Independant+Novel+Study+Journal

__**ENDER'S GAME**__ __**So far...(Pages 1-65)**__ Earth has been attacked by aliens named "Buggers." Eighty years before the story takes place a military genius saved Earth from being destroyed by the Buggers. Now, if International Fleet is looking to "create" another military genius to save Earth from defeat. Ender, a small six-year-old, has been bothered most of his life because he is a "Third." The IF has let his parents have him because his older siblings were very promising. His brother, Pete, was extremely intelligent but enjoyed inflicting pain on his opponent. His sister, Valentine, was meant to be a milder version of Pete, but she was too mild. She was much to soft-hearted for the role the IF needed someone to play. Ender was monitored via a small chip in his neck, and his stats looked promising. The IF took Ender to a space station academy for officers in training. In the ship, he accidentally broke a child's arm when he flipped the child because he was bothering him. Once aboard the ship, Ender proved to be very skilled, managing to hack the security systems of the desks instantly. Although he was very intelligent and skilled, nobody liked him but a boy who everyone called "Worm." On the second day, Ender managed to beat a much older boy in a holographic game of strategy, never touching the controls before. Ender and his group of "Launchies" are about to enter the "game room." The game consists of fake lasers and zero gravity.

The story is told by an omniscient narrator. This effects the story by showing other points of view besides Ender's, such as the IF recruiteers. The narrator focuses on either Ender's or the recruiteer's, though.
 * __Who is telling the story? How does this person’s perspective effect the way the story is told? __**

__**What has happened before the novel began? **__ Before the story began, a massive war occured between the Buggers and Humans. The massive invasion of Buggers only ended because of a brilliant military strategist that defeated the Bugger space fleet and sent them far away from Earth. Since then the IF has been trying to recruit another strategist like the first to save them from the next invasion of Buggers. Ender was born a third child, a disgrace, only because his brother and sister were so promising. His parents were very reluctant, because they had vowed never to have more than two children.

I selected this novel for a variety of reasons. Firstly, a freind suggested it to me, who said the book was brilliant and captivating, Next, this kind of genre, science fiction, appeals to me. Lastly, after reading the synopsis I felt extremely compelled to reading the book. All of these reasons combined attracted me to this book and forced me to read it.
 * __Why did you select this novel? __**

10/10

Ender’s Game __ So far (pages 56-122): __ Ender Wiggin is a small, six year old boy from America living in the future. Earth has been invaded twice by aliens called Buggers. The International Fleet is looking to “grow” a military genius by recruiting promising children onto a space station. Ender Wiggin has been chosen as a perfect candidate and has been brought to the station with a group of other boys in a group called a “launch.” Before long his launch was brought to a null gravity chamber for training. A boy named Alai and Ender both managed to figure out how to move in the clumsy, zero gravity chamber. After only a few days at the station, Ender was promoted to a training army, named Salamander. The army was full of older boys and one girl. The captain of Salamander Army disliked him because he had to get rid of a “Toon” captain. Toons are squads of ten soldiers that fight together as a squad in the training area. In Salamander army, Ender had one job, to stay out of the way during combat. Ender was to remain at the entrance door untill the battle was over. Ender was not even allowed to draw his training laser. Ender disobeyed the order only once, when the enemy had just met the minimum requirement of five soldiers, Ender shot one, locking down it’s armor. The battle was turned to a draw. Eventually Salamander traded Ender to army Rat. There he was being trained properly and actually participating in the training exercise. Ender told his Toon leader that if you position yourself so that the enemy’s door is down, you can make yourself a smaller target by keeping straight and “falling” towards your opponent. This was demonstrated in combat when Ender was sent on a suicide mission. He was to fall towards the enemy and get locked down. He ended up “disabling” five enemies and “damaging” seven. Off the combat floor, Ender would play a game called free-play. It was a virtual maze that faced him with challenges. Eventually Ender wandered past “The End of The World.” Seeing strange sights that the IF could not comprehend how the computer generated those images.

__ Is the novel believeable? __ This novel takes place in the future, so it is uncertain. Many aspects are believeable, such as the fact that we created an international space fleet, but others are not. One thing that is unrealistic is that we have found aliens so close to Earth, and they were at a similar level of technology, being capable of space flight. Although this novel is realistic, some aspects of it are not very likely.

__ Comment on the style of events. Is it easy to follow? __ This book has all of the events chronologically arranged, making this very easy to read. The events flow from one event to another, although, at the beginning of each chapter the narrator focuses on two IF commanders, monitoring Ender, this can get quite confusing sometimes, although, the chapters are so long it doesen’t happen too often.

__ What is the setting of this novel. Could it be happening anywhere? __ The novel takes place on the surface of Earth and orbiting it. The setting is quite important because the reason Ender is brought there is to save Earth from another invasion. Also, If the story was happening on some other planet, then Ender may not be human, disconnecting the reader from Ender.

