A War of Gifts: My review.

[Jayelle]

Why do I keep reading this tripe? I keep thinking that Card will get better, but he just continues to go downhill.
This latest from the Enderverse - a Christmas story from battleschool (taking place at the time when Ender is in Rat Army) reads like fanfic.
I want to like it. I want to enjoy another tale from such a great original book, but it's painful. Ender's character and the events that happen retcon much of the book.
Ender's isolation and unhappiness are lifted out to make way for a new characters plight of unhappiness. Just as Bean's genius was greater then Ender's, now Zech's loneliness is greater then Ender's.
It undermines the entire EG story to keep adding these characters.

Card has written his own fanfic, just to make another buck.

[Luet]

Just so you know, there is a thread on this sad, sad story in the Enderverse Books and Stories section (since technically the story takes place in the Enderverse):

http://www.philoticweb.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=871

[Jayelle]

Maybe I should move this to the Enderverse section. I think I will.

[Eddie Pinz]

It seems to me that Card means to undermine everything that Ender is. I posted this in another thread(but I will say it here again), in Shadows in Flight I am half expecting to find out that Ender is a robot that Bean has been controlling the entire time.

[Darth Petra]

Oh come on, it wasn't THAT bad. Sure, it wasn't as good as the others, and I have no desire to own it or re-read it...but, it wasn't a bad read.

[Luet]

I haven't read it (based on the horrid reviews it got here) and have not plans too. I highly regret starting Empire. *shudder*

[Black Dove]

Here's what I think of 'A Bore of Gifts':

It's a retcon. A bad one at that. Not One More Day bad, but still fairly bad. At least Ender's Shadow developped Bean into a good character and added to the Ender / Bean dynamic. Adding Zeck into Ender's stay at Battle School doesn't give us any more insight into Ender.

Also, another thing that really annoys me: contractions with existing continuity. In Ender's Game, Ender doesn't fire his gun and gets placed at the top of the rankings. In A War of Gifts, Zeck doesn't fire his gun and gets placed at the bottom.

I have high hopes for Shadows in Flight and Ender's Exile, but things like this make me pause just a little.

[Warmaker]

Come on yall, it wasn't supposed to be some grand epic. It takes place while he's in battle school so we already know the outcome of any major conflict Card could have imagined, this anecdote just makes Enders character more exceptional. Just think of A War of Gifts as an expansion pack to Enders Game.

[Jayelle]

It's one thing to have an expansion pack, it's another to have an expansion pack that renders the game useless.

[SaintDrogo]

Plus if it's as bad as the parts I read and everyone here says, it's like an expansion pack for an awesome game, but the expansion pack was made in Taiwan by carnival geeks in dimly lit rooms.

[PetraArkanian]

I didn't think it was that bad. I mean it wasn't like it was going to be considered one of the great classic novels of our time. U have to take it with a grain of salt it was like a cute little story to add to the enderverse. I'm sure it was probably aimed for the younger Ender fans. It definatly reads like it.

[Slim]

Also, another thing that really annoys me: contractions with existing continuity. In Ender's Game, Ender doesn't fire his gun and gets placed at the top of the rankings. In A War of Gifts, Zeck doesn't fire his gun and gets placed at the bottom.

The difference is that Zeck does fire his gun, but he misses on purpose.

I liked it. I've already posted in the other thread, but I'll put it here too. For some reason.

I got this book for Christmas. I liked it.

When I was reading it, I also felt like I could believe these actually were kids. But that was something that I liked about it. But I still thought they were geniuses. For example, Dink analyzing his first meeting with Ender (who but a genius would do that?), and then feeling sad because Santa can't make it to battle school. (who but a kid would feel that?)

I also liked reading more about Peter (and his mom)

I mostly liked that once again, Ender saves the day. He's my hero.

Graff: Ender is our only hope against the Christian Sociopath!

Dink: Uh... you mean the buggers, right?

Graff: Huh? Oh, right. Them too.

[PetraArkanian]

I don't get why it costs so much $$$ its only 130 pages. I know it's hardcover but that's not a reason to charge so much for it.

[neo-dragon]

I agree. Back before Christmas I almost caved and bought it, but the price was a major deterrent.

[Jebus]

I don't get why it costs so much $$$ its only 130 pages. I know it's hardcover but that's not a reason to charge so much for it.

