"Ender’s Game" by Orson Scott Card

In the distant future, an alien invasion seems to be imminent against the human race. In order to fight it off, the government has put into place a program in which children are bred to become genius soldiers. 

A young boy who goes by the name of Andrew “Ender” Wiggin who lives with disconnected parents, a sadistic brother and a kind sister finds himself drafted into that program. While Wiggin’s skills and performance prove to everyone that he is an incredibly capable soldier, yet growing up in such a community has a psychological impact on anyone.

Ender finds himself raised in a hostile environment surrounded only by peers, isolated from any other type of contact. Needless to say, the teachers aren’t of the nice variety, and the fact that the threat of an alien invasion is omnipresent all weigh heavily on the young boy’s mind. 

Also, Ender is far from being the only person of great interest drafted into the program, as it has already been going on for a hundred years. As you can imagine, the story of Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card deals primarily with what goes on in Ender’s head while he has to grow up in a very unconventional setting. 

However, that is not to say there are no other plot-lines, as his sister Valentine and brother Peter are also unique in their own way, and don’t forget about the alien invasion that can happen at any moment. Ender’s Game was published all the way back in 1994 and received the Hugo and Nebula awards. 

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Orson Scott Card Personal site Orson Scott Card mainly considers himself as being an American novelist, though he has had many careers over his life, including critic, essayist, columnist and public speaker. He won a number of major literary awards, including the Hugo and Nebula ones for his novels Ender’s Game and Speaker of the Dead.