The struggle of Indigo children

Ugliest cover Spanish Edition.

Ender's Game (El juego de Ender) by Orson Scott Card.

The Ender series marked the end of my innocence. These books are hold in a very high standard in the genre, so I had them on my to-read list for a while and I decided to give them a try, but there was a short availability of copies around at the moment, especially for the latter parts, so I foolishly decided to get the whole series before reading it. That was the last time I did that and, in a way, I should be thankful, but more than that I was angry, more with myself than with the books… I am neurotic and HAD to read them all, because I struggled to get them and whatever… So maybe there is an objectivity that I may had lost along the way to give a fair opinion.

Anyway, thinking about this specific book I was startled while reading it, wondering if it was the same book everybody was talking about or what. I found it poorly written and to be honest, ridiculous. I can enjoy ridiculous stories, really, but the story takes itself so seriously that I couldn’t get to it at all. I couldn’t buy for a second the seriousness of this genius sociopathic children, it was more like a caricature and why they were the ones to fight a war and not adults or young people make no sense at all, it was a very thin justification. In general, I couldn’t swallow the plot and in particular it was so forced. There was creativity in it, the setting and introduction of interesting concepts in technology, but not enough.

At the time I didn’t know about the buzz around Scott Card for his personal opinions in regards of sexuality and the role of woman, although the latter is clearly written in the book, there was no need to know beyond that to see it, but I am not very inclined into mixing the author´s personal viewpoints with a book when they are separated. Sometimes I think I am a very easy reader, there are many things you can encounter on books that are troublesome and being dated is no excuse, but I can separate those parts if there is some worth in the book, like picking away the peas in a plate and enjoying the rest. Nonetheless, I always wonder how sad is to have perpetuating harmful viewpoints, but I don’t believe in censorship and erasure, it is important to know and don’t fool anybody about how open and accepted you can get with prejudice. Let’s never forget.

Finally, the part that really gets me interested is the hype. How many people are so passionate about it and hold it in such regard. Perhaps if I had read it as a child my viewpoint would be different. It is notable how many people feel misunderstood, left out from their peers and adults when being a child. Maybe all children experience something similar at some moment and a lot more (more than it should) experience it in a major way and feel marked by it. All those childish expectations drowned in disappointment, and then we grow up and learn that we are not so special. It could be soothing, but there are better ridiculously fun, inspiring, emotional, soothing stories, better written and with great characters too to hold onto, but that could be very subjective, isn’t it? Let’s just say there are books with less prejudice too, that holds. 

That’s my personal opinion anyway.