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This reminds me of Ender's Game.

No spoilers :)

To err is of course human. But to mess things up spectacularly, we need an elite — Yanis Varoufakis

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Nov 28th, 2011 at 09:26:36 AM EST
Well, when you remember the Orson Scott Card is a Mormon whose themes as a writer often include affectionate pictures of militarised societies, I'm not surprised.

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Nov 28th, 2011 at 10:00:49 AM EST
[ Parent ]
If you think Ender's Game paints an affectionate picture of what the Battle School and his role in the war do to him, maybe we've read a different book.

To err is of course human. But to mess things up spectacularly, we need an elite — Yanis Varoufakis
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Nov 28th, 2011 at 10:11:21 AM EST
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Well, i just read the wiki synopsis and I suppose I filtered it through my memory of previous books of his that I have read. Although, the memory cannot be strong as, looking through the bibliography, not a single title rings any bells.

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Nov 28th, 2011 at 11:29:22 AM EST
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Scott Card has a web site. I didn't subscribe to his online SF magazine because some of I thought some of his views were offensive.
by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Mon Nov 28th, 2011 at 11:38:17 AM EST
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Jeez, I'm sorry I mentioned the obvious parallel with an award-winning novel in which a genocidal war is fought through remote control by operators unaware that they're not playing in a simulator.

To err is of course human. But to mess things up spectacularly, we need an elite — Yanis Varoufakis
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Nov 28th, 2011 at 11:53:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Oh no, not at all. It's useful to see some of the issues played out in fiction, even if I have reservations as to the extent OSC allows his characters to show human empathy as anything more than a plot device.

Especially as the wiki doesn't seem to focus on the idea that Ender has problems with what he has done, either in the simulator or in his real life, up till the point where he finds the survivor.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Nov 28th, 2011 at 12:06:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]
He has moral problems from the moment that he finds out what happened. "Finding the survivor" smacks of Deus ex Machina to allow a "happy" ending and an opportunity for the character to redeem himself.

To err is of course human. But to mess things up spectacularly, we need an elite — Yanis Varoufakis
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Nov 28th, 2011 at 12:14:01 PM EST
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Having read OSC's Maps in a Mirror short-story collection I have to say if his characters display empathy just as plot devices he's very good at it. An entire section of the collection is stories about religion (or, rather, about transcendence - not much particularly Christian about the stories) and that's particularly good. Mayeb it's because OSC is actually deeply religious or because I was young and impressionable when I read that, but I find the way he handles religious themes rather more convincing than the way an atheist such as Arthur C. Clarke does in, say, the Rama series.

To err is of course human. But to mess things up spectacularly, we need an elite — Yanis Varoufakis
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Nov 28th, 2011 at 01:02:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
It's one book that is resolutely anti-war, (Which may be one reason why it's not been made as a film) :)

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Mon Nov 28th, 2011 at 03:00:12 PM EST
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