The past few weeks I've discovered the Ender series by Orson Scott Card and have VERY much enjoyed them.
The first book in the series started out as a short story, but was fleshed out to make sense of the 2nd book Card already had in mind. "Ender's Game" deals with Ender Wiggin, a Third, a genius, a small little boy, who is whisked away to Battle School to see if he is 'the one' who will help the humans rid the galaxy of 'The Buggers,' the first alien species that has shown human-like intelligence with more advanced star travel and weapons. It follows Ender's trials at Battle School with his peers, his commanders, the training games, and most importantly, himself.
"Ender's Game" makes the reader really ponder - who gets to decide what is best? Is it ok to sacrifice the one for the many? How far can we push a person? Can we really know what our actions should/must be without knowing the truth? Can we know the full truth before it's too late?
The second book, "Speaker for the Dead," follows Ender and his sister, Valentine, in their travels across space and time...teaching, speaking for the dead and trying to forget Earth. In a twist of fate, Ender is called to a planet that boasts the only other human-like aliens since the Buggers, and Ender must once again decide whether their fate is life or death.
Many religious ideals are exlpored in this book, as well as 'the human condition,' whether scientific standard practices are helps or hurdles, what makes a family - what is the depth of love?
There are two other books that round out the quartet of Ender, as well as a few added later. I hope to get around to read those as well, because I like the character. I find it intreaging that he can be viewed as the devil himself, a priestly figure of knowledge, a father, a friend, a lover. Nothing is as we are so eager to seem it to be. If nothing else, these books ask us to take a step back, seek the truth and go from there.
All that in a silly sci-fi book, who'd a figured?
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