Orson Scott Card is a cruel parent, at least to his fictional children, and I absolutely love it. Ender, an extremely young child, grows up in a dystopian future where the Chinese One-Child Policy is now the World Two-Child Policy and everyone is afraid of being zapped by alien bugs, and everyone important expects him to either be unwanted trash or the savior of humanity. Card captures the insight of a prodigial child very well (to my knowledge; I'm not a prodigial child, at least) and really paints Ender as a feeling, alive, human child rather than a fictional hero. Following Ender's childhood life made me cry for both himself, for being so manipulated and burned, and for myself, because I will probably never be as strong or as smart as this child in my entire lifetime, much to my satisfaction. This is a MUST READ for any sci-fi readers!