Shadow of the Hegemon (Shadow Series, Book 2)
by Orson Scott Card
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 4831)
Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
Those reading through the Ender saga
While this *was* an enjoyable read, I'm afraid I can't say it was a compelling story. The author tried to tell the story of young military geniuses whose lives are intertwined with international espionage, simple murder plots, double-blind strategic maneuvers, and nothing short of world domination. See... it's interesting, but it's a contrast in leagues: kids & world domination. What kid wouldn't love the dream of taking over the world or of leading the world's armies into victory? But t...more
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Shadow of the Hegemon was written by Orson Scott Card. It is the sequel to Ender’s Shadow. This book takes place after the Formic War, which was a battle against aliens called buggers. Once the kids from battle school, who were Ender’s brilliant commanders and strategists, return home after the war, they begin to be kidnapped because Russia wants their military skills to take over the world. One by one they all disappear. Bean is the last one remaining and instead of being kidnapped, he surv...more
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Read in January, 2008
I love Love LOVE the Ender series. Interestingly enough, that was the reason I was slightly hesitant to start on the Bean series. I knew they would be really different, and while the Ender series ventured towards the realm of philosophical sci-fi, I had heard that the Bean series remains regular (?) sci-fi. But I finally got over myself and read Ender's Shadow, which I really enjoyed (and I suppose I could review it, but it was a while ago and it seems wrong to dig up old books...), so of cou...more
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Read in June, 2008
While the rest of the Ender series started 3,000 years after the events in Ender's Game/ Ender's Shadow, Bean's series starts up immediately afterward and lets us finally find out what happened to all of Ender's Battle School classmates. We already knew Peter Wiggin became Hegemon from the events of the Ender series, but now we get to witness just how a teenage boy finds himself in such a...more
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Read in May, 2008
Still entertaining. Card has an ability to invent characters that you actually care about. Well... at least one, Bean. Bean is quickly becoming one of my favorite protagonists. Not a brooding hero, by no means stupid. He deals with his problems like a real person would - as they come along. The story is okay. Imaginative geopolitics is kind of the easy way to go in writing this type of fiction. "What if China...." and so on.
I'm still having problems with the flow of Card...more
I'm still having problems with the flow of Card...more
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science-fiction
Read in August, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone who liked "Ender's Game"
good but not spectacular entry in the "Ender's Game"-series
short plot description: set shortly after the events in "Ender's Game" we return to earth. Ender is sent into exile by his brother Peter, Ender's sister Valentine goes with him, the other Battle School children commanded by Ender return to their home countries. After the end of the war a power struggle for world dominance has broken out, the Battle School children are thought of as valuable resources to be won or ...more
short plot description: set shortly after the events in "Ender's Game" we return to earth. Ender is sent into exile by his brother Peter, Ender's sister Valentine goes with him, the other Battle School children commanded by Ender return to their home countries. After the end of the war a power struggle for world dominance has broken out, the Battle School children are thought of as valuable resources to be won or ...more
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Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
science fiction fans
Shadow of the Hegemon continues Bean's story. The buggers have been destroyed and Ender and Valentine are traveling with the colonization program. Ender's fellow child commanders have all returned to their homes on Earth. Achilles escapes and begins his machinations to take over the world and to kill anyone who has ever seen him in a vulnerable position. He kidnaps all of child commanders except for Ender, who is off-planet, and Bean, who managed to elude him. Hearing Bean's perspective on ...more
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Read in January, 2004
Buku yang melanjutkan kontroversi "Berhenti menulis sekuel Ender, Orson!" Toh ternyata OSC engga mudah diintimidasi. Hwahaha.
So. Ini adalah kelanjutan kisah Bean dan para Battle Schoolers setelah mereka kembali ke bumi... Sesuai perkiraan, pasca perang Formic, banyak negara yang mulai sibuk memperkuat diri sendiri. Anggota-anggota Ender's Jeesh diculik oleh oknum tak dikenal, dengar-dengar demi kepentingan sendiri. Achilles, seperti biasa, RESE'. Malah semakin barbar.
Kata oran...more
So. Ini adalah kelanjutan kisah Bean dan para Battle Schoolers setelah mereka kembali ke bumi... Sesuai perkiraan, pasca perang Formic, banyak negara yang mulai sibuk memperkuat diri sendiri. Anggota-anggota Ender's Jeesh diculik oleh oknum tak dikenal, dengar-dengar demi kepentingan sendiri. Achilles, seperti biasa, RESE'. Malah semakin barbar.
Kata oran...more
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Read in October, 2003
recommends it for:
scifi fans, especially Ender fans
These books are a parallel series to Ender's Game, etc. In fact, the first book is mostly a retelling of Ender's Game, but following the character of Bean rather than Ender. Bean is a bean-sized boy with a giant-size intellect, the product of genetic experimentation. It's fascinating to get the behind-the-scenes view of some of his interactions with Ender - the differences in how they interepreted their conversations, perceived vs. real motivations for their actions, etc. Again, these books get ...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
Sci-fi readers
I actually listened to this audiobook. I really enjoy listening to Orson Scott Cards books. They lend themselves very easily to that medium.
This particular novel falls under the sub-category of the "Ender Series." We continue to follow Bean and other Battle School graduates after the end of the war with the buggers as Earth and its various super-powers begin to re-assert themsleves in a world that no longer fears alien invasion.
