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Ender's Shadow (Shadow Saga #1)

4.24 of 5 stars 4.24 · rating details · 60,798 ratings · 2,487 reviews

Orson Scott Card brings us back to the very beginning of his brilliant Ender Quartet, withthe novel thatbegins The Shadow Series andallows us to reenter Ender's world anew.

With all the power of his original creation, Ender's Shadowis Card'sparallel volume to Ender's Game, a book that expands and complements the first, enhancing its power, illuminating its events and its po...more Orson Scott Card brings us back to the very beginning of his brilliant Ender Quartet, with the novel that begins The Shadow Series and allows us to reenter Ender's world anew.

With all the power of his original creation, Ender's Shadow is Card's parallel volume to Ender's Game, a book that expands and complements 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 irresistible 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....

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ebook, 384 pages

Published May 19th 2002 by Tor Books (first published 1999)

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Dec 21, 2012 Seak (Bryce L.) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, sci-fi, top-10-scifi, audio

Very impressed with how good this was. I count myself in the party that there shouldn't have been anything past Ender's Game (like The Matrix and most any sequels Hollywood makes nowadays), but I have to admit this was great.

As a parallel novel to Orson Scott Card's classic Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow follows Bean, the kid Ender treats like the teachers treated him.

While hesitant to pick this up, I had heard that the Shadow series is better than the original quartet, but I couldn't get away fro...more

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May 06, 2011 Stephen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, sfsite-reader-s-poll-top-10, multiple-award-nominee, award-nominee-locus, 1990-1999, science-fiction, children-behaving-badly, political-fiction

4.0 to 4.5 stars. Okay, now don't turn away thinking that this book is just a "re-telling" of the story of Ender's Game from the perspective of the character of Bean. Not at all. This is not simply OSC cashing in on the success of the Ender Series. This is a completely different novel and there is little to no overlap in the actual events of Ender's Game. It simply takes place at the same time as those events.

The purpose of this story is two fold. First, we get to really know Bean who turns ou...more

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Mar 24, 2010 Jacob rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, sci-fi-fantasy-etc, card

March 2010
Previously: Ender's Game

Ender Wiggin, hero of Earth, did not defeat the ~~Buggers~~ Formics single-handedly. He had help. Soldiers, followers, people in the background, unimportant characters whose own stories didn't really need to be told, you know where I'm going with this, etc. etc. One of these soldiers, Bean, was smaller than Ender, younger than Ender, infinitely smarter than Ender...

...and not nearly as interesting.

But that didn’t stop Orson Scott Card, so here we go: Bean, an orphan...more March 2010
Previously: Ender's Game

Ender Wiggin, hero of Earth, did not defeat the ~~Buggers~~ Formics single-handedly. He had help. Soldiers, followers, people in the background, unimportant characters whose own stories didn't really need to be told, you know where I'm going with this, etc. etc. One of these soldiers, Bean, was smaller than Ender, younger than Ender, infinitely smarter than Ender...

...and not nearly as interesting.

But that didn’t stop Orson Scott Card, so here we go: Bean, an orphan living on the streets of Rotterdam, catches the attention of Sister Carlotta, a compassionate nun on the lookout for potential soldiers in the war against the ~~Buggers~~ Formics. Bean is incredibly intelligent despite his age and lack of education, and his high test scores get him into Battle School. There he makes all sorts of wonderful friends (well, just one) and has a glorious time hiding in the background and discovering all the big secrets the authorities kept from Ender and surprised everyone with at the end of the other book. Back on Earth, Sister Carlotta follows various clues to discover an entire subplot about Bean’s secret origins, while elsewhere, a dangerous character from Bean’s past plans to finish things once and for all, eventually, at some point in one of the sequels.

As other reviewers mention, Ender’s Game was about the action. When faced with a problem, Ender solved it, often permanently. Bean, on the other hand, thought about it. And considered. And weighed his options. And then acted, often too late to actually do anything. The mystery is gone, too, since Bean figured out the true nature of the games long before Ender did, and as for the best part of the original novel--the battle room--what little action we get doesn’t compare to the Ender’s version of the story. And then--oh, hell, forget it.

