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Critical response

Critics generally received Ender's Game well. The novel won the Nebula Award for best novel in 1985,^[6] and the Hugo Award for best novel in 1986^[7], considered the two most prestigious awards in science fiction.^[8][9] Ender's Game was also nominated for a Locus Award in 1986.^[4]

New York Times writer Gerald Jonas admits that the novel's plot summary reads like a "grade Z, made-for-television, science-fiction-rip off movie", but then says that Card develops the elements well despite this "unpromising material". Jonas further praises the character Ender Wiggin as "Alternately likable and insufferable, he is a convincing little Napoleon in short pants."^[10]

Much of the negative criticism the book has received stems from the novel's violence and the way Card justifies the violent actions of Ender Wiggin. Elaine Radford's review "Ender and Hitler: sympathy for the superman," criticizes the novel on several points. She likens Ender Wiggin to Adolf Hitler and criticizes the violence in the novel, particularly at the hands of the protagonist.^[11] Radford's criticisms are echoed in the essay "Creating the Innocent Killer: Ender's Game, Intention, and Morality" by John Kessel. Kessel reasons that Card justifies Ender's righteous rage and violence, stating, "Ender gets to strike out at his enemies and still remain morally clean. Nothing is his fault."^[12]