Sci-Fi Book # 1 - Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

In anticipation of the movie, I figured I'd reread Ender's Game now. I first read it about five years ago for school (the class was Young Adult Literature) and ended up reading all of the book in the series up to that point (which I think there were at least 8). The first book and second book in the series (Speaker for the Dead) are by far the best and then they slowly diminish in quality. And I guess now there are also a bunch of prequel books too... which I'm sure I'll never read.  But... Ender's Game started the whole series and I won't argue too much about whether or not it deserves to be number one on the Sci-Fi book list. It is one of the better science fiction books I've read, and I'll place it in my top 50 overall.

The story is set sometime in the future where Earth has already withstood two alien invasions. At the age of six Ender Wiggin is recruited to Battle School so that he can train to become a commander in the Earth's space fleet. Why they recruit so young is never really clear... but I'm guessing it is similar to why Jedi training also starts so young... so that the kids don't have attachments to other people and can be shaped into whatever the school needs them to be. The adults that brought him to the school think he is by far the most talented kid and they push him to succeed to the point where it is basically child abuse... but the teachers justify it since Ender is needed to save the world from aliens. So most of the book is about how Ender copes with all the pressures at Battle (and later Command) School. It really gets into his emotions and thoughts and the reader feels really bad for Ender. While there are space aliens and spaceship battles in the story, most of the action happens in either of the two schools with just Ender, his schoolmates and his teachers. 

I don't want to give anything away but there is also a twist near the end. It seemed kind of obvious to me the first time I read it and the most surprising thing is that Ender himself doesn't realize what is really going on until everyone tells him. (As a side note, in the book Ender's Shadow, which focuses on Bean a fellow classmate during the same time, Bean does figure out everything and isn't fooled at all). I'll give the book an A, while it is about the usual sci-fi type things it focuses the story on characters and their psychological issues.