The amazing disappearing me.

Haven't been doing much lately, as you might have noticed due to the lack of activity on my blog. Way back in 5th grade my dad gave me a book to read called Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. I was blown away by it. It was awesome, about a boy my age saving the world from aliens. The author admits that he never intended the book as a children's novel, but currently it is required reading in high schools, and most fans of it are either young, or had read it when they were.

I was rearranging some books on my shelves to put in some new aquisitions and I found my old copy of Ender's Game, and thought to myself, "hey, I loved this book when I was a kid, I wonder if it still holds up now." I read Ender's Game, and it's three direct sequels, and then a side series which is also four books long staring with Ender's Shadow. And another book that just recently came out that takes place between Ender's Game and the second book Speaker for the Dead. That's 9 books, which has kept me busy for the last couple weeks.

When I was younger, I tried reading the sequels to Ender's Game, but they are very different from the original. The first book was about a kid trying to cope with the fact that he's the only person on earth with the right mindset needed to learn how to command Earth's fleets against alien invaders. The next three are very deep and very philosophical, delving into the reasons behind life, what makes a person a person, and other such things that a 12 year old kid just isn't going to get. It's easy to sympathize with a guy your own age struggling to get through life. When that same guy is 30 and wandering the universe under the weight of a horrible sin he can never forgive himself for, desperately seeking some way to make it right again, a 12 year old boy tends to lose interest fairly quickly.

If you've never read Ender's Game, read it now. You're missing out on one of the best books that has ever been written. Be aware, however, that there is a huge difference between this book and the next 3 in the series. Being older, I found that i enjoyed these books a great deal, but for completely different reasons than I enjoyed the first book. They're very heavy on philosphy and if that's not your thing, feel free to skip them. But you definitely have to read the first one.

The second series, beginning with Ender's Shadow, is also pretty fun. It's not quite so good as Ender's Game, and the first book is basically a retelling of that story from the point of view of another character, who then goes on into his own adventures for three books later. While Ender is exiled from earth for his crimes, this character stays on earth and helps Ender's brother take over the world. It's not as heavy with the philosophy and stuff as the last three in the first series, and they're a little less on the sci-fi side too, but still a good read =)

This is a fan made movie trailer for Ender's Game taking clips from other movies. Orson Scott Card has it posted on his website as "the most beautiful thing he's ever seen". If it doesn't fit on your screen just click the text in the window and it'll tak you to the youtube page where it can be watched.




And, now that i've taken a few weeks to do absolutely nothing but read, I think I'm going to start work on The Path tomorrow. And I still need to get around to putting up the final draft of Spires of Infinity too.