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.
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
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 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.Thomas M. Wagner, "A War of Gifts: A review" SF Reviews, 2007.Steven H Silver, "A War of Gifts: A review" SF Site, 2008. Some critics have also commented on the character of Ender Wiggin who is described as being too Christ-like to be believable.Paul Di Filippo, "A War of Gifts: A review" SciFi.com, 2008. A Publishers Weekly review described it as "an amusing and sincere tale". Kirkus Reviews described the story as a "Little League stocking stuffer that nevertheless makes several cogent points".
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
Ender's Game (series) List of Ender's Game characters Orson Scott Card bibliography
References
External links
Publication information for A War of Gifts available from Card's website