I can't think of a creative title

Ender's Game

by Orson Scott Card

Finished!

I actually finished it yesterday, but then War Horse happened and besides, I needed time to think over my opinion of the book.  

A little summary before I begin. In the far future of the Earth, Andrew "Ender" Wiggins is a special boy who is taken to Battle School, a school in space where boys (and a few girls) are trained to become soldiers and commanders to defeat the buggers, creatures who attempted to invade Earth many years ago. To train for this, the children are put into armies and fight in simulation-type games. It's a little strange to wrap your brain around, but frankly, I'm used to sci-fi and fantasy authors thinking of weird things.

Okay, so, opinions. The story started off nicely, stuff happened, it was a good pace, and then it started to drag on a bit. Many characters were introduced, things happened, but I couldn't really see where it was all going. Then, bam, plot twist, we're back on Earth with Ender's family. Back in space, back to Earth, back to space. Ender gets taken elsewhere, stuff starts happening on Earth, it all gets mixed up and slightly confused. Then, BAM, big plot twist, everything changes, the end. 

So here is what I had issues with: the end has very little connection to the beginning. The author kind of drops you and leaves you with something totally different.

Also, the writing style. Overall, the book was written in third person, but sometimes it switched to the first for no reason. I assume that it was to highlight the thoughts or view of the character in question, but I thought it was very unnecessary and confusing at times.

That said, I like the story and the meaning behind it. The idea that the fate of all humankind rests in the hands of a young boy, that children can make a huge impact on the world. That was the main theme in this book, basically: no matter how small you are, you matter, and you can achieve great things. In Ender's case, that means killing multiple individuals, but you know, that wasn't the point.

In conclusion, I will be reading the next two books as well as Ender's Shadow, as recommended by a few of my friends. Not great literature, but a good read, I couldn't put it down. I'm sure my teachers noticed. In fact, having the book lie in front of me during bio caused my bio teacher to make a speech on the importance of reading. (I awarded him 1000 awesome points in the process, because he recommended some more books to me.) Also, apparently Ender's Game used to be taught as part of the freshman English curriculum, which is interesting.

I think that before I go get the previously mentioned books at the library, I will finish Volume I of the Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes. I only have a little bit left to go. (Relatively speaking of course; I have over 200 more pages yet to read! In all fairness, though, in a book that's 1059 pages long, 200 isn't that bad.)