Book · 1985
Ender's Game
by Orson Scott Card
A child prodigy recruited into Battle School at six ends up commanding real war fleets, believing until the end that it's all just a simulation.
What does Reddit think of Ender's Game?
Almost ten thousand mentions, most of them one-line answers in r/suggestmeabook and r/booksuggestions treating this as the default sci-fi recommendation. r/Fantasy carries the weight of an actual argument. One thread (↑297) calls out the irony of a book saturated with homosexual subtext written by an author with, in the commenter's words, an anti-gay agenda; two others (↑1003, ↑917) trade secondhand accounts of Orson Scott Card changing as a person after the book made him famous. None of that touches the sequel debate happening in the same subreddit, where a reader ranks Speaker for the Dead above it for a depth of empathy 'missing from almost everything else' Card wrote. Pierce Brown gets credited, in his own interview, with citing this book rather than The Hunger Games as his actual influence for Red Rising. On r/suggestmeabook, the review is shorter: 'masterpiece,' and 'movie was painful.' Both readings are live on the same platform, mostly in different subreddits entirely.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · Child soldiers trained through games with no fixed rules
- · Genius and isolation as tools of manipulation
- · Orson Scott Card's public politics complicating the reading
- · Ender's Game as ancestor to the modern military-SF wave
- · The moral cost of winning a war you didn't know was real
Common praise
- + r/suggestmeabook commenters call it a masterpiece outright (↑268) and warn the movie 'was painful' by comparison (↑238).
- + It sits on curated genre-crossing lists next to Fahrenheit 451 and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? without needing a defense (↑240).
- + Pierce Brown has said in interviews that this book, not The Hunger Games, was the actual influence behind Red Rising.
Common criticism
- − r/Fantasy keeps raising Orson Scott Card's anti-gay activism, with one thread (↑297) calling it ironic given how much homosexual subtext readers find in the text itself.
- − Two of the subreddit's top comments (↑1003, ↑917) trade the same secondhand story: Card was reportedly a different, decent person before he wasn't.
- − Readers in the same threads argue the sequel, Speaker for the Dead, carries more empathy than 'almost everything else' Card wrote — this book included by implication.
Who it's for
Want the book that supposedly out-influenced The Hunger Games on its own turf? Pierce Brown says this is it. You'll hit Orson Scott Card's politics eventually — r/Fantasy raises them in nearly every serious thread, so decide upfront whether you can separate a book from its author. Readers who finish it and stop are missing the argument that Speaker for the Dead is the actual high point of the series.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
- r/suggestmeabook 4,696
- r/booksuggestions 2,362
- r/printSF 1,771
- r/Fantasy 959
- r/YAlit 151
- r/RomanceBooks 16
- r/horrorlit 10
- r/TrueLit 10
Which Reddit comments matter for Ender's Game?
The most relevant excerpts across the subreddits where this book is mentioned — opinionated, argued takes first, then top-upvoted mentions. Click through to read the full thread.
“I can confirm this. I'm a sci-fi writer and we all end up at the same conferences/panels/whatever. I'm friendly with Janny Wurts, and she told me he was a lovely guy until he hit a certain age and went completely off the deep end. Like a switch flipping. Total bummer because Ender's Game is a great …
“I wouldn't say I can't enjoy them anymore, but I don't support them or recommend them without mentioning their history. Orson Scott Card's anti-gay agenda is disgusting, and honestly a little suspicious when you notice how much homosexual subtext is in Ender's Game. Also ironic, given the message …
“Enders game. Man, what a master piece.
“Ender's Game. One of my favorite books. Movie was painful.
“I have 3, and they should each be reread at least once a decade, as the reader's change in point of view will give them something new every time. *Ender's Game* by Orson Scott Card *The Giver* by Lois Lowry *Anne of Green Gables* by LM Montgomery
“This is my prime example of separating the art from the artist. I consider *Ender's Game* to be a modern masterpiece and is one of the best books I've ever read. I consider Orson Scott Card to be a sad example of humanity.
“Enders Game is great
“Retired teacher here. I’m thrilled that you are wanting to read more, and thrilled to see that you’re finding it a bit easier to read. If you love fantasy, my starting recommendations would be Harry Potter, The Lightning Thief ( Percy Jackson books), or Enders Game by Orson Scott Card.
“Honestly I always come back to the moment in the Ender's Game book where Ender >!first realizes the truth of his advanced "training missions"!<, something about it just shook me to my core and has stayed with me since.
“Orson Scott Card is someone that I fundamentally disagree with in life, but Ender's Game and Speaker For The Dead are still damn good books. Dan Simmons has some some deep seated issues with Islamophobia, but he still writes really good first books in series, and really downletting sequels. David …
“Have you read Ender's Game (or seen the film)? That's the one book I wish I could forget so I can read it again and experience the "oh snap!" moment. I think Brandon Sanderson says it's probably the best outlined plot he's every come upon.
“1. The awesome painted covers are still around, they tend to be for specific subgenres, however, notably space opera and military science fiction. My "Old Man's War" series, for example, has John Harris covers (they're painted, I know because I have the OMW cover on my office wall), and the Interdep…
“10: **Forever Peace** by Joe Haldeman (1998-1999) - A look at remote controlled armoured warfare combined with the violence of man. This book shouldn't be called Forever Peace in my view, it gets unfairly judged vs the original when it is only loosely linked and a fantastic book in it's own right, w…
“The end of Ender's Game. I kept wondering how they were going to finish the story with so few pages left.
“Enders Game by Orson Scott Card. It definitely marks the philosophy aspect, it's a series that even goes into another character's life Bean. The book is so much better than the movie, plus it involves game play in it.
Convinced? Pick up Ender's Game
Readers also mention
All books like Ender's Game →Books that share discussion threads with Ender's Game — counted from the comments, not curated.
Guides featuring Ender's Game
Ranked best-of lists and editorial guides where this book's tracked mentions place it.
Ender's Game — frequently asked
What does Reddit think of Ender's Game?+
Split, in a specific way. r/suggestmeabook treats it as a reflexive genre recommendation (↑268, 'what a master piece'), while r/Fantasy runs actual debate about the author. Ender's Game shows up over nine thousand times in this dataset, concentrated in the recommendation subs, but the more substantive discussion happens in the smaller, more argumentative one.
Does Orson Scott Card's politics affect how Reddit reads Ender's Game?+
For r/Fantasy commenters, yes. One thread (↑297) calls Card's anti-gay activism disgusting and flags the irony of the novel's own homosexual subtext. Others (↑1003, ↑917) circulate a shared, secondhand account of Card changing after the book's success. It doesn't stop people from recommending the book. It does stop them from recommending it quietly.
Is Ender's Game or its sequel Speaker for the Dead the better book?+
In this sample, Speaker for the Dead wins on empathy specifically. One r/Fantasy comment (↑352) calls it 'a truly great book' with a depth of empathy and care for the characters the commenter says is missing from almost everything else Card has written. Ender's Game still gets the volume of recommendations; the sequel gets the more considered praise.
Was Red Rising inspired by Ender's Game or The Hunger Games?+
Ender's Game, according to author Pierce Brown himself. An r/Fantasy comment (↑346) cites an interview where Brown said he was thinking of this book, not The Hunger Games, when he wrote Red Rising — a genealogy Reddit repeats more than it questions.