JustAdventure+ Book Group discussion

I see 3 of our members have given this book quite a high rating. I've been nervous to buy it, as it appears rather juvenille just from looking at the cover and the blurb.
What is it about this book that you had found so good?
Care to tell, anyone?

I suppose it depends on what you consider juvenile. While the book is about children and thus easily appealed to the young teenage me who first read it, the conceptsand plot are far from childish. Reading it over in my adulthood I've found it strikes a good balance between appealing to the young and a more general appeal.

It's difficult to pinpoint what I liked about the book in particular, but I can say that I've always enjoyed how it portrays humanity when desperate, both as individuals and collectively as a species.

In the end I think Ender's Game is really a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. While one could put forward a number of tangible aspects of the story as reasons to like it, I think it's as much the interactions between its facets which make it great.

I read this book a few years ago at the behest of my boyfriend, who, despite being an absolute non-reader, loves and adores this book.

I think J. King hit the nail on the head when he said it's a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. In my case, I disliked many aspects of the book - I think it's likely I disliked more than I liked, even.

I really couldn't sympathise with the main character, I found some of the reactions to certain situations quite unbelievable and frustrating, and I think the ending was a cop-out. However... overall I did enjoy the experience. Why did I give it four stars? I'm not really sure. Do I think, personally, that it deserved four stars? On reflection, I think perhaps I feel it's a 3. However, seeing how many people enjoyed the book, including my boyfriend who refuses to read a thing but would defend this book with his life, I felt that the way the book touched so many people deserved a slightly bumped up rating.

Is it juvenile? A little. But the main character is just a boy. That being said, the main characters of Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy were just kids, but nothing about the books were juvenile. While we're making the comparison, I mentioned that I found the way some situations were dealt with 'frustrating' - people have tried to defend this with the fact that the boy in the situations is so young, but given his supposed intellectual status, I believe that in the situations I spoke of, intelligence would have trumped immaturity or innocence. I never found the way Pullman's characters dealt with situations to be unbelievable in this way.

All that being said, I did enjoy the book, and I wish there was more buffer between the middle and the end - I would have gladly read more. I'd suggest you read the book, if only for the sake of reading a classic.

Thanks J and Arkadia, I'll request the book at my library in a few weeks time. :) (When I have a slight gap in my reading load)

I just picked up the 1st 4 books of this series, recommended by J.King. I'm really just getting into SF, so I haven't got many preconceptions yet (other than Neal Stephenson is a god :-)

I've just ordered it too, since both JKing and Arkadia seem to regard the book highly. I'd like to see what all the fuss is about; - especially since even films where based on the Ender saga.

I just started this book last night. I'm finding it a little confusing (2 sets of narration going on), but I'm really still at the beginning.

Ok, finished Ender's Game. I thought it was very good. Despite having been written in the late 70's, the technology part of it is still believable. The ending was not a surprise to me, as I had anticipated it, ut other than that, found it very good. Now I'm just beginning Speaker For the Dead, and it's not holding my interest as much as the first book.

Speaker is a very different read, Elvet, and you may want to give yourself some time before you start with it. Personally I hadn't even been aware Speaker existed until a good year after I'd read Ender's Game, so I had a chance to approach the returning characters with a fresh eye.

Oops, I didn't even see there is a seperate topic for this book.. I wonder, shall I move my post about it from the general SF thread to this one?

I started a few days ago with Ender's Game. Some time early Januray, a bit more than a year ago, my boyfriend was reading one of the books he had received as an Xmas gift, and when I asked him to describe it, he said it was a book by Orson Scott Card, about a boy who was tactical genius, who was being used by the government in their warfare campaigns (and a few spoilers) and the spoilers he gave (that I won't mention) really made the book sound very far-fetched to me.

He told me that he had enjoyed the first in the series: "Ender's Game" very much as a teenager. Sometime between then and now, I bought the book out of curiosity, but it didn't really sound my cup of tea, since I usually prefer more mature SF.

When my boyfriend triumphantly pointed me to reviews of the book on this site earlier this year, I did a bit of research, and was surprised to learn that this is actually a very much-acclaimed book.

So I put it on my shortlist; and am finally reading it.

I hope he sees this post and will be pleased to know that I will never doubt any of his recommendations again. (Well, not without trying them first, at least.. ;) )

There, done - so I might as well delete it from the general thread. I need to spend more time on this site...

Heh, and I hope he saw my post now... :P
(now that it is in the correct thread)

It's a well-known fact I'm always right, my dear; just ask my friend Dustin. ;)

In your defence I didn't do a particularly good job of championing the book, so I don't blame you for being reluctant to give it a try. It's good to see you are giving it a try now, though, and I absolutely insist you keep me abreast of your impressions as you go. :)

Of course!
Um, what gives me the feeling Dustin also checks this site from time to time? *innocent look*

Oh, and just btw, I did also get Matheson's "I am Legend" upon your recommendation, and will read it next, since I like to rotate my genres, and that one will most probably fall more into the "Dark Fiction" genre?

Definitely dark fiction, yes.