A War of Gifts: An Ender Story

A War of Gifts: An Ender Story is a 2007 science fiction novel 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.

A War of Gifts: An Ender Story
AuthorOrson Scott Card
Cover artistJohn Harris
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SeriesEnder's Game series
Genrescience fiction
PublisherTor Books
Publication date
2007
Media typeprint (hardcover)
Pages128
ISBN0-7653-1282-4
OCLC137222863
813/.54 22
LC ClassPS3553.A655 W37 2007
Preceded byChildren of the Mind 
Followed byEnder 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.

See also

References
  • Card, Orson Scott (November 2007). A War of Gifts. Tor. ISBN 0-7653-1282-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  1. Card 2007, p. 15.
  2. Card 2007, pp. 49-50.
  3. Thomas M. Wagner, "A War of Gifts: A review" SF Reviews, 2007.
  4. Steven H Silver, "A War of Gifts: A review" SF Site, 2008.
  5. Paul Di Filippo, "A War of Gifts: A review" SciFi.com, 2008.
  6. https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-59397-631-6
  7. Orson Scott Card, "Ender's Stocking" Intergalactic Medicine Show, October 2007.
  8. Schmidt, Bryan Thomas (April 2016). Decision Points. WordFire Press. p. 355. ISBN 978-1-61475-424-4. 'The War of Gifts (An Ender Story)' © 2007 Orson Scott Card. First published in A War of Gifts, novella hardback, by Tor Books. This is its first anthology appearance, and the first in a form slightly abridged by the author.
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