By: Orson Scott Card Publisher: Tor Books Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Tor Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 384 Publication Date: October 01, 1999 Release Date: August 31, 1999
Orson Scott Card brings us back to the very beginning of his brilliant Ender Quartet, with a novel that allows us to reenter that world anew.With all the power of his original creation, Card has created a parallel volume to Ender's Game, a book that expands and compliments the first, enhancing its power, illuminating its events and its powerful conclusion.The human race is at War with the "Buggers", an insect-like alien race. The first battles went badly, and now as Earth prepares to defend itself against the imminent threat of total destruction at the hands of an inscrutable alien enemy, all focus is on the development and training of military geniuses who can fight such a war, and win.The long distances of interstellar space have given hope to the defenders of Earth--they have time to train these future commanders up from childhood, forging then into an irresisible force in the high orbital facility called the Battle School.Andrew "Ender" Wiggin was not the only child in the Battle School; he was just the best of the best. In this new book, card tells the story of another of those precocious generals, the one they called Bean--the one who became Ender's right hand, part of his team, in the final battle against the Buggers.Bean's past was a battle just to survive. He first appeared on the streets of Rotterdam, a tiny child with a mind leagues beyond anyone else's. He knew he could not survive through strength; he used his tactical genius to gain acceptance into a children's gang, and then to help make that gang a template for success for all the others. He civilized them, and lived to grow older.Bean's desperate struggle to live, and his success, brought him to the attention of the Battle School's recruiters, those people scouring the planet for leaders, tacticians, and generals to save Earth from the threat of alien invasion. Bean was sent into orbit, to the Battle School. And there he met Ender....
Amazon.com: Ender's Shadow is being dubbed as a parallel novel to Orson Scott Card's Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Ender's Game. By "parallel," Card means that Shadow begins and ends at roughly the same time as Game, and it chronicles many of the same events. In fact, the two books tell an almost identical story of brilliant children being trained in the orbiting Battle School to lead humanity's fleets in the final war against alien invaders known as the Buggers. The most brilliant of these young recruits is Ender Wiggin, an unparalleled commander and tactician who can surely defeat the Buggers if only he can overcome his own inner turmoil.
Second among the children is Bean, who becomes Ender's lieutenant despite the fact that he is the smallest and youngest of the Battle School students. Bean is the central character of Shadow, and we pick up his story when he is just a 2-year-old starving on the streets of a future Rotterdam that has become a hell on earth. Bean is unnaturally intelligent for his age, which is the only thing that allows him to escape--though not unscathed--the streets and eventually end up in Battle School. Despite his brilliance, however, Bean is doomed to live his life as an also-ran to the more famous and in many ways more brilliant Ender. Nonetheless, Bean learns things that Ender cannot or will not understand, and it falls to this once pathetic street urchin to carry the weight of a terrible burden that Ender must not be allowed to know.
Although it may seem like Shadow is merely an attempt by Card to cash in on the success of his justly famous Ender's Game, that suspicion will dissipate once you turn the first few pages of this engrossing novel. It's clear that Bean has a story worth telling, and that Card (who started the project with a cowriter but later decided he wanted it all to himself) is driven to tell it. And though much of Ender's Game hinges on a surprise ending that Card fans are likely well acquainted with, Shadow manages to capitalize on that same surprise and even turn the table on readers. In the end, it seems a shame that Shadow, like Bean himself, will forever be eclipsed by the myth of Ender, because this is a novel that can easily stand on its own. Luckily for readers, Card has left plenty of room for a sequel, so we may well be seeing more of Bean in the near future. --Craig E. Engler
The author abondoned his storyline I am amazed at all the positive feedback about this book. In Enders Game Card repeatly justifies the rigorous isolation and abondonment of Ender to achieve the type of commander needed to lead the final battle. But then in Enders Shadow Bean is able to replace Ender as commander without any of the trama that Ender was forced to endure. Bean is smart, clever and clearheaded "always" whereas Ender looks hesitant and overwrought, with Bean looking over his shoulder, he's been given the authority to decide if Ender is competent to lead or should he step in and take over command. Where does Bean get the experience to become Enders "supervisor?" I don't know but he is deemed fit enough with a couple months as a team leader to be fleet commander.
I think that Card has over time decided to "dumb down" Ender so that there can be remarks like "Bean is better than Ender." Enders Game was an emotional rollercoaster of deception, but Enders Shadow showed the greatest deception of Ender was by the author himself.
I just hope that Sherwood Smith doesn't deny Inda the way Card did Ender.
Bean Better Than Ender??? Possibly While this book is consistent with the Ender is God view, Bean is a separate and uniquely intriguing character. His childhood is about as far from fairy tale as one can get and still be a child-safe book. He's got a brain unparalleled in the known world, which must have been a daunting task for the author to describe well, but somehow Orson Scott Card succeeds.
I would recommend reading Ender's Game first, but you could potentially read this book as a stand alone novel and it would still be fine. The author has a lovely way of presenting things, even if the bad guys are as cheap a sci-fi trick as buggers.
Amazing story. It's all you would like to know in a parallel book. Orson Scott Card was brilliant in 1985, when he wrote his flawless book Ender's Game, and 14 years later, after finishing his Ender's Saga, he thought of the perfect creation to keep the fans going with his story. Ender's Shadow is a perfect book which fills the gaps and answers the question that Ender's Game leaves us.
It tells the story of Bean (perfectly called Ender's Shadow), from his birth to his return back to earth, after fighting the war against the formics with Ender as his commander. The book goes through his whole Battle School experience, as isteresting as Ender's.
This is a must-read book.
H. Durnan's Book Review Every kid dreams about going into space. In Orson Scott Card's novel, Ender's Shadow, this dream becomes reality for a boy called Bean. A street urchin in the city of Rotterdam, he has always had to fight for is own survival. So when he passes the International Fleet's intelligence tests with flying colors, going to Battleschool in space allows him to concentrate on studies rather than survival, though this is only the beginning of his fantastical adventures. Bean meets Ender, a boy who is destined for greatness. With Ender as his commander, Bean learns about the exciting "game" played at Battleschool, and his aptitude leads him to further thrilling events.
Ender's Shadow is a great read for most middle schoolers and adults. Bean's intelligent insights are provocatively complex, yet simply expressed and easy for younger readers to understand. The plot is bizarre and new, but the futuristic element makes it believable, and the fact that Ender's Shadow contains only a slightly different story from Card's previous novel, Ender's Game, but in a different perspective, will draw fans of Ender's Game to this book. Readers will recognize some of the dialogue from the other book, but will be pleased with new exchanges between Bean and Ender as we see how Bean views his commander. Fans of science fiction (and most other books) will devour this glorious retelling of Ender's Game from a fresh new perspective.
An AMAZING Ender-series Book Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card is a FANTASTIC book, because of its vivid details, the places I saw, and the different perspective on the world it showed me. This book is an absolute 5 out of 5 stars because of its uniqueness and it's the perfect paralled novel to Ender's Game. This Science Fiction book is all about Bean, the tiny boy who survived the ruthless streets and the cunning Battle School, who allied with perfect Ender and battled evil Achilles. Anyone who likes science fiction or has read the other Ender books will love this book. This book captured my attention and never let go.
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