Ender's Game, Volume 1: Battle School

Ender's Saga (Graphic Novels)

by Christopher Yost, Orson Scott Card, Pasqual Ferry (Illustrator)

Young Ender leaves behind the only person who understands him, his sister Valentine, after he is recruited to the International Fleet's training program at the Battle School.

Genres: Science Fiction, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Comics, Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy

120 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

No bookshelf for graphic novels...should probably start one. I LOVE Ender's Game, even tho it took me years of foot-dragging to finally agree to try it. Ender is such a conflicted little boy -- cold-blooded, soft-hearted, and a genius like none other. Is he 'the one' to save the world? The adults behind the scenes of Battle School are trying to find out. They try by challenging him, attempting to break him, isolating him, making him hated by all the other kids...all to see if he is the one.

My heart broke for Ender in the novel, and seeing his face in this graphic novel makes it even harder. The artists do an amazing job of using Ender's body language to express the emotions he will never share with anyone.

They're all here: Bonzo, Peter, Valentine...tormenting, comforting...

The artwork is superb, and expresses the movement of the battles, the futuristic setting of Battle School, and the extreme youth of these soldiers...this is a world that trains babies to save the world...but, is a world that does this worth saving?

I already know three or four boys who need to read this. I'll be interested in their analysis...

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This graphic novel is a great addition to any library - students (especially students who are adverse to reading) will love it. The main essence of the story is kept, as well as some of the original wording/quotes, and some of the introductions from the chapters - which I feel is a great addition.

However, students who truly loved the original novel will likely be disappointed. I only gave this novel 3 stars because, for me, it's like a book that has been turned into a movie and does not quite meet up to your expectations. The original story was so amazing, and I feel that nothing could quite match up to it. The characters do not look like I imagined they would, and I am VERY VERY disappointed that they are calling the 'buggers' Formics now instead. Though I understand the reason behind 'formic' (formic acid is found in insects and is used for dyeing fabrics), but I feel a lot of the essence is lost by 'formalizing' the term used in the original novel. I also feel that I've read the original book so many times that the differences in this version are immediate and glaring to me.

As for the artwork - I feel that the characters (in general) look too similar, although the 'extreme' scenes (when they unplug Ender, the confrontation with Stilson and the aftermath, the giant's death, etc) are quite effective in their explicitness.

A worthwhile read, mostly because it is such a quick read, but does not stand up to the original.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice rendering of Ender's time just before Battle School and then during part of the engagement. Artwork is crisp and efficiently used. People who have not read the novels may be a bit lost as this doesn't lay down enough backstory but does just fine for those who have read the book. Overall, solid good to very good work.

ARTWORK:B to B plus; DIALOGUE/CHARACTERS: B to B plus; STORY/PLOTTING: B; SETTING/TONE: B plus; WHEN READ: early to mid May 2012; OVERALL GRADE: B to B plus.

[Pierre Tassé (Enjoying Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Ender's Shadow first by mistake, but I was glad I did. It set the scene a little better and was more of an introduction. I would recommend that sequence if you are just starting.

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

As far as I can remember the comic follows the book faithfully, but I recommend reading the book too. The images in the comic should help with some scenes in the book, but the comic couldn't fit all the details, so the book is still the way to go. I'm not sure if I should compliment the scripter for the comic when Orson Scott Card is the real brains behind the Ender universe. Still, he deserves credit for doing such a good job of it.

Andrew 'Ender' Wiggin has always been a special child, even after his monitor, an implant, was removed from his body and after he was branded a 'third.' An act of violence in school gets him a visit from colonel Hyrum Graff who invites Ender to Battle School. It's a special military training institution that trains genius-level kids to lead armies against the Formics, an alien race that nearly wiped out the human race in the previous war. Ender accepts and is immediately singled out by his teachers to isolate him from his peers in order to instill creativity and turn him into a great soldier.

