In the final battle, Ender destroys the bugger homeworld and the entire bugger race. He is then informed that he was fighting real battles the whole time, further plunging him into depression and remorse over committing genocide. Though hailed as a war hero, Ender, along with colonists from Earth like Valentine, travel to the bugger homeworld to escape the horrors on Earth. There, Ender discovers an egg of the bugger queen and takes it to another planet to safely hatch and restart the race. Meanwhile, Peter has completely gained complete control on Earth and declared leader of the world.
The story ends with Ender writing two books, one on the bugger race and the other on his ruthless brother.
Background Information:
Roughly 50-100 years in the future, humanity has mastered intergalactic travel and has begun to make discoveries and journeys throughout the universe. On these journeys, humans encounter an intelligent alien race, referred to throughout the novel as "the buggers". This discovery paves the way to galactic war between the human and bugger races. Initially, the struggle occurs on an asteroid named Eros, and ends with the humans obliterating a colonization attempt by the buggers and recovering alien technology, enabling humans to make breakthroughs in physics and other sciences. To prepare for a possible third invasion threat, humanity establishes the International Fleet, a multinational space military organization whose sole purpose is to prevent another colonization attempt. In order to have the best success against their hyper intelligent enemies, the I.F recruits the world's prodigies to breed an army of young military geniuses under a program called the Battle School.
Side Blurb: The world's government is controlled by three ruling parties known as the Hegemon, Polemarch, and Strategos.
Synopsis:
The protagonist is Ender Wiggin, a six year old genius who is recruited to the Battle School, which he doesn't want to attend because he will have to separate from his sister, Valentine, whom he loves dearly. Valentine and Ender's brother Peter, a highly intelligent sociopath, are also geniuses, but weren't recruited due to their extreme natures: Valentine too empathetic and Peter too brutal. Ender reluctantly joins the Battle School and excels at the schools competitive war simulation, eventually being promoted to captain of his own team. Ender's success continues and he exhibits great leadership and loyalty, gaining many friends and enemies.
Meanwhile on Earth, Peter begins publishing political essays under the pseudonym "Locke" and gaining respect in the political community. Valentine, though reluctantly, publishes alongside Peter under the name "Demosthenes". Together, they gain the attention of governments and highly ranked officials.
Ender soon proves to be too good for the simulation and is promoted to Command School, a school for Battle School graduates who will actually go on to becoming military leaders. By doing this, Ender has skipped several years of training and eventually reaches the command school, which is located at Eros, in the center of the inter-species war. Ender soon meets Mazer Rackham, a retired, legendary military general who prevented the first bugger invasion.
Rackham begins introducing harder level simulations for Ender to engage in, which, unbeknownst to Ender, are actually real battles where Ender is controlling real fleets in battle. As the battles become more challenging, Ender is joined by other Battle School friends who aid him in the simulation. Despite the successes, Ender is more and more depressed by the isolation and his separation from his sister.
In the final battle, Ender destroys the bugger homeworld and the entire bugger race. He is then informed that he was fighting real battles the whole time, further plunging him into depression and remorse over committing genocide. Though hailed as a war hero, Ender, along with colonists from Earth like Valentine, travel to the bugger homeworld to escape the horrors on Earth. There, Ender discovers an egg of the bugger queen and takes it to another planet to safely hatch and restart the race. Meanwhile, Peter has completely gained complete control on Earth and declared leader of the world.
The story ends with Ender writing two books, one on the bugger race and the other on his ruthless brother.
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