Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Most reviewers seem to have really enjoyed Ender's Game. Others, such as myself, didn't care for the book at all. What's amusing is that when negative reviewers express bewilderment at all the rave reviews, the enthusiasts often accuse them of being narrow-minded, etc. But I really don't think narrow-mindedness is the issue. I've found that most of the complaints about Ender’s Game generally boil down to three factors: Plausibility, target audience, genre fidelity. Star Wars was far-fetched. When you start out with Wookies, the Force, etc., you pretty much suspend rational rules and adopt an anything goes mentality. You know you're watching fantasy. However, Ender's Game doesn't position itself that way. The storyline, which you can read from the jacket, is that Earth is in the battle of its life against an alien horde. Desperate to survive, Earth has created a highly specialized program to groom new military talent. This program searches for young children with a profile of aggression, high intellect and adaptability. Once identified, these kids are taken from their families and sequestered on a floating battle lab where they're trained to fight aliens. Now the idea that six year old kids, like Ender, would spend four years training and then get shipped to the front lines is a bit of a stretch. And when you factor in that Ender is not only supposed to fight when he arrives, that he's actually supposed to command an army, credulity reaches a snapping point. Would Earth really appoint a ten-year old to spearhead an invasion? Worse still, Ender Wiggins military training is essentially nothing more than laser tag in a zero-gravity chamber. And this training goes on and on, dominating nearly two thirds of the book. I, and other readers, just couldn't see how this was turning young Ender into the next General Patton. Then there is the issue of the target audience for the book, which appears to be squarely aimed at 10-15 year olds. Many will stridently deny this but the juvenile banter between characters clearly seeks to emulate the thoughts and emotions of children. There is a lot of silly name calling, talk about pubic hairs, etc. And while this may be fine for a young preteen audience, many adult readers will be turned off. I think a lot of us expected more. Finally there is the issue of the genre, which seems muddled. Science fiction is more of a backdrop to Ender's Game than a foundation. It's true, they do fight aliens at the end, but that's a very minor part of the book. And, yes, they are on a spaceship. But the same scenes could have been played out practically anywhere. All you need is a zero gravity chamber, some dorm rooms and a cafeteria. The ship feels like a prop so that Card can tell a coming of age story, tossing in a subtext on the innate violence of the human race. All well and good, but some will be confused how Ender's Game won science fiction awards when it barely seems to fit that genre. Please note that I'm not discounting all those readers who liked this book. I'm just trying to articulate where some of the negative feedback is coming from.