A War of Gifts: An Ender Story
A War of Gifts: An Ender Story is a 2007 science fiction novella by American writer Orson Scott Card. This book is set in Card's Ender's Game series and takes place during Ender Wiggin's time at Battle School as described in Card's novels Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow.
 | |
| Author | Orson Scott Card |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | John Harris |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Ender's Game series |
| Genre | science fiction |
| Publisher | Tor Books |
Publication date | 2007 |
| Media type | print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 128 |
| ISBN | 0-7653-1282-4 |
| OCLC | 137222863 |
| 813/.54 22 | |
| LC Class | PS3553.A655 W37 2007 |
| Preceded by | Children of the Mind |
| Followed by | Ender in Exile |
Characters
Morgan family
- Zeck Morgan – the anti-hero protagonist.
- Reverend Habit Morgan – Zeck's father
- Unnamed – Zeck's mother
- Unnamed – Zeck's three younger siblings[1]
Wiggin family
- Ender Wiggin
- Peter Wiggin – Ender's older brother
- Valentine Wiggin – Ender's older sister
- John Paul Wiggin – Ender's father
- Theresa Wiggin – Ender's mother
Students
- Dink Meeker – Dutch boy
- "Rose de Nose" Rosen
- Filippus "Flip" Rietveld – Dutch boy
- Bonzo Madrid[2]
- Ahmed – Pakistani (Muslim) student
International Fleet personnel
- Captain Brridegan
- Agnes O'Toole – IF tester
- Colonel Graff – Battle School commander
Literary significance and reception
A War of Gifts was not particularly well received by genre critics. The chief complaint with the story is that although it raises the issues of faith, religious freedom and religious suppression, it does so in a very superficial manner.[3][4] Some critics have also commented on the character of Ender Wiggin who is described as being too Christ-like to be believable.[4][5] A Publishers Weekly review described it as "an amusing and sincere tale".[6]
Chapter 2 of the piece, "Ender's Stocking," originally appeared in electronic form as the first third of the short story "Ender's Stocking," published in the October 2007 issue of Card's webzine InterGalactic Medicine Show.[7] This chapter has been criticized for seeming to be unrelated to the rest of the book and for detracting from the rest of the story.[4]
In 2016, the author released an abridged form of the story titled The War of Gifts for inclusion in the anthology Decision Points.[8]
Connection to other parts of the Ender series
In addition to being set during Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow, the Islamic counter reaction to the Christmas celebrations in A War of Gifts sows the seeds for the creation of the Muslim Caliphate by Battle School graduates which plays a major role in the Shadow series.
References
- Card, Orson Scott (November 2007). A War of Gifts. Tor. ISBN 978-0-7653-1282-2.
- Card 2007, p. 15.
- Card 2007, pp. 49–50.
- Thomas M. Wagner, "A War of Gifts: A review" SF Reviews, 2007.
- Steven H Silver, "A War of Gifts: A review" SF Site, 2008.
- Paul Di Filippo, "A War of Gifts: A review" SciFi.com, 2008.
- "Audio Book Review: A War of Gifts by Orson Scott Card, Author, Scott Brick, Read by, Stefan Rudnicki, Read by , read by Scott Brick and Stefan Rudnicki. Macmillan Audio $19.95 (0p) ISBN 978-1-59397-631-6".
- Orson Scott Card, "Ender's Stocking" Intergalactic Medicine Show, October 2007.
- Schmidt, Bryan Thomas, ed. (April 2016). Decision Points. WordFire Press. p. 355. ISBN 978-1-61475-424-4.
This is its first anthology appearance, and the first in a form slightly abridged by the author.
External links
- Publication information for A War of Gifts available from Card's website
- A War of Gifts: An Ender Story title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database