Here’s the thing, folks: Ender’s Game was damn near perfect. Ender’s Shadow didn’t really add anything to it. A mild curiosity at best, but hardly essential reading. Barely able to stand on its own, and obviously a set-up for more books in the series, which are also mild curiosities and hardly essential reading either. That didn't stop me, of course, so let's see if I can work up the energy to review them as well. Maybe. Eventually. Any day now.

Next: Shadow of the Hegemon (less)

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Jan 02, 2009 Nicholas Karpuk rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Strategy Nerds, Nerds, Risk Enthusiasts (Nerds), Angry Dwarves, and Sci Fi Enthusiasts

When I read a description of a book summing it up as a retelling of a story from a different perspective, I groan internally and my interest wanes slightly.

Ender's Shadow follows those exact lines. We switch from Ender's perspective to Bean's, the brilliant dwarf child who serves under his command.

What shocked me the most was how much more I preferred Bean's perspective. Ender grew up with a loving family and had a generally conventional outlook for a genius. Bean functions as a direct contradic...more

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Dec 04, 2007 Seth rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crap, young-adult, science-fiction, sf-f-h

This is the simplified version of Ender's Game for the kiddie set that can't handle rich characters with moral ambiguity, moral introspection, and character growth.

Card does great work teaching people how to re-imagine stories from different viewpoints and with different motivations in his workshops. It's a shame that he didn't demonstrate it here.

Instead, we get Bean (a great character in the original story) as a classic Mary Sue, a wish-fulfillment character with all of Ender's skill but none...more

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Aug 12, 2007 bj rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was definitely not as good as Ender's Game. The best parts of Ender's Game were the action parts, and also the parts where Ender would be faced with a problem and he had to come up with a clever way to fix it. But in Ender's Shadow, Bean is the main character and he tends to be much less subtle than Ender. He also spends an absurd amount of time thinking, just thinking and thinking. It's like... dude. STFU! Maybe if he thought about interesting stuff, but he spends most of his time thi...more

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Feb 15, 2010 Kat Kennedy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi-alicious, kat-s-book-reviews

I personally found that I enjoyed Ender's Shadow more than Ender's Game.

Perhaps because I found Bean, as a character, more relatable in how he analyzes and views people and the world in general. He also felt more real as a character in that he is awkward and clueless and greatly flawed.

The pacing for this book is a little less smooth in comparison to Ender's Game. The plot, on the other hand, is a little better as you have a greater insight into the background workings of Ender's success. Graff...more

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Jan 19, 2011 Rollie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, sff

With all honesty, I don’t know what to say right after I finished this book. The book never failed to impress me as it failed my first impression. Yes—my first impression. The fact that I didn’t read yet the Ender’s Game series made me hesitate in pursuing reading the Ender’s Shadow. Credit to Orson Scott for initializing the reason why should I read the book through his well written foreword. Another thing, I’m not deep into novels which set above the earth—or in other words, the outer space. G...more With all honesty, I don’t know what to say right after I finished this book. The book never failed to impress me as it failed my first impression. Yes—my first impression. The fact that I didn’t read yet the Ender’s Game series made me hesitate in pursuing reading the Ender’s Shadow. Credit to Orson Scott for initializing the reason why should I read the book through his well written foreword. Another thing, I’m not deep into novels which set above the earth—or in other words, the outer space. Glad that the book has stricken me--not the setting but the story line and the main the protagonist of the book.

Bean is a gifted child. Or is he even a human to be referred a child? When Bean crawled from danger when he was almost one year old, he knew then that he was no ordinary kid. He looks 2-year old kid but the real is he’s 4 years old, yet he thinks at least 10-year old bully. He gets himself a family but soon finds out it wasn’t a good idea because it tends him to escape from the murderer of the person who gave him life—Poke.

Through Sister Carlotta and through Bean’s intelligence, he made it to be a launchie in a Battle School where everyone is trained to be commander of the fleet. No matter how smart he is when all his teachers doubt his ability, he still has to prove something. And the worst of all despite the fact that everyone knows he’s the one who has the highest score in every field, yet it is as though inevitable to be a shadow of another excellent student named Ender.

