Book Review: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Goodreads

Rating: 5/5 stars

Pages: 380

Published: 1985

Before I start this review, I would like to say that I do not believe, agree, or condone any of the author’s ideas on sex, gender, and sexuality.  I feel terribly sad that someone uses their influence as a widely read author to spread harmful ideas.

That is why it took me so long to read this book. I don’t think I would have read it if I hadn’t got it as a gift. Also, Asa Butterfield helped. He is all my heart desires to play Artemis Fowl. Okay, let’s move on with the review.

Over all, I really liked this book. It was one of the best Science Fiction books I read, and I’ve read quite a lot of them in my time (actually, it is a genre I want to go back to reading. I miss it.) Not exactly because of the brilliance of the plot and of the characters, which were actually quite simple, but mainly because of the amazing twists. And also because it is very well structure and makes sense world-wise. There are some Science Fiction books that simply cannot reach a level of internal coherence so needed for the genre and they end up sounding fake. This world, even though we who live and breathe technology may find some aspects impossible, is very coherent as a story and as a world.

So, let’s take a look at the positive aspects of Ender’s Game:

- As I just mentioned, it is coherent. And it is a very gripping story. I always wanted to read another page just to know what was going to happen to Ender and what the next step of his training was going to be. I found myself completely immersed in the characters and the story and sometimes hooting for good things to happen.

- It has the right amount of explanation. We know what happened –an alien invasion that almost killed our entire species- and we know what is happening. We also get to know what is happened behind the curtains, the political tension our world is going through and what is at stake. The explanation is not over-the-top or too little, and it gets mixed with the story and we form the picture of the situation as the story progresses.

- There is an interesting view on technology and social networking. However, it does seem a little far-fetched for someone who is immerse in the world of blogging and online communities.

- And, for me, one of the best features of this book was the big plot twist at the end. After you read it you realize that the entire book was just building up to it, and if you had paid only a little bit more of attention to the small details and weird pieces of conversation you would have figured it all out. And that was amazing: how, in hindsight, everything was there, but reading it you let it all slip past you. Very well done.

Now, for the negative aspects:

- I felt the characters to be a little too young and sometimes it was really easy to forget how young they were.

- Now, my biggest issue was the underlying misoginy presente in the entire book. I almost stopped reading it in the beginning when the very memorable line of ‘Too many centuries of evolution working against them’ is said. Of course, ‘them’ is girls. Now, I don’t know what you consider as centuries of evolution working against me, but I am pretty sure a girl could do all the things Ender did. And not only ‘could’. There is a lot of women out there who do belong to the army, who are in wars and fight for what they believe in. And THAT is, and will always be as long as it proceeds, my biggest issue with Science Fiction and Fantasy books: it doesn’t matter how far away in the future the story is set, the authors use the same outstandily stupid gender role mentality. There is no evolution when it comes to equality. And not only of gender, but of race, sexuality, religion, among others. It is completely unbelievable.

However, I didn’t stop reading and I’m actually glad I didn’t. I had a lot of fun reading this book and I would absolutely recommed it. Oh, and don’t forget to watch the movie as well. It is very different from the book (when is it not?), but very interesting as well!

Book Review: The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah

Goodreads

Summary: " Hercule Poirot's quiet supper in a London coffeehouse is interrupted when a young woman confides to him that she is about to be murdered.  She is terrified – but begs Poirot not to find and punish her killer. Once she is dead, she insists, justice will have been done.

Later that night, Poirot learns that three guests at a fashionable London Hotel have been murdered, and a cufflink has been placed in each one’s mouth. Could there be a connection with the frightened woman? While Poirot struggles to put together the bizarre pieces of the puzzle, the murderer prepares another hotel bedroom for a fourth victim..."

Let me say this straightaway: I was very disappointed with this book. It did not deserve to have 'Agatha Christie' written on the cover. It is not an Agatha Christie book and it is not an Agatha Christie pastiche. I sincerely don't know what it is.

Ok, that doesn't mean that Agatha Christie's novels are perfect. In no way they are. Yes, they have plot holes, there are some things that you honestly can't help but think: 'yeah, it makes sense, but in no way it would have been that easy to pull off'. However, they are incredibly entertaining. And what makes them even more entertaining is the human factor. The characters are three-dimensional and you can feel them. As the Doctor say in 'The Unicorn and the Wasp', Christie is good because she understands.  And she also makes us understand. A complex murder normally has a very simple explanation and a straightforward reason. You can see why the person was dead and you can see how the murderer pulled it, even if you not quite think everything would be that simple.

The mystery and the solution of this book are so convoluted you simply cannot accept it. The back story that made set everything in motion is so ridiculous that I simply couldn't believe that three people would be killed because of that. I also do not think it would have reached the proportions it did. They talk about it like it was this huge disaster and I was expecting something a lot more serious.

Another thing that didn't work for me was the narrator. Catchpool has to be the most annoying, idiotic narrator and the most dumb police officer in the history of mystery novels. He not only leaves the crime scene unprotected because he cannot deal with the dead bodies, he has to complain all the time and not do any detecting whatsoever. He expects all the answers to be handed to him by Poirot. He also has a "dark" past, which is shown to us with lots of italics. The author makes a big deal of it and then tell us what it is by chapter three. And when we do find out what the problem is it is something so unimportant I simply cannot understand the relevance of it to the plot.

Have I mentioned that he does not do any detecting? Because he doesn't. He goes to the village where the whole story started and then keeps complaining that everybody is avoiding him. He spends the most part of the journey whining. I don't think it ever crosses his mind to go to the village's constabulary, that's how good he is at his job.

However, my biggest problem of all was not with Catchpool or the mystery itself. It was with Poirot. Simply because it was not Poirot. It was a character that shares a name with him. Not only this Poirot only drinks coffee, he also gets annoyed, red in the face, and screams at people every too often. He doesn't explain how he came to his conclusions and only repeats the same facts over and over.

The last 100 pages consist of every character telling the same story and Poirot 'explaining' what happened to a clueless audience and a clueless Catchpool. The denouement takes forever. By the time we actually get to know what happened I was so bored that I didn't care about it anymore. I just wanted the book to be over.

I'm really disappointed with it. I don't know why the choice of a new narrator, much less one so idiotic as this one. I would have preferred Hastings. Yes, Hastings is not smart, but he is not a Scotland Yard detective as is Catchpool. I don't understand how this person got to be in Scotland Yard in the first place and why he chose to be a police officer to start with.

Honestly, it was a big waste of time. But, what can I say, I couldn't resist a new Poirot novel and, to be completely honest, if there are more books to this series, I'll probably read them too. I know, I don't learn with my mistakes. But there is always the hope that it will get better. 

Rating: 2 stars