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]Kirkus Reviews described the story as a "Little League stocking stuffer that nevertheless makes several cogent points".[7]
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.[8] 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.[9]
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.[citation needed]
^Schmidt, Bryan Thomas, ed. (April 2016). Decision Points. WordFire Press. p. 355. ISBN978-1-61475-424-4. This is its first anthology appearance, and the first in a form slightly abridged by the author.