Proven and tested. This book is a butt-stapler. Once you get hold of this book, you’ll never try to put it down. One reason of why the book a page-turner one is how interesting the main character is. Have you watched Baby’s Day Out movie? If yes, imagine that this book is a way how we’ll know the main protagonist’s—the baby--perspective. Bean himself is a strong catch up that bounds the reader not to miss even a single word of the book.

I admire the personality of Bean that it made me relate myself to him. If you think because I’m smart as him, then you’re stupid like meowing dog. Bean’s intelligence is exceptional that even the readers won’t even guess what had he planned, much less the other characters of the book. His mind is unpredictable, yet prompt. The personality that we shared is how not to snap back when the bullies are up for humiliation and fun. Thus, the only way to cease it is to gain respect and honor.

If I have the list of likable child characters, I now say that Bean is at the top of them as what his ratings did in this book. His way of defeating an enemy is not by killing him/her but by letting the authority to do it without dirt in his hands. His means of winning a battle is not by competing to others, instead sharing of knowledge for unity. Bean is not character of bravery but an image of tactics, intelligence and maturity. That’s the Kid. That’s Bean. That’s my favorite character.

I love the premise of the book. All along reading the book, as if I was with his journey, I realized that all he needed was love and appreciation. However it wasn’t dig deeply in this book, but as you get yourself into the character, you’ll notice the missing piece of his life that though he was scared to have, he was definitely in need of it. I also love how this book ended, even this book is meant for a series, the ending was justifiable break indeed.

I find the book perfect for my taste. From the very first page of the book up to the end is amazement to me. I once said that this book never failed to impress me and I will not hesitate to repeat it all over again. I didn’t pick the wrong book, though I never yet tried reading the Ender’s Game. And because of that, since this book has given also much credit for Ender Wiggin, it’s an exact timing of reading the more precise happened in the battle through reading Ender’s Game.

When 2011 started, I decided to have a basis in giving the books ratings. And apparently, this book passed far beyond my standards. So great that at least, for this month, I have read a much deserved book to have my five stars.

I haven’t suggested yet any books from my previous reviews. And now I dare break it by recommending this to everybody else especially to those who haven’t read yet the Ender’s Game and also to everyone who loves YA sci-fi books. Some of the sci-fi or dystopia books now are no good than a talking mud, but believe me; this book will hunt your obsession and will cause an impact on every cell of your brain.

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Feb 01, 2009 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I chose to read this book because of book club. I have liked other books by this author and hearing others talk about this book and how it was a sci-fi book, I just had to read it. Do I dare admit that I like sci-fi? I really enjoyed the story and being able to see into Bean's head and how his thoughts lead to his actions. I always like to know the "why". I've never read Enders's Game and I'm now tentative knowing that you don't really get to dive into Ender's mind. But then again...how can I no...more

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Jul 03, 2012 Maria rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Maria by: Rollie

Shelves: ya, books-i-own, recommended

I recommend Ender's Shadow.

*****

I cannot believe it's been five months since I read Ender's Shadow and I have yet to write its review like, right now. It's not as much as I could not put my coherent thoughts in place, but perhaps it is hard to give justice to the brilliance of Ender's and Bean's story.

Bean is a freakin' genius. In Ender's Game, he wasn't much of a favorite because he barely registered in my radar while reading it. Imagine me getting a little surprised that a parallel book was wr...more

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Mar 21, 2013 Jeff Yoak rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Jeff by: Ethernight

Shelves: read-in-2009, audio-collection, read-in-2008, read-in-2013

When I heard of the idea of a "parallel novel" I was suspicious. The idea of retelling Orson Scott Card's science fiction classic from another character's point of view struck me as suspicious at best. Nonetheless, I loved Ender's Game so much that I was drawn to give it a try.

