Genre: Action, Sci-Fi
Year: 2013
Summary: In the future, humanity is preparing to launch an attack on the homeworld of an alien race, called the Formics, that had attacked Earth and killed millions. The Formic invasion was stopped by Mazer Rackham, who crashed his F-35 Lightning II into a Formic queen ship at the apparent cost of his life. Over the course of 50 years, gifted children are trained by the International Fleet to become commanders of a new fleet for this counterattack.
Cadet Andrew "Ender" Wiggin draws the attention of Colonel Hyrum Graff and Major Gwen Anderson based on his aptitude in simulated space combat. They order the removal of his monitor, signifying the end of the cadet program.
Ender is then attacked by Stilson, a student he defeated in the combat sim, but Ender fights back and severely injures him. Ender confesses his grief to his older sister Valentine but is harassed further by their older brother Peter.
Graff arrives to reveal Ender was being tested and is still part of the program. Graff brings Ender to Battle School and places Ender with other cadets his age, but treats him as extraordinary, thereby subjecting him to being ostracized by the others.
Among other studies, the cadets are placed in squads and perform training games in a zero gravity "Battle Room". Ender quickly adapts to the games, devising new strategies older students have not yet seen.
Graff reassigns Ender to Salamander Army, led by Commander Bonzo Madrid. Bonzo, believing that Ender is inept due to his size and fearing Ender will cause the squad to fail, prevents him from training with the rest of the squad. Another cadet, Petra Arkanian, takes Ender under her wing and trains him privately.
Bonzo becomes aware of this but does not take any action against Petra; he instead orders Ender not to train with her. Ender secretly persuades Bonzo to let him train, arguing this will increase Ender's chance of being accepted into another squad.
In the next match, Bonzo orders Ender to do nothing during the match, while the rest of the Salamander Army fights another team. However, seeing the team losing and Petra in trouble, Ender comes to her aid and helps the Salamander Army win. After the match, Bonzo is humiliated by the other students and threatens to kill Ender if he embarrasses him again.
Meanwhile, Ender plays a computerized "mind game" set in a fantasy world, which aims to present difficult choices to the player. In one situation, Ender creates an outside the box solution to overcome a seemingly unsolvable problem. Later, he encounters a Formic in the game, and then a simulated image of Valentine entering the ruins of a castle. Inside, he finds another image of Valentine, but as he nears, it turns into an image of Peter before the game ends. These are noted as unusual additions to the game, which is seemingly being altered by Ender's interaction with the computer.
Graff promotes Ender to leader of his own squad, made from other students who have gained Ender's trust. They are put in increasingly difficult battles. In a surprise match against two other teams, including Bonzo's squad the Salamander Army, Ender devises a novel strategy of sacrificing part of his team to achieve a goal, impressing Graff.
Bonzo attacks Ender in the bathroom after the match, but Ender fights back, and Bonzo falls during the struggle, seriously injured. Distraught over this, Ender prepares to quit Battle School, but Graff has Valentine speak to him and convince him to continue.
Graff takes Ender to humanity's forward base on a former Formic planet near their homeworld. There, Ender meets Mazer Rackham, who explains how he spotted the shared-mind nature of the Formics to stop the attack 50 years prior. Ender finds that his former squad members are also here to help him train in computerized simulations of large fleet combat; Rackham puts special emphasis on the fleet's Molecular Detachment (MD) Device that is capable of disintegrating matter. Ender's training is rigorous, and Anderson expresses concern they are pushing Ender too fast, but Graff notes they have run out of time to replace Ender.
Ender's final test is monitored by several of the fleet commanders. As the simulation starts, Ender finds his fleet over the Formic homeworld and vastly outnumbered. He orders most of his fleet to sacrifice themselves to protect the MD long enough to fire on the homeworld. The resulting chain reaction burns over the surface of the planet, killing the entire population. The simulation ends, and Ender believes the test is over. Then the commanders restart the video screens, showing that the destruction of the Formic homeworld was real, and Ender had been controlling the real fleet this time. Despite Graff's assurance he will be known as a hero, Ender is furious, as he feels responsible for the annihilation and believes everyone will remember him as a killer.
As Ender struggles with his emotions during sleep, he recognizes one of the Formic structures nearby that is similar to the ruined castle from the game. Believing it is trying to communicate with him, Ender races out towards it. He follows the path shown by the game and encounters a dying Formic queen. The Queen acknowledges Ender's role in the genocide of her race, and that he simply wanted peace in the long term and forgives him. The Queen gives Ender a Queen egg that it had been protecting.
