Ender doesn’t have a normal childhood. Ender is a prodigy bred to win wars with an alien species. Burnout, living upto expectations, psychological warfare and intelligent maneuvers are a common theme.
Here you learn about the greatest military leader in the hypothetical Earth’s history, who is also an eleven year old kid. How he was trained, or should I say, broken apart so that he’d have to be on edge 24x7 and how he actually succeeds (or does he?) in the humongous task destined for him. Ender’s case (moral views on how they dealt with the kid) is a meta-debate that is discussed in the book itself, and I think it’s pretty cool.
It’s not just pure sci-fi where kids fight with laser guns. There’s quite a bit of text on international politics, military strategem and emotional breakdowns. The story has quite a few flawed characters. Ender himself is a flawed “hero”, and oh how he’s aware of it.
All of it is really well-written. Maybe the politics part not so much; it felt like glorified filler. But you get children going for deadpan jokes. Bonus!
Overall, Ender’s Game is a really binge-worthy book that you can’t stop reading. And it certainly doesn’t take many braincells. Just a bit of empathy.
4/5