Ender's Game

Look at this!

And this: 12 Things The Ender's Game Trailer Got Right

I've written so many love letters about Ender's Game over the years, I'm sure you've run into one somewhere. You haven't??

Oh.

Well then, you probably haven't read The Authorized Ender Companion as thoroughly as you should have, because there are a bunch of letters from people whose lives have been changed by Ender, and I happen to be one of them. As you can imagine, my little fan-girl heart is excited for this movie. Excited, but a little afraid to start jumping up and down. No movie could ever capture the nuances that make the book so great.

On the other hand, there will be combat in the Battle Room, and that's good enough for me. 

I just finished reading Earth Unaware, which is the story of humans right before the first Formic War. I was hoping for the story of Mazer Rackham, but he only gets a cameo in the book. Instead, its mostly the story of Milo, a man on the mining space vessel who first recognized the alien space ships, and his attempts to warn Earth--after all, there was no ansible in those days. 

The sequel to Earth Unaware is called Earth Afire, and it will be out on June 6th.

I was in college when I discovered Ender, and he came right when I needed him. He spoke to the undeveloped places in me and whispered of potential beyond my imagination. I loved the story of Speaker for the Dead, and it still might be my favorite book not written by JK Rowling, but I craved Ender's Game the way I've never craved anything else. I've thoroughly worn out two copies. In my letter in The Authorized Ender's Companion, I wrote,

...After I read it I started over and read it again and again.  Ender’s Game became my manual for life.  Ender’s struggle to forge a place for himself in Battle School helped me reshape my college experience.  I read it when I was stressed about finishing my master’s thesis, the night before I got married, while I was pregnant, and again after my children were born.  I held onto Ender’s Game like a lifeline when my husband and I moved across the country to Maine—my own personal transfer to Command School.  I have it on my computer table right now as I struggle to edit my first novel. 

I am amazed at the way that Ender has helped to define and shape my life.    When I first read Ender’s game, I was not much like Ender.  I was too afraid to find my own limits.  Ender was the missing balance in my life.

It seems like there are zillions of stories in the Enderverse. Books about Ender, books about Peter, books about Bean. Now there are books about the Formic Wars. I know many people like the Bean books even better than the Ender books. I thought they were all great. But there is something magical about the two books that started it all.

Has Ender touched your life? Are you excited for the movie?