Upon reading, I wasn't sure about this book initially...then I was suddenly 1/3 of the way through it.

While slightly predictable (for me anyway--read around when the movie came out) Card has a potent way of writing. While I strongly disagree with his political and social views, and he honestly seems like kind of a jerk, dude can write. I can respect that.

I had heard previously that Card was racist (I haven't done thorough research, but I've seen some offensive things he's said). I haven't done a lot of research, but I suspected by the way he wrote his characters that something was going on--however, he handled his characters of colour in an interesting way--I was more surprised than anything. I was profoundly impacted by Ender's friendship with Alai (spelling?). I hope this makes sense--I'm not very good at writing about these matters.

Despite his personal views, this is a fantastic book on the exploitation of children and the 'falleness' of humanity as a whole. I'm looking forward to reading more by him.

And it totally predicted ipads. ;)

Potential Pairings: Poisonwood Bible, The Time Machine, 1984.