I'm so glad that I did. The book is fantastic. The first part of the story details Bean's adventures fighting to stay alive as a waif competing with the brutal street thugs of futuristic (last 22nd century) Rotterdam. It c...more

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Feb 07, 2009 Annalisa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone who's read Ender's Game

Recommended to Annalisa by: Michelle

Shelves: audiobook, speculative, sci-fi, guy-lit

I think I may have like this better than Ender's Game. Maybe I wouldn't have liked it at all if I had read them back to back or had read it rather than listened to it, but trying to remember the sequences in Ender's Game as I read them from a different perspective was interesting. I enjoyed seeing the story from the one training just in case Ender fails. Bean's impassionate analysis vs Ender's emotional turmoil. The kid you don't quite like at first because he's too self-confident in his intelli...more I think I may have like this better than Ender's Game. Maybe I wouldn't have liked it at all if I had read them back to back or had read it rather than listened to it, but trying to remember the sequences in Ender's Game as I read them from a different perspective was interesting. I enjoyed seeing the story from the one training just in case Ender fails. Bean's impassionate analysis vs Ender's emotional turmoil. The kid you don't quite like at first because he's too self-confident in his intelligence and then you learn to trust him better than you would yourself. That's about how I felt about the book too. Slow at first but then as you weave into Bean's perspective you see everything from his conclusions and I came to like him very much, more even than Ender. I empathized with him more and came to to root for him more than I ever had for Ender. How systematically Bean took his place knowing everyone would follow Ender but not him, understanding people did not like or trust him, processing lengthy paragraphs of deductive reasoning in a split second until he had could accurately access any situation so you as the reader recognize the potential he never gets credit for. His story's a little more heart-wrenching than Ender's. He could have been the hero, even if he did not believe it himself. I liked that Bean. And I liked his story.

My only disappointment with the book is that in Ender's Game this was obviously not Bean's story and the few interactions that did not feel authentic to Bean's character are connector points to Ender's story. Case in point, when Bean says he can't find his way back to the dorm, when Bean freaks out not understanding when Graff takes Ender to Commander school, and most importantly when Ender deducts that Bean is a great strategist on small projects but not good at grasping the whole picture. Card tries to smooth these over with excuses like Ender being fed doubts about Bean so he won't keep him busy, but it doesn't quite hit the mark. Either Ender isn't as brilliant as he's sold to be in not being able to understand Bean's genius or Bean was never intended to be as large of character as Ender's Shadow portrays. I just wish Card would have known Bean's story while he wrote Ender's so he could place better clues about Bean's story in the original story. (less)

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Jul 17, 2008 Martine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: modern-fiction, north-american, psychological-drama, science-fiction

When I first heard Orson Scott Card had written a parallel story to Ender's Game, dealing with virtually the same events as the original book but told from another character's perspective, I thought it was a cheap way to cash in on the success of his first bestseller. Like many people, though, I had to eat my words after reading Ender's Shadow. For not only is it as gripping a read as Ender's Game, but in some regards it is actually a better book.

Ender's Shadow centres on one of Ender's lieutena...more When I first heard Orson Scott Card had written a parallel story to Ender's Game, dealing with virtually the same events as the original book but told from another character's perspective, I thought it was a cheap way to cash in on the success of his first bestseller. Like many people, though, I had to eat my words after reading Ender's Shadow. For not only is it as gripping a read as Ender's Game, but in some regards it is actually a better book.

Ender's Shadow centres on one of Ender's lieutenants, Bean, an even younger and more intelligent child prodigy than Ender himself. After some thrilling adventures on the streets of Rotterdam, Bean is sent to Battle School, where he keeps hearing about this genius called Ender. Bean gets obsessed with Ender, or rather with proving to himself and others that he is a better strategist than Ender. But when he finally meets Ender, he realises that there is a reason why Ender is revered the way he is, and learns to accept his place in the universe. Nope, he doesn't get to command Earth's army, but he plays a major part in the background -- in many ways a more interesting part than the one Ender plays in the foreground.