The Battle School isn't any better than his previous school. Almost all the students hate or envy him, but he is determined to do his best even with the occasional punch to his face. His proficency in the null gravity battles gains him respect from his team leader, but also more hatred from everybody else. The teachers manipulate him by allowing a single letter from his sister who never forgot about him. She knows she sold him out by sending it, as the effect on Ender is exactly what the teachers wanted and he gets admitted to command school.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andrew Wiggin is only a young boy, but in the eyes of his world’s leaders, he may be humanity’s only hope. Decades ago, Earth was ravaged by invasions of swarming insect-like creatures and fought them off only by the skin of its teeth. What made the difference was superior command ability – a man who performed a miracle, a virtual inheritor of Alexander the Great. Although the skies have been silent since, all Earth knows that somewhere in the depths must be another insectoid fleet, a third invasion, and against an empire stands one frail planet…and one not-so-frail boy. Ender's Game is the story of a young boy chosen to be groomed to be Earth's next saviour, The cost of Earth's salvation is his own childhood, as he is forced to leave his sister on Earth behind for many years: enrolling at six, his first leave is scheduled for his sixteenth birthday. (He doesn't too much mind leaving his brother behind, since Peter is an abusive jerk with dreams of world conquest.) Ender's Game is the story of Ender's upbringing on stations in space, living and training with other gifted children every day in highly elaborate zero-gravity games Ender is the best of the best, and forced to be so by the adults who condition him psychologically to be the ideal general -- not only strategically smart, but forcefully decisions, a man capable of taking the lives of thousands and the future welfare of millions into his own hands. Although the sci-fi setting is inescapably important, the book is driven by character drama -- the book alternates between Ender's story and that of his sister Valentina's, who with Peter makes the Wiggin children a trio of dangerous intelligence. Although Ender engages in combat virtually every day, this comes in the form of in-person zero-g laser tag games or computer simulations. Ship to ship combat is rendered only distantly, but that makes it exciting is experiencing Ender's thoughts as he takens in the chaos of the battlefield, sees patterns emerging, and then creates a plan on the fly to check the adversary. Ultimately things deeper than just a boy growing up to find greatness during a war; Card gets a little philosophical toward the end, a trend which I understand continues more in books like Speaker for the Dead. Though I read this primarily for a reading challenge, I could see continuing in the series.

Related:
Starship Troopers, Robert Heinlein. Humans vs bugs, but more SF war and political philosophy, less childhood stress.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good adaptation of the first part of Ender’s Game. Of course, it lacks the nuance of the novel, and I missed being inside Ender’s head and understanding his motivations, but the story still works as a graphic novel. The illustrations are beautiful and the text they chose is enough to understand the story without pages and pages of information.

I haven’t read this story in a long time, and while I still love it, after being a teacher for nine years and working with actual 6-year-olds, it is incredibly difficult for me to suspend my disbelief and accept that they would be able to do what they do in this book (babies getting shipped off to Battle School and acting like soldiers, commanders, speaking in articulate full sentences...) It’s just not realistic. Even if they are geniuses. Still, it’s a great story and a fascinating premise.

[Vincent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing read! While a Sci-Fi book, Orson Scott doesn't care to confuse us with "tech talk" and prefer to show us the development of a child genius in the Battle School.

[Lucas B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ender's Game is a science fiction novel and movie by Orson Scott Card. This paper will compare and contrast the book and the movie, which was produced by Gavin Hood. I will be talking about why I liked them as well as the book's overall theme, which in my mind was compassion.

