2017
Listened to the audiobook, and thought it was very well narrated! I haven't been a fan in the past of multiple narrators (like a whole cast), but I thought this was done in big enough chunks and the readers were great.
My memories of this book were pretty faint, so it was fun to re-read and remember. While I understood a bit better the big topics and overall what was happening (better than when I was 16ish), I did have some problems:
- there was a bit of insta-love between Ender and pretty much everybody. I know he is supposed to be super compassionate and empathetic and that he feels that he "loves" someone as soon as he "knows" them, but it was a bit odd to read, and felt way too fast on everyone's part. The children love him in just a few sentences and are super trusting of him. He and Novhinia have like 2 conversations together in the whole book, yet they love each other and marry at the end?
- The piggies were cool, if a bit dense. I understand that the xenologers were using anthropological guidelines and following careful strict rules to not explain too much human culture and stuff to the piggies, but I felt like it was super weird to read, there were so many times when I was thinking "why didn't they ask the piggies?" To me, this felt like a plot device in the same way that some farces have everyone not quite talking to each other and it leads to hilarious misunderstandings, when two lines of dialogue and strait-talk would clear everything up.
- I liked the character of Jane quite a bit, even if believing in her is the biggest suspension of disbelief in the whole book. I was very frustrated that she was so petty and distant to Ender after he shut her off. I understand it was a betrayal, it just felt childish. And maybe it's because I've never felt such a betrayal in my life, but this was dramatic and a way to connect Jane/foist Jane off onto Miro.