With the war ended, Ender is promoted to Admiral, given a small ship, and left to his own devices. In a letter to Valentine, he confides that he is going into deep space, determined to form a new Formic colony with the queen egg.
Cadet Andrew "Ender" Wiggin draws the attention of Colonel Hyrum Graff and Major Gwen Anderson based on his aptitude in simulated space combat. They order the removal of his monitor, signifying the end of the cadet program.
Ender is then attacked by Stilson, a student he defeated in the combat sim, but Ender fights back and severely injures him. Ender confesses his grief to his older sister Valentine but is harassed further by their older brother Peter.
Graff arrives to reveal Ender was being tested and is still part of the program. Graff brings Ender to Battle School and places Ender with other cadets his age, but treats him as extraordinary, thereby subjecting him to being ostracized by the others.
Among other studies, the cadets are placed in squads and perform training games in a zero gravity "Battle Room". Ender quickly adapts to the games, devising new strategies older students have not yet seen.
Graff reassigns Ender to Salamander Army, led by Commander Bonzo Madrid. Bonzo, believing that Ender is inept due to his size and fearing Ender will cause the squad to fail, prevents him from training with the rest of the squad. Another cadet, Petra Arkanian, takes Ender under her wing and trains him privately.
Bonzo becomes aware of this but does not take any action against Petra; he instead orders Ender not to train with her. Ender secretly persuades Bonzo to let him train, arguing this will increase Ender's chance of being accepted into another squad.
In the next match, Bonzo orders Ender to do nothing during the match, while the rest of the Salamander Army fights another team. However, seeing the team losing and Petra in trouble, Ender comes to her aid and helps the Salamander Army win. After the match, Bonzo is humiliated by the other students and threatens to kill Ender if he embarrasses him again.
Meanwhile, Ender plays a computerized "mind game" set in a fantasy world, which aims to present difficult choices to the player. In one situation, Ender creates an outside the box solution to overcome a seemingly unsolvable problem. Later, he encounters a Formic in the game, and then a simulated image of Valentine entering the ruins of a castle. Inside, he finds another image of Valentine, but as he nears, it turns into an image of Peter before the game ends. These are noted as unusual additions to the game, which is seemingly being altered by Ender's interaction with the computer.
Graff promotes Ender to leader of his own squad, made from other students who have gained Ender's trust. They are put in increasingly difficult battles. In a surprise match against two other teams, including Bonzo's squad the Salamander Army, Ender devises a novel strategy of sacrificing part of his team to achieve a goal, impressing Graff.
Bonzo attacks Ender in the bathroom after the match, but Ender fights back, and Bonzo falls during the struggle, seriously injured. Distraught over this, Ender prepares to quit Battle School, but Graff has Valentine speak to him and convince him to continue.
Graff takes Ender to humanity's forward base on a former Formic planet near their homeworld. There, Ender meets Mazer Rackham, who explains how he spotted the shared-mind nature of the Formics to stop the attack 50 years prior. Ender finds that his former squad members are also here to help him train in computerized simulations of large fleet combat; Rackham puts special emphasis on the fleet's Molecular Detachment (MD) Device that is capable of disintegrating matter. Ender's training is rigorous, and Anderson expresses concern they are pushing Ender too fast, but Graff notes they have run out of time to replace Ender.
Ender's final test is monitored by several of the fleet commanders. As the simulation starts, Ender finds his fleet over the Formic homeworld and vastly outnumbered. He orders most of his fleet to sacrifice themselves to protect the MD long enough to fire on the homeworld. The resulting chain reaction burns over the surface of the planet, killing the entire population. The simulation ends, and Ender believes the test is over. Then the commanders restart the video screens, showing that the destruction of the Formic homeworld was real, and Ender had been controlling the real fleet this time. Despite Graff's assurance he will be known as a hero, Ender is furious, as he feels responsible for the annihilation and believes everyone will remember him as a killer.
As Ender struggles with his emotions during sleep, he recognizes one of the Formic structures nearby that is similar to the ruined castle from the game. Believing it is trying to communicate with him, Ender races out towards it. He follows the path shown by the game and encounters a dying Formic queen. The Queen acknowledges Ender's role in the genocide of her race, and that he simply wanted peace in the long term and forgives him. The Queen gives Ender a Queen egg that it had been protecting.
With the war ended, Ender is promoted to Admiral, given a small ship, and left to his own devices. In a letter to Valentine, he confides that he is going into deep space, determined to form a new Formic colony with the queen egg.
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