Ender's Game: Inside the World of an Epic Adventure

by Jed Alger, Jed Alger

Based on the best-selling novel, Ender’s Game tells the thrilling story of the fight to save the world from a devastating future. Now, in this official companion volume, the behind-the-scenes world of the film is brought into stunning focus. Following an attack by an alien race known as the Formics—narrowly countered thanks only to the efforts of legendary war hero Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley)—Earth has been preparing itself for the next wave in the conflict. The fate of humanity lies in finding the next Mazer from a crop of the brightest young minds on the planet. Under the watchful eye of the International Fleet, the venerated Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) has been tasked with overseeing their training. Before long, a standout emerges among them: Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a shy but prodigiously talented misfit. His potential discovered, Ender is promoted to Command School, where he will soon find the war with the Formics to be more complex than he could have ever imagined. Packed with in-depth interviews, removable posters and army badges, stunning concept art, unparalleled access to the visual effects archives at Digital Domain, and countless full-color images, this insightful insider’s view of the making of Ender’s Game will bring fans closer into the world of the movie, following cast and crew as it is brought to dazzling life. Also featuring Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) as Petra Arkanian, Viola Davis (The Help) as Major Gwen Anderson, and Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) as Ender’s brilliant older sister, Valentine.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art

160 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2013

Reviews

[Cesar Benitez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, as a massive fan of the book series -and also first knowing this story from watching the movie- this book made me so happy, specially now that I’ve read all the books and knowing all the lore this is a great add to your collection if you happen to be a fan of the books series, the work done in the film by the crew is beautiful despite being so poorly adapted, it also includes some cool collectibles, I’m definitely taking some inspirations in the art work on this book for a tattoo.

[Alexa Lehnus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provides really good insight for the movie (especially because I haven't actually seen it yet, oops) and really shows how much the team working on the movie cared about it and how serious they took their roles. I'm excited to watch the movie now. Not like I wasn't before, but like, the movie means more to me now than it would have had I not read this book.

[Chuck Ledger · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was like the movie....ok, but didn't go where I would have liked it to go.

[Samantha Issa · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 (review to follow)

[CC · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Per my earlier promise to self, I'm going through my physical bookshelf (finally), in order to keep track of what I own, what I own and not have read, what I own and not have reviewed/rated on GR. Before I buy anything more to overwhelm mys(h)elf xD)

This book is a fantastic visual look at behind the scenes of the movie Ender's Game based on the book by Orson Scott Card (rather on the loosely side, sadly for my reader/fan heart).

The text are mostly interviews explaining certain scenes/effects they did for the movie, which is something I love to read about (to see the how behind all the amazing effects <3).

The director, Gavin Hood, as The Giant is hilarious! I didn't really know that before.

The artistic direction they took to creating the alien species here is perfection. I love the balance between strange yet beautiful/fascinating, a bit frightening in some ways but also possible to sympathize with (which is the Whole Point, right?). Impressive.

The only thing I am a bit disappointed in is that it's rather short (only 160 pages). There are some nice goodies such as a poster, stickers, etc. that I was surprised to have been included in the used copy I bought. ^-^

Since this is based from one of my all-time favorite stories: 5 stars! Mostly because it's very fun and exciting and gives me happy vibes when I flip through. (Well. Not as happy as I'd be if the movie had equal depth to the original book by Card, but this about-the-movie book is not to be blamed and, after all, this DOES help me picture things from the story, which I like.)

Overall, great for anyone who wish to have a visually stunning photo and behind the scenes book to flip through on a coffee table for when you want to reminiscence about the movie. Which for me is quite often. ;)

So I shall certainly be doing so again soon.

P.S. The music/soundtrack score is really epic-ally beautiful as well - so go check it out.


//
May 2019
Reviewed on 09.16.2021 (Review-My-Bookshelf Challenge)

[Art of the Film · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Ender's Game" was a quality film that I enjoyed. A number of sequences in the film were awe-inspiring and were very difficult to achieve. This book, "Inside the World of an Epic Adventure", is a nice companion to the film after you've seen it. The book details the film's production and showcases the design work.

One of the main achievements of the movie was that the filmmakers successfully blended practical effects and computer-generated effects to create a heightened but still realistic visual look. The book goes into great detail about the visual aspects of the film - there is a whole lot of high-resolution conceptual artwork included which demonstrates the large extent to which a VFX-heavy film has to be planned in advance. There are also a number of shots from the movie accompanied with corresponding photos from the set (often with a fair amount of green screen).

It's nice to read about the filmmaking and design process, but the book really succeeds when it shows us these things through imagery. The book's best asset is that it contains many high quality photographs and pieces of art, most of which are given a lot of space on the page so they can be seen in great detail.

See photo gallery at my blog.

Table of Contents
- Foreword by director Gavin Hood
- Introduction: Getting Ender's Game Off the Ground
- Part I: Ender's World
- Part II: Battle School
- Part III: Inside Zero-G
- Part IV: Parallel Worlds
- Conclusion

[Dark Matter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This and more reviews, interviews etc on Dark Matter Zine, an online magazine. http://www.darkmatterzine.com.

I’ve reviewed Ender’s Game the novel. I’m in the process of writing a review of the movie and a comparison between the movie and the novel. The short version for the movie: it was an okay SF movie. It tried to be a book-to-film in an attempt to please everyone. If they release a director’s cut with a lot more scenes, it might be more successful than the cinema release.

The movie’s blockbuster budget enabled spectacular scenery and stunning special effects, particularly in the virtual world of Ender’s ‘desk’ game. Although these scenes are all too brief in the movie, Inside the world is a stunning annotated photographic collection allows fans to explore Ender’s Game more fully than time constraints on the movie allowed.

Inside the world has high production value: hard cover with stunning full-colour imagery well reproduced from the movie (unlike some of the Lord of the Rings books where the photos are blurry). Inside the world is highly recommended not just for fans of Ender’s Game the movie but also for fans of the novel who appreciate the rendering of the virtual game-world and the aliens. Also highly recommended for collectors of pop culture movie books.

[Belén · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have utterly loved this book, though I've read it in spanish so I can't say it's for the way it is written. I read it when I was eight years old and it made me feel understood, there was so few novels about how children really are that it shocked me, it's like a modern version of the lord of the flies, with a more complicated plot though.

[Bárbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genial. El libro hace ver al lector la dedicación y esfuerzo que pusieron en la película.