Ender's Shadow does have a few problems. As a Dutchwoman, I dearly wish Card had gone over the Dutch names and references in the Rotterdam segment with a Dutch person, as many of them are riddled with mistakes (Sinterklaas lights? WTF?). Furthermore, there were a few times (especially halfway through the book) when I found Bean's superiority complex a bit grating. Apart from these minor flaws, though, Ender's Shadow is a solid novel by an author who had clearly matured immensely since writing Ender's Game. The prose in Ender's Shadow is much richer, the psychology has more depth, the back story is more fully realised, and thanks to Bean's amazing tactical and analytical insights, he is able to offer an interesting perspective on events known from the first book. Bean himself, too, is a much better drawn protagonist than Ender -- not always entirely likeable, but always fascinating. His story may lack some of the surprise and impact of Ender's, but in its own way it's thoroughly engaging and thought-provoking. It easily holds up as a stand-alone book, and as a companion piece to Ender's Game, filling in gaps and providing new perspectives on known events, it is simply superb. I never thought I'd say this about a young-adult-meets-sci-fi novel, but there you are. Good stuff.(less)

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Jun 03, 2008 Kyle Johnson rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is a hard book for me to review without getting angry, so bear with me. The review may also contain spoilers, so if you have not read this book or "Ender’s Game" you may want to skip over this review and just note I'm giving it a 2/5, and would probably drop that down to a 1.5 given the choice.
The original "Ender’s Game" novel is, in a word, extraordinary. Its one of those books almost everyone has read. Its translated in hundreds of languages. Its won many, many awards, and has won Orson S...more This is a hard book for me to review without getting angry, so bear with me. The review may also contain spoilers, so if you have not read this book or "Ender’s Game" you may want to skip over this review and just note I'm giving it a 2/5, and would probably drop that down to a 1.5 given the choice.
The original "Ender’s Game" novel is, in a word, extraordinary. Its one of those books almost everyone has read. Its translated in hundreds of languages. Its won many, many awards, and has won Orson Scott Card many awards as well. So you would think that revisiting "Ender’s Game" through the eyes of the rather important side-character Bean would be hard to mess up. Whole sections of the book are already written, as Bean and Ender experience the same situations together. All Card needed to do was fill in the blanks, toss in a bit of behind-the-scenes information on Ender through the eyes of a team member, and voila! Instant hit, especially with fan boys like me.

Unfortunately, thats not what happened. Instead, Card let the many years that passed between the writing of the original "Ender’s Game" short story, and the conceptualization of "Ender’s Shadow", shine through. He forgot what it meant to write a story based on a childhood dream during the time of Nixon, Carter, and Regan. Instead, he wrote as an upstanding citizen and devoted Latter Day Saint. Don't get me wrong, neither of these attributes are bad! They're just not where he was personally when he wrote "Ender’s Game", and this changes the whole tone of not just "Ender’s Shadow", but "Ender’s Game" as well!

In "Ender’s Game", Ender is manipulated by the world government into becoming the greatest space admiral, and the world's savior. Along the way, Ender knows he's being manipulated, and believes he understands the implications found within such manipulations. And even in the face of severe adversity, chooses to keep going because he knows its the right thing to do. He sees their deception and continues on, because even if the deception itself is wrong, their goal is just. And it coincides with his own reason for continuing on; to save his sister Valentine. Throughout the book, we also are given the perspectives of Generals Graff and Anderson, who speak constantly of the affects their manipulations are having on Ender, and the justifying reasons for their deception of someone so young. Graff is even put on trial at the end of the book for his involvement, and is deemed not guilty, in no small an example of the ends justifying the means.

"Ender’s Shadow" takes these machinations, these deceptions of both the children at Battle School and the general public, and throws it out. Instead of sticking with the idea of a government uncaringly using a very small segment of the population for the protection of the species as a whole, instead the government is painted as almost completely lost in how to proceed. Only the arrival of hyper-intelligent Bean saves the day. Younger even than Ender, Bean ends up manipulating Graff and Anderson, in order to achieve the results we saw in "Ender’s Game". The government wasn't smart enough to plan anything in advance, but Bean is! Not only that, but he continues to get smarter and smarter. By the end of the Bean series ("Shadow of the Giant"), he has long since past the point of believability. Nearly every problem Bean faces, he is able to solve with his unbelievably powerful brain without any outside help. This makes the books following "Ender’s Shadow" gradually get worse, but it all starts here.