Well he has to find some way to make money, it's not like he can put out a digitally remastered version of Ender's Game with a computer generated Jabba the Hut, after all.

[Dr. Mobius]

Don't give him any ideas, Jebus.

[eriador]

Okay, so I have an hour to kill in a bookstore. I'll be posting my take as I go. So far I've made it to page 23, and it's revolting. I can't believe that he lowered himself to writing this filth.

Page 26: Yuk yuk yuk. I'd stop reading if it weren't for that fact that I'm writing this review.

Done with Chapter two: Ew? Words cannot describe how little I desire to hear about Peter Wiggin's Christmas. Once again, filth. However, at least he's not the precious little preacher's boy, so it's a slight improvement.

Page 38: I can't tell if the religious crap is totally tongue-in-cheek, entirely serious, or somewhere in between. I don't like it.

43: Ew again and again. I can't believe that OSC would stoop this low. This book has no value of any sort. I wouldn't pay for it, that's for sure.

52: where did this bullshit about Holland come from? Yeah, it's true, but it feels like filler: like a gimmick. I shouldn't be reading this, but I'm doing it for you, dear reader

67: Zeck's dialogue with Graff sounds like bad erotica. If I wanted this, I'd visit ASSTR for free, instead of paying for a crummy Christmas story. Besides, Zeck is being a dick, and I can find much better examples of those in the free erotica.

74: This isn't what I want to hear. Hell, it isn't what the kids were thinking about in every single other book. The more OSC I read the less I like him and his bullshit religion getting into everything. He did some good stuff with sci fi... but when he starts touching religion I don't like it.

79: Fuuuuuuuck that. Dink's a f****** preacher now?

90: Oh boy! It only took him 90 pages to take a dig a modern-day Islam! What a jerk! "Islam gave up terrorism." As if it's some sort of religious institution. I'd put the book down if it weren't for the fact that I'm "reviewing" it.

118: This whole scene is out of a bad fanfic. Ender was never this calm and collected. He's another f****** priest. Give me a break!

Overall: It's terrible. I wouldn't suggest reading it. I pretty much agree with JL, but I want to add that the religion is the worst part. Yuk. Just don't do it guys. Friends don't let friends read A War of Gifts. It's that easy.

Namaste.

[EA_Cru_2002]

Geez what's with all the hate on War of Gifts? It seems like you guys are searching for Ender's Game Part 2 with each new story. It's a short story about a new character guys. I know, the subtitle: An Ender Story is misleading (and probably put there by the publishing company to make sure people know it's an Ender book) but I just took it as a story that takes place in the universe and was okay that Ender wasn't in it that much.

And I don't think it took away anything from the original Ender or Ender's Game. It showed Ender caring about a fellow soldier. That's who he is. He's a compassionate leader. And I personally thought Zech's story to be ultimately moving at the end when you understand where he's coming from.

And the religious aspects are in no way forced on you. In fact, he's technically writing the example of Christianity shown here as a NEGATIVE force with Zech's father. And all he did with the Islam characters is have them pray.

I'm sorry, don't mean to be rude, but it just sounds like a lot of whining from fanboys who hate anything that messes with their preconcieved notion of what they think Ender and Ender's Game to be. There's room for a lot of stories in this universe. Learning about Zech doesn't ruin Ender.

[eriador]

The reason I don't like it is that it reads like a fanfic. It advances nothing and has no meaning.

RE: Islamic students: it's not what he has them do, it's what he says about them. That's what I say.

[Slim]

The reason I don't like it is that it reads like a fanfic. It advances nothing and has no meaning.

... and you were expecting...?

That's what I was expecting, so that's why I liked it. If you were expecting some grand epic novel, of course you are going to be disgustingly disappointed.

From the summary advertising the book on Hatrack:

Orson Scott Card offers a Christmas gift to his millions of fans with this short novel set during Ender's first years at the Battle School where it is forbidden to celebrate religious holidays.

The children come from many nations, many religions; while they are being trained for war, religious conflict between them is not on the curriculum. But Dink Meeker, one of the older students, doesn't see it that way. He thinks that giving gifts isn't exactly a religious observation, and on Sinterklaas Day he tucks a present into another student's shoe.

This small act of rebellion sets off a battle royal between the students and the staff, but some surprising alliances form when Ender comes up against a new student, Zeck Morgan. The War over Santa Claus will force everyone to make a choice.

