Ender Wiggin, Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card

Tor Books, 1985

What?  This is supposed to be about Romantic Heroes!!!

Keep reading!!!

Let me start by saying that I am not a big fan of science fiction and Ender’s Game is not a romance.  However, Ender’s Game is one incredible book and so worth reading, even if you don’t like sci-fi.  [For those that need it, it has a happy ending, of sorts.]  

I’ve taught this book to my middle school and high school students because it offers such a great study of character and character growth.  Ender is a kid–a 6 year old–who is thrust into the very adult world of war.  He is the savior–the hope for the future.  

What makes this such an interesting book is the way Card develops Ender.  He’s taught to rely only on himself.  The people charged with raising him [the administration at Battle School] do whatever it takes to ensure that Ender depends upon no one but himself.  This is accomplished through mental, physical, and emotional anguish.  He’s faced with difficult and/or dangerous situations [both in training and against his fellow classmates], is taken from his family completely, and manages to rise to the top of his class with minimal effort.  

Stats:

Andrew “Ender” Wiggin is the youngest of 3 kids.  He lives during a time when families are allowed only 2 children.  Because of the failures of his older brother Peter [too violent and aggressive], and his sister Valentine [too meek and kind], the government allows the Wiggins to have a third child.  That child is Ender and he’s a mixture of Peter and Valentine.  He’s the savior that the government has been waiting for–the one person who can save the world from the alien invasion of the “Buggers”. 

He’s a trained warrior and becomes the reluctant leader of the children [other prodigies] at Battle School.  

The Look:

6 years old at the beginning of the book, Ender grows up, both emotionally and physically.    He pure warrior, but beneath his carefully created exterior is the broken man he grows up to be.  He realizes he was a pawn in the government’s war.  

What Would Ender Be Like…

…if he were a romantic hero?  Could he love?  Could he give himself to another?  He cares most for Valentine, his sister, and it is through her that we see into Ender’s heart.  When I decided to write about Ender, I started to think about how carefully crafted he is a character, how damaged he is a person, and yet how important and heroic he also is.  He’s conflicted, layered, and Card created an amazing character that writers can learn from and who readers love to read about.  

The Bottom Line:

Ender Wiggin is a complicated character who’s larger than life.  His story takes him on a complete journey and we root for him the entire time, have empathy for him in his situation, and feel the entire range of emotions that he goes through.  He’s a truly heroic character, against all odds, and that’s part of what makes him so memorable.  

Even if you’re not into sci-fi, I SO recommend this book!  Read it!  

Question of the Day:

The film rights have been optioned for this book and a screenplay has been in the works since 2003.  As of now, Ender’s Game, the Movie, is in pre-production and there’s no news about it’s status.  I have mixed feelings about seeing this book made into a movie [although I did hear that Orson Scott Card himself has written the screenplay].  

What do you think of movies made from books?  Do you love them?  Hate them?  Does a movie’s characterization take anything away from the way you visualize and imagine that character in the book? 

 Questioning the Heiress, Delores Fossen  Harliquen Intrigue, August 2008A funny thing happened on the way back to the ranch, after Friday’s blog. My friend Jill James, brought for me from the conference a signed book bag, filled with books, since I couldn’t be there. And what do you think she picked up for me! A story about the Texas Rangers, cowboy hat and all. I was thrilled. I do have a sweet spot in my heart for the Rangers, having had some experience with them while working in Law Enforcement. They are just as you imagined, tall, Stetson, and cowboy boot clad. They take their hats off for a lady, and always say yes, ma’am in that sweeping Texas drawl that conjures up pictures of wide open spaces.  So I loved the book and of course Egan Caldwell the Texas Ranger.Sgt. Egan Caldwell of the infamous Texas Rangers has found himself knee deep in an investigation of four murders in a socialite community. The murders connect like a game of connect the dots to a car accident that killed an innocent woman and injured Caroline Stallings, the central figure in the investigation.There is an immediate spark between Egan and Caroline, that can’t be extinguished, as hard as they both try. Placed in protective custody, after two attempts on her life, Caroline finds herself unable to resist the handsome Texas Ranger assigned to live in her house. But there is a snag. Caroline comes from a very socialite family, wealthy and powerful. Egan is the son of a chauffeur, and feels she is way out of his league.Egan is an interesting character. He is a good combination of warrior, chief and the boy-next-door. Raised by a man whose bitterness comes out of the death of Egan’s mother at birth. He was raised around extreme wealth, only because of his father’s job. It left Egan with a bad taste in his mouth, knowing some of the suspects involved in the case from childhood. A childhood were he was often treated like a second class citizen. Still he prevailed over adversity and became a Ranger.Caroline on the other hand, could be a rich spoiled socialite, but instead comes across very down to earth, with a hidden wild-child side to her. She adds to the who-done-it, by a good dose of amnesia from the car accident. She knows who the murderer is but can’t remember due to shock and a head injury. In the center of all if it, is her dream diary, which she keeps as she struggles to regain her memory and catch a killer before he kills again.This was a quick, entertaining read that I completed in one sitting. I can sometimes guess who the murderer is, but in this case I was left guessing up to the end. This wasn’t exactly a contemporary western, but still images of the wild west fly when the Texas Rangers arrive on the scene. Question of the Day:  What do you think about the cowboy hats? Are they out dated cliches? Or do you like the modern equivalent of the sexy man under the hat?

