Ender's Game

Ender's Game
by Orson Scott Card

Ender Wiggins may be the only hope for humanity. In an effort prevent the destruction of humanity, government agencies are taking some of the smartest children that walk the Earth, and try their best to turn them into solders and battle tacticians. Ender is a Third, a derogatory word referencing his family's shame at having more than the allotted children, due to overpopulation. The government approved Ender's conception because his brother, Peter, and his sister, Valentine, showed immense potential, but were ultimately ruled out because of their unfit dispositions. Peter is abusive and violent, while Valentine does cares greatly and does her best to protect Ender from their brother's abuse. After being monitored for several years, Ender is chosen for Battle School. In Battle School Ender excels but quickly becomes an enemy amongst many of the children. The space fleet needs Ender because they fear another invasion from the "buggers" and Ender is the last one t hey will attempt to train before it is to late. Will Ender be able to become the hero Earth needs? Does he want to? Ender's Game is a very fast paced read and I enjoyed the speed at which it progressed. The ideas presented are very intriguing and the concepts well done. Ender is a very hard character to connect with however, and throughout maintained a coldness and aloofness and I couldn't help but find his superiority complex to be bothersome and felt quite narcissistic. I felt that the ending, the last ten percent or so, was totally disjointed and came quickly and anticlimactically, though it did have one of the greatest twists in science fiction. I give credit to Card for the technology he introduces, which at the time would have been quite futuristic and now seems very in place. I am very interested in reading more of the Ender Saga books and I am very interested in seeing how Card will continue. -- recommended by Wyatt P. - Gere Branch Library

[Also available in book-on-cd format.]

[ official Ender's Game page on the official Orson Scott Card web site ]

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

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Nebula Awards announced

This year's Nebula Awards, for science fiction and fantasy works published in 2008, were announced on April 25th, 2009 in Los Angeles. The Nebula Awards are administered, voted on and presented by the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) to acknowledge excellence in science fiction writing.

Best Novel: Powers by Ursula K. Le Guin

Best Novella: "The Spacetime Pool" by Catherine Asaro

Best Novelette: "Pride and Prometheus" by John Kessel Best

Short Story: "Trophy Wives" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

Best Script: WALL-E Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

Andre Norton Award: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room) by Ysabeau S. Wilce

Neuromancer

Neuromancer

by William Gibson

Spectacular and inventive science fiction -- one of the modern classics. Gibson is often credited with creating the framework for the genre tropes associated with Cyberspace and Cyberpunk as a literary form. In Neuromancer, we have the prototypical cyberpunk elements -- a young, counter-culture protagonist, who makes use of cutting edge technology...in this case a worldwide computer network that can be biologically "jacked into", to fight against a larger organization. Gibson's edgy imagery and terminology may sound commonplace to a present-day reader, but Neuromancer was extremely prescient at the time it first came out. It's a Hugo , Nebula and Philip K. Dick award winner -- and justifiably so. Neuromancer is an absolute classic and shouldn't be missed by any science fiction or speculative fiction fan. -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[ official Neuromancer page on the official William Gibson web site ]

Have you read this one? What did you think?

Ten new reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog over the course of the entire month.

Read...Discuss...Repeat! for June - The Yiddish Policemen's Union

The June selection for BookGuide's Read...Discuss...Repeat! has been posted.

This month's title is speculative fiction novel "The Yiddish Policemen's Union", by Michael Chabon. It was recently awarded the Nebula Award for best science fiction or fantasy novel by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, but should also prove to be an enjoyable read for non-genre fans.

Stop by the Read...Discuss...Repeat! page on BookGuide for background information about the book, a list of "readalikes", and links to web sites related to the book and author. Then, if you've read the novel, stop by and fill out our on-line comment form to share your thoughts and opinions about the book!

Little bit of delayed news -- Nebula Winners announced in May

This news is a bit delayed, but only by a few weeks -- The Nebula Award winners were announced by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America at their annual Nebula Awards banquet in early May.

Winner of Best Novel was Jack McDevitt for Seeker.

Winner of the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy was Justine Larbalestier for Magic or Madness.

Winners of the award for best script were Hayao Miyazaki, Cindy Davis Hewitt, and Donald H. Hewitt for Howl's Moving Castle.

Other winners in short fiction categories, as well as commentaries by the authors, are available at the SFWA website.