I read that as: "Cute Christmas story taking place at Battle School."

[Syphon the Sun]

*shrugs* I liked it. It's Scott, for heaven's sake. His writing is like pizza. Or sex. Even when it's bad, it's good. It's not his best work, but it's not as terrible as everyone seems to be making it out to be. Is it worth the fifteen bucks I dropped to have a signed copy? Sure. I've spent more on worse stories, you know. It's not the next Hugo or Nebula winner (let alone both), but it's not that bad, guys.

As far as Scott's religion goes, it's so amazingly hilarious -- to me, at least -- when people can't separate the author's religion from the religion of the characters. With the exception of Homecoming and Folk, his Mormon beliefs don't really show up. In fact, you could read nearly all of his books (including Homecoming and Folk, I think) without every concluding that he's Mormon. Having characters that are religious isn't quite the same thing as pushing religion on you, especially when the characters' religion(s) are so vastly different from the author's own.

[wigginboy]

I finished the book in about an hour a few days before Christmas. I did not expect a story of novel proportions, I expected a good story about Battle School and the life that was experienced there. I think the use of religion and the way that, even at the age of most of the Battle Schoolers, religion is already in us, was a great idea. OSC uses the characters well. The use of the new character, Zeck, was a little over the top I think, because we never see him in any of the other books, but that is trivial. He was unimportant in the first chapters of EG and in the later chapters, he had probably been sent home. I thought it comical, the lack of regard that Graff had for the Sinterklaas ritual, in contrast for the harsh way that he dealt with the blatant displays of religious attachment. I have always liked the Graff character and felt that his reaction was completely characteristic. I guess you could say the only thing I did not really like was that Ender played such a small role, but that is also trivial. I know that OSC was trying to tell a story, not about Ender, but about the school as a whole, and about how the children had to put aside their differences and work with each other. This story is not so much about Ender, because Ender's story has been told many times. This story is about the rest of the Brats, namely Dink and Zeck, an unknown, but without whom the story would have no meaning. IMO, Dink really brings this story together. Without him there would be no resolution and there would really be no 'war of gifts' in the Battle School locale. Written quickly, yes; written well, yes; a bad story? Not at all.

[Luet]

With the exception of Homecoming and Folk, his Mormon beliefs don't really show up. In fact, you could read nearly all of his books (including Homecoming and Folk, I think) without every concluding that he's Mormon.

You forgot Lost Boys. Isn't the whole family Mormon? Or am I confusing the short story of it with the novel? I know the short story was written in an autobiographical style and he changed that for the novel. But in one and/or both of them, the family was Mormon. That's how I remember learning quite a bit about day-to-day Mormon culture.

Oh, and Saints (Woman of Destiny), a pseudo-fictional history of the Latter Day Saints, but still very enjoyable to me. I've probably read it thrice.

[Syphon the Sun]

You forgot Lost Boys. Isn't the whole family Mormon? Or am I confusing the short story of it with the novel? I know the short story was written in an autobiographical style and he changed that for the novel. But in one and/or both of them, the family was Mormon. That's how I remember learning quite a bit about day-to-day Mormon culture.

Oh, and Saints (Woman of Destiny), a pseudo-fictional history of the Latter Day Saints, but still very enjoyable to me. I've probably read it thrice.

Yeah, I totally forgot about Lost Boys. In the short story, it was his family, so the family was Mormon, but we only know that because we know Scott is Mormon. Anyone who casually picks the story up in Maps in a Mirror wouldn't know that. With the novel version, the family (and most of the community) is Mormon and we learn a lot about the cultural aspects of the religion. We don't really learn any of its theology, but we do learn about the community, the temple, etc. At any rate, he doesn't really throw his beliefs in your face. Yes, he has religious beliefs. Yes, he's a very firm believer in them. But, he doesn't try to bash you over the head with it. (Even in his religious fiction and/or poetry, really. Though, it's stronger there; but if you're going to read religious writing, you should expect that, no?)

[Luet]

I've never been bothered by his religious overtones in any of his books or felt like he was proselytizing. I did, however, feel very put out by his ridiculous political soapbox of a novel Empire. I wouldn't care if he wrote his opinions and published them as a political non-fiction book so you knew what you were getting. But to try to pass it off as fiction felt cheap and wrong. But that's just my opinion.