10/10

ENDER'S GAME

So Far...(122-168) Ender Wiggin has been spending time on a space station training facility for soldiers in the future. He was taken away from his family and brought there because it was believed by the International Fleet that he could save the world from the Buggers, nasty insect-like aliens, like someone did many decades ago. On the space station, Ender was promoted from Rat army to become his own army leader, with odds always stacked against him. His new army was named Dragon. Dragon Army always had the worst players and many of the games were stacked against them, and they had several matches in one day. All of this was to test Ender's skill as a commander under intense pressure. In the story so far, Ender has not lost a single battle as commander of Dragon. All the while, his siblings, Valentine and Peter, are slowly taking control of the public opinion through secret incognito names, Demostheses and Locke. Peter wants power, and Valentine is just helping him.

__Describe any new characters that are introduced? What is their purpose? __ New characters such as Shen and Alai have been added to give Ender a little mroe companionship in the story, otherwise the character would not be immersed in the story enough.

__What new things are added to the original problem as the novel progresses? __ Ender makes some enemies while on the space station such as Bernard. This character and other despise Ender for either being better than them or hurting them when Ender was defending himself. Also, Ender begins to doubt his ability and begins to lose trust with the IF.

__What is the initial or first problem faced by the main character? __ The first problem that the character faces is when he is very little. His tracking chip had just been removed and some people were preying on him for it. Ender solved the problem by hurting the lead-bully so badly he would leave Ender alone. This is the first problem in the story but not the first major problem of the plotline, where Ender is dauntingly faced with defeating the Buggers.

ENDER'S GAME

So Far...(169-200) Ender Wiggin has been taken to the training space station to become the boy, someday a man, who would save earth from the Buggers, insect-like aliens who nearly destroyed earth twice already. In this training facility, Ender has been given command of an "army" named Dragon. Dragon army fought against every other army several times a day with little to no time for rest, with the odds usually in favor of the other team. All of this was designed to train Ender to become a very sucessful general, and it was working. Ender had not lost a single battle. He came close once, where he knew he would lose, and he ran all of his men towards the enemy's gate, achieving a cheap victory. The International Fleet decided that Ender was to be moved to command school, where he could train better on tactics, because he was doing so well on the space station. While on the training station, Ender encountered some people that stongly disliked him. One case resulted in Ender and one person, assisted by others, were fighting in a bathroom. Ender wanted the fight to end and he wanted to make sure the opponent would not be able to fight back anytime soon. Ender accidentally killed the boy doing so.

__Why would you (or why wouldn't you) recommend this novel to a friend? __ Even though I have not finished this novel, I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys this genre of book. This book is very captivating and descriptive. I enjoy this book alot and in my opinion someone else would too. __What were the major things that helped to resolve the plot? __ The overall conflict is that Ender needs to defeat the Buggers, This is resolved by moving Ender through training and eventually defeating the Buggers. __What plot twists or unexpected events happen as the novel goes on? __ Ender begins to lose faith in himself, Ender enncounters bad people who want to hurt him, and Ender begins to doubt the IF's means.

__The Story...__ Ender Wiggin has been taken from his home on earth to a space station that trains children to become International Fleet soldiers. Ender, when on the statin, showed impressive skills and adaptive ability, learning to co9pe with many situations, on the playing field or off. Ender eventually took command of a training group known as "Dragon." Dragon competed against other groups such as Rat or Pheonix, competing for the top score in the station. While in command of Dragon, Ender never lost a match. IF officers noticed how well Ender was doing and thought maybe he could save the human race from a third invasion of insect-like aliens. Ender was brought to the planet Eros, where he was trained in startegy using 3D controllable holograms in a room. Eventually Ender's freinds were brought to command individual ships so the ships could be controlled mroe independently. Ender's trainer, the man who saved earth from the second invasion, told Ender he was to take a final test, much harder than anything before. Ender found himself out-gunned and out-numbered, and on the offensive. He used his larger space-ships as a distraction while the small fighters fought through towards the planet, eventually sacrificing one as it dropped a massive bomb on it, and the other ships fled. Mazer Rackham, Ender's trainer, then told Ender he had just wiped out the last of the alien planets, and that the holograms were the real ships being controlled by Ender.

__What is the climax of the novel? __ The climax is when Ender defeats the Bugger (alien) homeplanet and Mazer Rackham reveals how he did it.

__Why did (or didn't) the novel meet your expectations? __ The novel not only met, but exceeded my expectations. I expected this book to be less detailed and descriptive, but this book blew me away. I really enjoyed this book and I wish to read the sequel to this. __What were the major things that helped to resolve the plot? __ Ender's intelligence and self-confidence played a massive role in resolving the plot. Ender, at the beggining of the final battle, felt that he was going to lose, but when he thought it through, learned that he could bypass the enemy barrier.