I thought the Library board looked lonely, and some mysterious force has caused me to scour the house for Ender's Game, that I may reread it. It's definitely one of those compulsive-rereading books.
Things that probably don't apply to you first: I find that the comparison of a gouged-out giant eyeball to cottage cheese gives me a feeling comparable to squeezing bubotubers. If you haven't read the book, don't let that put you off it. It's fantastic.
Only the writing style keeps you from throwing the book across the room in despair at a certain point, but that writing style, even in the darkest hour, kept me going, "How is Dragon Team going to win this one?" And the description of the technology and realistic circumstances of world peace and all those smart-yet-childlike children are fantastic. I especially like Dink.
But the best part has to be Demosthenes and Locke. (Oh, sorry, Locke and Demosthenes. But that doesn't have rhythm, dangit.) I mean, have you ever heard of a cooler scheme to take over the world? Cool, cool, cool.
I heard that in the original novella Valentine doesn't even exist. That, friends, is phenomenal editing.
I've read the Shadow series up to Shadow Puppets, and Bean is SUCH a Gary-Stu, but Virlomi and Sister Carlotta make up for it in the first two. Then Petra is transformed into a weepy, fertility-obessed... blech, Carlotta and Virlomi get a lesser role, one way or another, and it kind of goes downhill.
I've heard two things about the Speaker for the Dead trilogy: a) it takes place three thousand years in the future and b) it involves an adult Ender. I assume there are buggers, too, but my basic point is: Huh?
Do what you will; but I will hinder it if I may.
-- Eowyn of the Mark
|