Overall it is very well written and I especia...more
This particular novel falls under the sub-category of the "Ender Series." We continue to follow Bean and other Battle School graduates after the end of the war with the buggers as Earth and its various super-powers begin to re-assert themsleves in a world that no longer fears alien invasion.
Overall it is very well written and I especia...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
Card fans, sci-fi readers, those who like books with moral complexity/well-developed characters
This is the second book I've read in the series in the same universe as the Ender Quartet. I read it basically in 24 hours, which speaks to its fast pace and readability. I'm starting to like this series possibly even more than the quartet. There are a lot of really interesting characters - the complex Bean, the ambiguous Peter, etc. Plus I really like the theme of genius kids who aren't cutely precocious, etc. This book deals a lot with military strategy, which doesn't tend to be my thing, but ...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
geeky boys who like playing Risk
I think I prefer OSC when he's in outer space; Shadow of the Hegemon takes place after Ender's Shadow and follows Bean and some other battle school graduates after they've returned to Earth. The character development was still there, but OSC didn't seem to cover any new emotional territory with this one. It was filled with political intrigue with a slightly racist flavor -- China wants to take over the world, and only Asian armies led by white kids can stop them. I also didn't love that the evil...more
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Second in the Shadow series, this book follows Bean and other characters from Ender's Game / Ender's Shadow, including Ender's brother Peter, and looks at events that occured on Earth after Ender went off into space.
The importance of Ender is repeatedly stressed, and gets more and more awkward throughout the Shadow series because Ender is, well, gone. This and the other Shadow books are more geopolitical, and therefore boring (to me - personal preference). I've just never been a current ev...more
The importance of Ender is repeatedly stressed, and gets more and more awkward throughout the Shadow series because Ender is, well, gone. This and the other Shadow books are more geopolitical, and therefore boring (to me - personal preference). I've just never been a current ev...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
Diehard Shadow Series fans
I was disappointed in this book. It was more of a 007 novel than what I've come to expect from Card. This supposedly happens several centuries in the future on the planet earth, but their main mode of communication is still encrypted emails. The book was published in 2000, so it's not like that was new technology then either. This is science fiction--I'd expect something more spectacular, like the ansible in Speaker for the Dead. For the first time, I felt like Card's characters were really...more
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Read in August, 2008
Yeah, I liked Ender's Game better... I skipped the other books because they just didn't sound interesting to me. Now I want to know Bean's fate though, so...
It was pretty good, although I'm really not into sci-fi and I didn't care AT ALL about the parts with world wars etc. I just couldn't get interested in pretend world affairs. I think this book could have been shorter too.
That being said, I loved the Petra story-line and even though Bean's gets a little far-fetched, I still kind of...more
It was pretty good, although I'm really not into sci-fi and I didn't care AT ALL about the parts with world wars etc. I just couldn't get interested in pretend world affairs. I think this book could have been shorter too.
That being said, I loved the Petra story-line and even though Bean's gets a little far-fetched, I still kind of...more
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Read in May, 2008
I liked this one, but not as much as Ender's Shadow. I've actually enjoyed reading Orson Scott Cards comments at the end of the books. I cried when I read his dedication to his son. What's up with me crying all the time? I had to think about what kind of ending I would have hoped for compared to the ending Orson chose and why. A bit of self reflection never hurt and really made me think. I won't spoil for anyone that reads it, but if you do, let me know what you wanted to happen. Hopefull...more
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little-city-book-sale-2008
I got through three books of the original Ender Wiggin series before the returns really began diminishing. Ender's Shadow, a reboot of the series from the POV of a supporting character of the original book, intrigued me, and I found it about as engaging as the original Ender's Game. Here, Card's geopolitics just aren't doing it for me, and I'm not all that interested in the foreshadowed romance between Bean and Petra.
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Read in January, 2005
recommends it for:
Anyone and Everyone
This one shows a few more sides of Petra Arkanian and explains even more of who Bean really is. Love them both dearly.
This quote is between Petra and her 'rescuers'.
"What, a psychiatrist? This is worse than torture. What happened to the Geneva Convention?"
"You're going home, Petra."
"To God or Armenia?"
"At this moment, neither. The situation is still flexible."
"I'll say it's flexible if I'm going home to a place where I've never bee
This quote is between Petra and her 'rescuers'.
"What, a psychiatrist? This is worse than torture. What happened to the Geneva Convention?"
"You're going home, Petra."
"To God or Armenia?"
"At this moment, neither. The situation is still flexible."
"I'll say it's flexible if I'm going home to a place where I've never bee
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Read in September, 2007
In my opinion (and the author's), Card's books are best enjoyed as audiobooks, and this one is no exception. It picks up the story of Bean after Ender's Shadow. There is a lot more detail in this story about what is going on in everybody's head, especially Petra and Bean. I am beginning to feel like the whole child-genius thing is getting a bit tired as a plot device. It doesn't really interfere with the story so I don't mind too much.
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This book is kind of an inbetween book in a way bridging the bap between book one and two. There needed to be a way to close out the wars and the war heros from book one and to set up the story for book 3 but thankfully he took a full book to do this and did it in such a way that both tasks were completed. I hate it when a great book ends and uses 5 pages at the end of a book to do a kind of thrown together set up for the next book. This is excellent writing and a great read.
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