''A War of Gifts: An Ender Story'' is a 2007

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

novella by American writer

Orson Scott Card Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the first and (as of 2022) only person to win both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for both ...

. 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 An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform action ...

protagonist. *Reverend Habit Morgan – Zeck's father *Unnamed – Zeck's mother *Unnamed – Zeck's three younger siblings

Wiggin family

Ender Wiggin Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is a fictional character from Orson Scott Card's 1985 science fiction novel ''Ender's Game'' and its sequels (''Speaker for the Dead'', ''Xenocide'', ''Children of the Mind'', ''Ender in Exile''), as well as in the first p ...

Peter Wiggin ''This literature-related list is incomplete; you can help by to include characters from the First Formic War trilogy.'' This is a partial list of characters in the ''Ender's Game'' series. Wiggin family * Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is the prota ...

– Ender's older brother *

Valentine Wiggin ''This literature-related list is incomplete; you can help by to include characters from the First Formic War trilogy.'' This is a partial list of characters in the ''Ender's Game'' series. Wiggin family * Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is the prota ...

– Ender's older sister *

John Paul Wiggin ''This literature-related list is incomplete; you can help by to include characters from the First Formic War trilogy.'' This is a partial list of characters in the ''Ender's Game'' series. Wiggin family * Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is the prota ...

– Ender's father *

Theresa Wiggin ''This literature-related list is incomplete; you can help by to include characters from the First Formic War trilogy.'' This is a partial list of characters in the ''Ender's Game'' series. Wiggin family * Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is the prota ...

– Ender's mother

Students

Dink Meeker ''This literature-related list is incomplete; you can help by to include characters from the First Formic War trilogy.'' This is a partial list of characters in the ''Ender's Game'' series. Wiggin family * Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is the prota ...

– Dutch boy *" Rose de Nose" Rosen *Filippus "Flip" Rietveld – Dutch boy *

Bonzo Madrid ''This literature-related list is incomplete; you can help by to include characters from the First Formic War trilogy.'' This is a partial list of characters in the ''Ender's Game'' series. Wiggin family * Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is the prota ...

*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 Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

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.
''SF Site'', 2008. Some critics have also commented on the character of Ender Wiggin who is described as being too

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

-like to be believable.Paul Di Filippo, "''A War of Gifts'': A review"
''SciFi.com'', 2008. A

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

review described it as "an amusing and sincere tale".

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 A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

by Battle School graduates which plays a major role in the ''Shadow'' series.

References

External links

Publication information for ''A War of Gifts'' available from Card's website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:War Of Gifts: An Ender Story, A 2007 American novels American science fiction novels Novels set in North Carolina Ender's Game series books Tor Books books