Enders Game

[Timber]

I actually liked Bean's books a lot more than Ender's after they split apart.

[ChaoofNee]

I still say it's better to read in publication order, but you may not enjoy reading about a grumpy, 40 year old Ender discussing the physics of the soul with a Catholic space colony and a race of porcine aliens as much as I did.

[Timber]

I read them in pub order but I don't think it takes anything away to read either series after you finish Game and Shadow. I liked Ender's series too I just thought Bean and Peter were more interesting characters.

[Compass]

I liked the movie but I think it's only because I loved the books so much.

Same. Which is strange because usually people who are attached to the source material feel the most betrayed when it isn't honored appropriately. I think I was just stoked to see scenes brought to life on the big screen that had been tumbling around in my brain the last two decades. If I hadn't read the books, I'd probably think it was fairly forgettable.

The main thing that bugged me was how they downplayed Bean. I get the movie wasn't long enough to go into Ender's Shadow but if I didn't know any better Bean was just portrayed as a smaller kid without anything really special about him.

They kind of downplayed *everything*. They just didn't have time. But yeah, you get no sense in the movie that Bean is important at all. My memory is as awful as ever when it comes to everything after ...Game, and the Bean books. I know I read ...Shadow, but can't remember if I read the one after that. I remember there was a character in one of these books who started killing everyone who had seen him in any kind of weakened state. So even doctors who had operated on him and saved his life had to go because they'd seen him helpless when he was under anesthetic. Who the heck was that? Bean's nemesis maybe? I want to say Achilles or something...

Back to the movie, I think the first scene where Ender's playing the video game against the bully was further along in the book. This was a game he'd *never* played and the bully dude was already pretty good. They played three games. Ender lost the first, but wasn't trying to win, he was studying the game's rules and the opponent's play style. The second game he *barely* won by the skin of his teeth. By the third he had totally mastered the game's mechanics, and had wormed his way inside his opponent's mind -- bully dude had lost his confidence due to losing game two -- and Ender just completely dominated.

That best-of-three situation really stayed with me. It showcased how truly brilliant Ender was, his talent for very quickly picking up on patterns and systems, and acquiring the upper-hand psychologically. In the movie, all you see is him beating the guy in five seconds of game time with an outside-the-box strategy.

Gah, the whole movie was just super cliff's notes style for every scene. What the heck. It's not even like the book was that long. And the movie was two hours. Not sure why they couldn't pull it off better.

[GohanX]

Yeah, they said he was a brilliant strategist, but I barely saw it in the movie. But I can't blame the directors, they only have two hours.

[Timber]

Same. Which is strange because usually people who are attached to the source material feel the most betrayed when it isn't honored appropriately. I think I was just stoked to see scenes brought to life on the big screen that had been tumbling around in my brain the last two decades. If I hadn't read the books, I'd probably think it was fairly forgettable.

Just seeing the battleroom in action was enough for me. And it really wasn't far off of what I've been imagining for the past 15+ years.

I remember there was a character in one of these books who started killing everyone who had seen him in any kind of weakened state. So even doctors who had operated on him and saved his life had to go because they'd seen him helpless when he was under anesthetic. Who the heck was that? Bean's nemesis maybe? I want to say Achilles or something...

Your spoiler is exactly right. And they bring Achilles up to battle school just to test/screw with Bean in Shadow which sets him up as the main villain for most of Bean's series.

I loved that once you read Shadow you realize that Bean is Graff's backup plan, he even put together all of Dragon Army for Graff. He even gives Ender that last push at the end to use the little doctor on the Bugger home planet. "Ender, the enemy's gate is down."