- Publisher: TOR BOOKS
- Publication date: 11/12/2013
- Pages: 126
- Copyright Year: 2007
- ISBN-10: 0-7653-1282-4
- ISBN-13: 978-0-7653-1282-2
- Author: Orson Scott Card
A War Of Gifts: An Ender Story by Orson Scott Card is a novella set mostly in the same battle school where most of Ender’s Game takes place. The main character is Zeck Morgan, who is a brilliant boy with an eidetic memory. He is being raised, and regularly beaten, by his ultra-fundamentalist Christian father and mother when he is taken from them to go to battle school. He refuses to engage in any violence and does not shoot at anyone in any of the battle games at the school. All religious practices are banned at the school, and he runs into trouble when he points out other students performing a Dutch sinterklaas tradition, claiming it violated the non-religion rule.
This book is an OK story, but it is not up to the level of the other Ender stories I’ve read recently. It is an amusing little pseudo-christmas story, but adds little to the overall Ender saga. In fact, Ender is only a minor character in the story, and he does not quite seem like “Ender”. In the other stories, there is a depth to the character that is completely missing in this one. He could have been replaced with almost any other child character from the battle school and it would not have changed the story or even the tone. It seems like Ender was added mostly to sell a few more books.
At 126 pages, and a few of those being blank pages before the next chapter, this is a quick read. I’m not sorry I read it, especially since it was an easy read, but I did not long for it go further either. If you want a pleasant little story that might stir a few memories of the universe, this one is OK. I certainly would not suggest you read this one before you read at least Ender’s Game, and perhaps a few others of the series. It does not detract, but it does not add much to the saga.
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Heinlein “Anthrophobia” Challenge ends 3/31/2025