Last night, my hubbie, two teenage boys, and I watched Batman Begins.  Today, the sermon in church was on fear.  The pastor brought up a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Do the thing you fear…and the death of fear is certain.”  

Don’t you know that’s EXACTLY how Bruce Wayne came to make his decision to symbolize his acts of heroism with a bat.  Batman Begins is a movie that explores the dual identities of Bruce Wayne.  His mask, as childhood friend Rachel Dawes observes toward the end of the movie, is not the bat persona, but Bruce Wayne’s face.  But how does he get there?  How does he transform from billionaire playboy to a sort of vigilante and then to a true hero who is motivated by the idealism of good verses evil?  

In a nutshell, he conquers his fear.

The backstory, the thing we never got from the previous cartoonish Batman movies, is crucial to Bruce’s character development and to us understanding who he is and why he becomes Batman.  Batman Begins holds true to the idea of Batman being merely a man who maximizes technology to help him combat the guilt he feels over his parents’ death.  The process forces him to face his fear of bats.  These two fears are the root of his psychological baggage and conquering them is what sets him free.

Like any good story, Bruce goes on a journey of self-discovery.  He meets a mentors [Ducar, who forces him to redefine his realationships, the iconic Alfred, and Rachel] who help him define his fears, identify his motivations, and ultimately force him to make life-altering choices. 

Bruce learns to stop looking back at the past.  He removed himself from his privileged, wealthy upbringing and exposed himself to the dregs of society.  He purposefully chose anonymity in order to divest himself of his own preconceptions about his position in society.  When he returns to Gotham, it is on his own terms.  He’s resurrected as Batman and comes with new intentions, at first based on revenge, but evolving to uphold the idealism of his parents before him and to redeem the forsaken city of Gotham.

Batman Begins is a great movie that really explores the birth of a hero.  I haven’t seen Dark Knight [and can’t wait, both to experience the continued development of Bruce Wayne and to witness the final, and from all reports very nuanced, performance of Heath Ledger as the Joker.

Question of the Day:

The typical summer blockbuster is far less psychologically developed that Batman Begins [and presumably Dark Knight].  Are we, the American movie-going public, finally demanding more depth in our heroes, or are these movies anomalies?  

 Into the Shadow, Christina DoddSignet Paranormal Romance 2008Book three of the Darkness Chosen SeriesThis is an incredibly sexy read, with two strong leading characters. Into the Shadow, is the third of the Darkness Chosen series about the Wilder brothers, who are born into a family whose ancestors had made a pack with the devil.Karen Sonnet is the daughter of a wealthy businessman. She was raised to be tough and survive a man’s world. Now she finds herself in the Himalayan Mountains, trying to build an adventure hotel at the foot of one of the highest peaks in the world, the cursed Mount Anaya. Failure isn’t an option she understands, and not one her father will accept. Even though a stranger who makes incredible love to her haunts her nights and her days are filled with mishaps on the site, abandonment of the project isn’t remotely a consideration. Especially when she finds an amulet of the Virgin Mary on the ancient skeleton of a small child, buried on the site. She knows then she must keep it safe in order to save herself.    Adrik Wilder is simply called Warlord, for obvious reasons. He heads a band of mercenaries deep in the Himalayans. He’s demanding, domineering and at times cruel. He doesn’t take no for any answer, and knows what he wants and goes for it, and not always in the most honorable manor. There are few who will challenge him, and few women who can resist him, not even Karen as he invades her dreams. He is both a warrior to fear, a chief to respect and swashbuckler to love. But when he rescues her from a landslide and kidnaps her proclaiming she is his mate, Karen fights against the incredible lust and attraction that encases them. The most shocking discovery about this man with eyes that are truly black, he can turn into a panther in the blink of an eye. This leaves her to really question if the high altitude of the mountains hasn’t left her completely crazy.I read, Into the Shadow, from cover to cover in a day and half. This would be a great read as you lay on a beach, listening to the gulls cry and waves crash. Very entertaining and very, very sexy. The sex scenes were hot!  Someone throw some water over here, with lots of ice!Can’t wait to finish the series. Did I mention it was very sexy.    This was a fun read of adventure, love found and redemption of a dark wicked soul, who is humbled by love and lessons learned along the way.Other books in the series:Scent of DarknessTouch of DarknessInto the Flame, on sale August 2008Question of the Day:  How do you feel about a hero who redeems himself after some very bad behavior? Do you believe it is possible to move on and continue to find him sexy and forget the rest?