Ender's Game

I really enjoyed reading this book. It really felt as if I was actually sliding in and out deceptions with Ender and really caused me to form a bond with the character. The fact that the final battles were, in fact, actual battles completely blew me away. What I liked even more was how the mental game was incorporated into the story at the end when Ender was attempting to set up the colonies. The continuous use of manipulation throughout the novel by the higher powers at the time and their use of technology to manipulate the children really disturbed me, especially living in the "big brother" world that we live in. The idea that government can, and most likely does, have that much power and ability to manipulate in order to further agendas is frightening. The fact that they used children is even more frightening, because in a sense we are being bred toward certain ideologies from a very young age. Granted, some of us would like to think that we carve out our own paths completely void of media and cultural ideas of identity. Yet, in the end just like with Ender, there is always some type of manipulation that steers our lives a certain way. Also like with Ender, and I believe this connects with Sumner's parting question in his article "Playing Chicken With the Apocalypse," that we still have a choice as to which manipulated path to take and it is with that choice that we have a chance at making a positive impact for humanity.