The Bean series, beginning with "Ender’s Shadow", has me hesitant to read anything else Card has written in the Ender-verse. "A War of Gifts" seems to be yet another attempt by Card to re-write the "Ender's Game" tale by repainting it rosier than it once was. A recently-announced prequel to "Speaker for the Dead" makes me fear Card will start rewriting the rest of the series as well. And that makes me quite sad, because it will mean the scuttling of one of the greatest science fiction series around.
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Apr 15, 2008 Tamra rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Ender's Game fanatics

I am ashamed to admit that I've never finished the Ender's Game original set. But I did read Ender's Shadow, which I think most people really liked. I didn't mind it, but I have some serious reservations.

First, the original story is better. This re-telling isn't near as fun. It takes longer to get to the GOOD story, though it is interesting to see the background on this kid.

Most of what I disliked, though, is that this re-interpretation is NOT what Card originally had in mind when he wrote Ender...more

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Mar 19, 2008 Jessica added it · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: fiction

What is most obvious after reading this book after _Ender's Game_ is how much more Orson Scott Card knew about computers the second time around. The Net has matured and come closer to the Internet, Rotterdam has the textual richness missing in the beautifully but vaguely described world of Ender's family and the tactics of the Buggers have all become more revealed than they were when we traveled with Ender. Perhaps this has to do with our omniscient Bean and his massive ability to perceive the w...more

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Feb 05, 2008 Chris Friend rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone. That's right.

Wow.

I just cried while listening to an audio book. Even more amazing is that this book was the re-telling of a story I've already read, only told from a different perspective. Orson Scott Card is amazing. I'm now looking forward to the other books in the shadow series.

The audiobook was, like all others in this terrific series, fantastically well-executed. Full-cast reading, but no audio effects. Nothing is done to cheapen the conveyance of the story, but oh so much is done to elevate it beyond m...more

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Oct 23, 2007 Ren the Unclean rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: sci-fi

Rather than pursue the massive political/social examination that takes in the sequels to Ender's Game, Card goes back to the roots of the series by starting in the same timeframe and following a different character, and then continuing from there in the same style.

Ender's Shadow is, I would say, as good as or better than Ender's Game. Bean is one of the coolest characters I have seen in a book, and that is especially true in this first book in his series. Most of Ender's Game is spent with you t...more

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Nov 14, 2007 Jared rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

This book tried really hard to ruin Ender's Game for me. The premise of the book is that Ender wasn't really the hero of his own book, but that his course was manipulated and prodded onward by an even greater genius, in the form of Bean, a member of Ender's army.

Bean had a brutal upbringing on the streets, and somehow ended up in Battle School, where he takes over the computer system and runs everything by the time he's six. He ensures that Ender ends up saving the world -- without his help, En...more

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Mar 18, 2013 Maria M. Elmvang rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, 4-stars, owned, sci-fi, udlaant

A 4.5 star review.

While Ender's Game is one of my all-time favourite books, I never really got hooked by the later books in the Ender saga. Still, I wanted to read more about Ender Wiggins, so finally decided to give this one a chance - the events of Ender's Game as told by Bean - the smallest kid in the Dragon Army.

I'm glad I did. Sure, it's still not exactly as good as Ender's Game, but it's a lot better than Speaker for the Dead (book 2 of the Ender saga), and I loved revisiting the events of...more

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Oct 12, 2007 Leila rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, sciencefiction

I loved Enders Game and while I loved the way this book filled in the gaps in that book, I also did not love Bean as a character. Enders Game did not feel like a science fiction novel because the "science" in it was not far fetched. There are things in this book that make it very difficult for me to connect with Bean as a character and that makes the book a little less appealing.

That being said, I love the way that Enders Game is complemented by this book. I found that I still felt Ender more i...more

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Dec 24, 2007 Jon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is an excellent companion to the story that started the series: Ender's Game. The premise behind the book is the same as Ender's Game, but the story is drastically different. It is told through the eyes of Bean, a calculating child who excels beyond Ender in all tests.

