Ender's Game

I used to only read fantasy, but this is one of the books that opened up my mind:  Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. 
      Peter Wiggen, ten years old, is evil and cold hearted, killing without mercy.  Valentine Wiggen, eight years old, is kind and soft hearted, the one who loves without a second thought.  Together, they have the power to take over the nets.  But their younger brother, Andrew (Ender) Wiggen, six years old and part ruthless killer, part loving soul, might have the power to end the alien invasion once and for all.
     Aliens, or buggers, have attacked earth on two second invasions.  This will be their third, and the government is searching for their champion, their war general, and Ender Wiggen fits the bill.  He will be taken up to space and trained in a game of warfare -- day after day, until he breaks.  The fate of the people of earth is up to him.  At least, that's what the government wants him to think.

Orson Scott Card is an amazing author, and his ability to create depth in his stories is something I really enjoy.  Ender is a genius for a six-, nine-, and eventually ten-year-old, and as he progresses up the ranks in the Battle School you get a feel for his character.  He becomes almost a real person as you follow his thought process.  His longing for his sister, his want to prove himself, and eventually how he breaks is all believable.
       The buggers, also, are very well done.  They aren't humanoid, more cockroach-like (hence the name "bugger"), and all the more feasible for that.  They are alien in the way that everyone fears, and they don't speak our language, a trait that gets attributed to too many modern aliens these days. 
        Peter and Valentine stand out as well.  Sometimes they begin to seem too adult, too old for twelve- and ten-year-olds, but then they say something that makes you remember that they're brother and sister, juvenile and pre-teen, not two stuffy politicians. 
       Also, there are government conspiracies in this book, making it all the better.  This is another one of those books that says 'no one's perfect', but this one also has the added theme 'but they will go to any lengths to ensure that it seems that they are perfect.'  You see Colonel Graff as a good guy and a bad guy.
       I have very few complaints with this book, other than the fact that the Second Warsaw Pact isn't explained too well, nor is the original Warsaw Pact.  I suppose that the reader is supposed to know what the original Warsaw Pact is prior to reading.  Also, there is not much attention paid to the earth-side war, only to the space battle and the space politics.  What exactly were the Russians doing that was such a great cause for alarm?  Also, what is a Hegemony, or should I already know that? 
      Ender's Game is part of a series, yes.   Ender's Game, The Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind, make up "Ender's Quartet".  I haven't finished Children of the Mind yet, and I'll do separate posts on Xenocide and The Speaker for the Dead, because the latter is unbelievably wonderful in it's own way, the the first has it's own charm, especially in the sci-fi area of things.  Children of the Mind is very promising as well. 
        There are several adjacent books to these as well.  Ender in Exile and In the Shadow of the Hegemon, for example.  I think there might be a few others, but I haven't read them yet, so I don't know their titles specifically.  There also several graphic novels that tell the story of these books as well.  Basically look for anything that says 'Actual Ender's Game' on it, and that has something to do with Ender's Game.  Pretty much.