Yeah, ok, he is ‘just’ really really smart. And no, you are right – he isn’t super human. But that is, in fact, the point, I think. You say “make me believe it’s a child.” Well, he did – with great accuracy…

Well this is where i disagree. The point i struggle to make is that i didn’t believe in Ender as a child. I was told that he was a child.

I, like a lot of other fans of the Ender series, read it as a kid. Specifically, a geeky 12 year old. And the book captivated me from the first chapter because I totally connected with Ender. I got him. Everything he did, I thought “that is what I would have done.”

Well sure, that’s where it suffers for me. If he’s so brilliant you shouldn’t be thinking “that is what i would have done”, you should be thinking “wow, that’s fantastic”.

Motive. Ender’s decisions were strangely unmotivated by selfishness, hatred, or pride. He was a survivalist.

I’m not sure the Ender of midway through the book would agree with you there. There are plenty of moments where he is selfish. Plenty of moments of anger, though possibly “hatred” would be too strong a term. There are a few moments where he shows pride too.

Which is the very REASON that Peter and Val were poor candidates. Peter was viscous and cruel, and Val was too emotionally weak to do what needed to be done.

As a reader i did not find that believable. If they were so gifted then there would have been a role for them somewhere, not just left to rot in school.

But to those of it who read it as kids (and still reread it to this day), it has a deep truth that really changed our lives.

Sure, i can see that, and i did enjoy the story, save for the ending. It just didn’t have the same effect on me, a geeky 24 year old, as it did on you as a geeky 12 year old.

(am going to try to avoid spoilers here, but no promises)

I think a lot of Card fans (myself included. This happens to be one of – if not my favorite – books.) view Ender a bit differently.

Yeah, ok, he is ‘just’ really really smart. And no, you are right – he isn’t super human. But that is, in fact, the point, I think. You say “make me believe it’s a child.” Well, he did – with great accuracy…

I, like a lot of other fans of the Ender series, read it as a kid. Specifically, a geeky 12 year old. And the book captivated me from the first chapter because I totally connected with Ender. I got him. Everything he did, I thought “that is what I would have done.” Ask around – I know for a fact this is the aspect of the story that most other fans were really drawn to.

And the aspects of him that made him “hero” material (like his intelligence) were qualities that I really admired – Brains. Foresight. Cunning. Not rippling muscles. Not a huge sword (though that is cool too…) So this was a kid who I could look up to. It seemed an almost attainable persona.

As to “give me reason to believe it’s better than me” – of course he is better than you (at least, to a young reader). Why? Motive. Ender’s decisions were strangely unmotivated by selfishness, hatred, or pride. He was a survivalist. In the pure sense. He did not posture, boast, or brag. He did not hurt others out of spite. He was a creature of necessity: And that was what made him “better”. He was never motivated by emotions – he was motivated by outcomes.

Which is the very REASON that Peter and Val were poor candidates. Peter was viscous and cruel, and Val was too emotionally weak to do what needed to be done. Ender was the balance point. He was about as Vulcan as you could get without copyright infringement.

But can I see coming to the conclusions you do? Absolutely. I probably would too if I hadn’t read it when I did. In fact, I don’t often recommend it to adults unless I know they can just appreciate the story. It looses some of the magic if you are exposed to it later in life.

But to those of it who read it as kids (and still reread it to this day), it has a deep truth that really changed our lives.