For Bean, surviving was life. When anything happened, no matter the intent, it was absorbed and stored with suspicion. He didn't know why he would need it-- he just knew that the more he knew the more he could manipulate the...more

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Sep 14, 2008 Jesse Booth rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008

This was a fantastic parallel story to Ender's Game. It filled in a lot of blanks and really brought out perspective on Bean. As I look back on both books, I see them as one book now. While Ender's Game consisted of a lot of battle strategy (used for puzzle solving) and action sequences, Ender's Shadow consisted of a lot of deep thinking (used for puzzle solving), and psychology.

The detail in Ender's Shadow was phenomenal. I really appreciated learning more about what the battle school looked li...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 09, 2008 Kathy Bowman rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-scifi

I'm going to review the whole Shadow Series as a whole instead of rating each book individually. I had a difficult time enjoying this series. It was partially psychological--I really liked the Ender's Game series, and had a hard time seeing it in a different light. Other people may not have this hang-up. But my main problem is that this is written in later-Card style. His style has become a lot of dialog, almost like you're reading a play, and it's very hard for me to throw myself into sheets of...more

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Jan 23, 2012 Relyn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Relyn by: Jeffrey Lawson

Shelves: 2011-reread, audiobooks, 2012-reread

Orson Scott Card attempted (and achieved) the near impossible. Twelve years later he went back and wrote Ender's Game from the point of view of another character. Several times in the book, the same exact event and dialog take place, but from an entirely different perspective. Powerful! Interesting.

I already mentioned that I woke up thinking of Bean and Ender. These two books are incredible.

4/22/11
I am excited to be listening to this book again. It's marvelous. Yup. It's official, I prefer End...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 20, 2012 Patrick Peterson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kids, military, fiction, sf

I liked this almost as much as Ender's Game. The author dealt with more tough issues of survival, but from another point of view. Less philosophical and more nitty-gritty:
How to deal with someone vastly smarter and quicker than onesself.
How to judge if you can trust someone?
Functions of friendship and leadership.

Lots of good overlap with Ender's Game, but very complementary.
If you liked Enders Game you will like this.
I think this could be read before Enders Game too and not hurt the suspense...more

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Jul 28, 2008 Karl rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Back to the prime stuff! Perfect blend of suspense, point-of-view and story-telling that made "Ender's Game" such a phenomenon!

NOTE: Again, there is a movie coming out next year that supposedly will try to tell the story in this book ALONG WITH the story in "Ender's Game." Don't exactly know how they'll do this without butchering both, so if you value books over movies, read these two books first and then you can tell your friends, "Well yeah, the movie was okay, but it was NO WHERE NEAR as goo...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 28, 2008 Michael rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Ender's Game:
There's this really, really smart kid, see, and he's lonely, and he has to do really hard stuff, and adults are mean.

OK. I can get with that.

Ender's Shadow:
Oh, but I forgot to mention, there's this OTHER kid, who's even smarter, like really, really, REALLY smart, and he's also even lonelier, and he has to do even harder stuff, and the adults are even meaner.

Give me a break. Yawn. I think Card is great but this is just ridiculous. I read Shadow of the Hegemon but quit after that.

4 likes · like · see review

Feb 03, 2009 Eric rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 09, 2009 Mroyal rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone who can read.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The best part about the Ender's Shadow series for me was seeing how Bean thought. Unlike in Ender's Game, where you can only partially understand Ender as such an incredible leader because so much of it was instinctive. You could know what he did but not why he did it. On the other hand, Bean is into introspection so the readers know the reasoning behind everything he does. Bean explores the limits of his condition and takes the active role in his own destiny that I would expect of someone who h...more

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About Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card is the author of the novels Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, and Speaker for the Dead, which are widely read by adults and younger readers, and are increasingly used in schools.
Besides these and other science fiction novels, Card writes contemporary fantasy (Magic Street, Enchantment, Lost Boys), biblical novels (Stone Tables, Rachel and Leah), the American frontier fantasy series Th...more

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“In my view, suicide is not really a wish for life to end.'
What is it then?'
It is the only way a powerless person can find to make everybody else look away from his shame. The wish is not to die, but to hide.” — 100 people liked it

“And then he thought: Is this how idiots rationalize their stupidity to themselves?” — 53 people liked it

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