While the book gives more background information throughout, the book and movie have similar themes and follow the same storyline. For example, in the beginning, the book allows you to get to know Ender’s parents and siblings. The movie starts early on with Ender in school and we do not really get to know his family. He is in training for the possibility of joining the military to fight an invasion against “The Buggers,” as they are called in the book or if watching the movie, “The Formics.” Both the story and the book follow the same time frame. The movie only handles the important scenes from the book, such as battle school and destroying the Bugger's planet. They leave out the things that aren’t the battle or are not as showy. Therefore, the movie felt rushed and frustrated me. The rushing of scenes was evident throughout Ender’s training at the battle school. The way it was described in the book, and Ender growing and learning new tactics painted a vivid picture. In the movie, the dialogue was minimal, and you couldn’t see the characters grow due because the movie only showed 2 or 3 of the many battle scenes which occurred in the book. In the book, the characters grew in emotional maturity from battle to battle. It seems like there wasn't much character development but then when it got to important scenes such as wiping out the Bugger's planet, It seemed like all the characters were able to work with each other, almost magically, because of character development that had not been demonstrated throughout the movie.

The ending of the movie is drastically different from the book. In the book, Ender’s brother went on to participate in major political positions in the new world order. Ender goes off with the Bugger’s queen egg with his sister Valentine to find a new planet. The book ends here, but Card continues the series with the next installment, Speaker for the Dead. In general, the movie's ending was very disappointing to me because it continued to rush through important scenes that needed more background knowledge and dialogue - and not just spoken dialogue, but the dialogue going on in one’s mind. It doesn't give much context on what is going on whereas the book explains the significance of these scenes. The ending scenes signify that Ender never wanted to be a killer and was made to be one. Finding the Buggers' Queen egg and writing the book Speaker for the Dead [not to be confused with Orson Scott Card’s second book in the Ender series] gave Ender a chance at redemption.

In conclusion, in my opinion, the book is better than the movie for two primary reasons. The first is that the book has better fleshed-out characters. Whereas in the movie, characters like Bean, Peter, and Dink at times seem like no-name side characters; they were only in one or two movie scenes. It is disappointing to me because they help create connections to the characters in the story for the book. Development of the characters; the second reason I liked the book more than the movie is that the overall theme of compassion is shown more frequently in the book. An example of this that was missing from the movie was when Colonel Graff felt compassion and let Ender talk to Valentine on the Earth. I wish that the movie was more like the book, but I did enjoy watching it; I rate it a 6 out of 10. I would also read the book an 8.5 out of 10.

[Matt Dillard · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's Ender's Game, so of course I love the story, but this graphic novel adaptation didn't do it for me. This covers the first half of the novel.

I did find it interesting to get a visual rendering of the battle school and different characters, but I wasn't a fan of some of the coloring and the uniforms; they distracted too much from the characters. It became quite difficult to identify a boy or girl by their face while they were wearing helmets, and that happened frequently.

The other obvious downside of the format is how condensed everything is. This is an adaptation, so it is bound to happen, but I never developed a bond with any of the characters like I do when reading the novel.

Despite all this, I'm reading two more volumes in the series. I picked up three of them from the library, and they take very little time to read.

[Mayank Agarwal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Sci-fi story with decent supporting art

Loved it, I end up reading Enders game every half a decade or so, this time around decided to give the graphic novel a shot and I was not disappointed. Of course, it is not as deep as the novels but does a fair job and the art although not glorious complements the storytelling with its illustrations.

The plot revolves around children being trained to be soldiers and commanders from a young age for a fight against aliens. The story focuses on the training and challenges faced by the brightest and most hopeful of the young kids, Ender Wiggins.

[Cynthia Blair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! This was recommended to me by a high school English teacher that I substituted for after I retired (early). She and I would pass notes back and forth when I subbed for her. She would recommend, I would comment and recommend another. One day she recommended this. I bought it and it stayed on the shelf for a very long time. When I learned they were making it into a movie, I took it down and read it. So glad I did! The movie did not do it justice. I wondered while reading it, how they could put this story into a two hour movie. Well, they didn't. Forget the movie. Read the book. It was fun and exciting. Good read.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ender's Game, Volume 1: Battle School. Christopher Yost, Orson Scott Card, Pasqual Ferry
Great to return to this experience. ****
#1 – “Knocking him down won the first fight. I needed to win all the next ones, too. So they’d leave me alone.”
#2 – “.. find and train the greatest minds humanity had to offer .. training begins at SIX YEARS OLD.”
#3 – Graff: “He can have friends. It’s parents he can’t have.”
#4 – Graff: “Isn’t it nice to know that Ender can do the impossible?”
#5 – “I hope you had fun, Ender. It might be the last time in your life. Welcome to command.” - Graff

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christopher Yost's interpretation of OrsOn Scott Card's Ender's Game was brilliant. The Book Ender's game is from the inside of Ender's mind, all his thoughts, Then the movie came out and that combined Enders Shadow and Ender's game and provided a third party storyline, and Now Yost has retold the story from the viewpoint of Col. Graff. I loved it , but keep in mind i'm a freak. regardless this was a good read.

[Paula Sáez · Rating 4 out of 5]

La literatura se nota que es un poco antigua, aunque es cierto que está escrito en los 80. Se nota el estilo de ciencia ficción de esa época que, en mi opinión, se hace ligeramente fantasioso y un poco lento. En cualquier caso, el argumento me ha gustado y, el final, me ha encantado. Es de los pocos libros cuyo desenlace me ha sorprendido y no he "averiguado" antes de llegar a él. Deseando continuar la saga.

[Ryk Stanton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think the artwork is amazing, and it stays as close to the novel as it can. There are a few things here and there that I would have done differently, and I am not sure the story would be comprehensible to someone who has not read the novel first, but as a companion to the novel this is top-notch.

I've been sharing it in class after we read chapters, and the kids love it :)

[Just a Girl Fighting Censorship · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick way to revisit the world of Ender Wiggins. Very true to the original but the art style was not completely successful or satisfying. Character design made it difficult for me to tell one kid from another. The technology also didn't quite live up to my imagination. However it must be a near impossible task to illustrate a world and characters already engrained in the mind of the reader.

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe it was because this book was hyped up way too much before I read it but I was disappointed. I am rooting for none of none of the characters and Ender does nothing that makes me invested in his story. I will give Card points for the inventive twists the stories takes but overall I would not ever recommend this book

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this trilogy strait through and can’t believe how much I enjoyed it. Science fiction is not my genre of choice but I devoured these. There was a gripping story line, well developed characters, and layered meaning. The series possibly warrants re-reading.

[Licaren · Rating 1 out of 5]

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[HannahBeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes it's difficult to tell which character is which. I relied mostly on armor color to identify characters. The action flowed well on the page. I haven't read the book, but I could still keep up with the story and not get lost. What's more, it piqued my interest in reading the book.

[Remy]

It was pretty fun to see this story in graphic novel form. The Art isn’t my style, but it’s a good visual reminder that Ender and all the people he interacts with are children. The battle school is filled with CHILDREN, and it is not a kind place.

[Kathy Walner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a lot of science fiction, but this one is at the top of my list. These should be mandatory reading in schools rather than dry literary ficiton. Books like this will actually inspire kids to read more.

[Mercury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ender's game is one of a kind book. It teaches empathy, and what it means to be human.
Unfortunately I cannot divorce the book from the author who has expressed ideas and beliefs completely antithetical to the book's theme.

[Cesar Benitez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is by far the better adaptation of the books, the story stays loyal to the original, the graphics are cool af and it’s very entertaining because of the pace, I loved reading the story in a different format, will continue with the rest of the comics asap

[Deb M, Avid Reader Circle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read!! It definitely is fast-paced. It is part of my permanent book collection.

Since readers complete a book based on their perspective, I chose to end the book earlier, after the climax, rather than going into a new storyline.

[Evey Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reseña completa de esta obra maestra: http://capitulo-26.blogspot.com.es/20...

[Mariana Calmon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Senti que, no final das contas, a história se perdeu na adaptação para o quadrinho. É legal, a arte é bonita, mas a história me pareceu rasa e confusa em diversos momentos, infelizmente.

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic - loved this.

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

SO GOOD