I hope I can finish this book. I liked the Ender quartet and Ender's Shadow too much not to try. Yet it is difficult to actually believe the same person wrote Shadow of the Hegemon and the others. Ender’s Game is a fun fast paced book of adventure while the other three books in the Ender quartet borderline on genius. The formulations of issues of xenophobia are uncanny in SFTD, Xenocide, COTM and integration of Christian beliefs into the mix yield an unparallel argument for empathy being central in Christianity and for human evolution as a whole. In those books Orson Scott Card is a visionary of nearly prophetic magnitude. Then, Ender's Shadow reverts back to the fun, fast-pasted way the first book in the series, Ender's game, was. This is nothing to sneer at but nothing extraordinary either when compared to the depiction of Ender’s adult years. Thus you can’t imagine my current disappointment with this volume. Written with a smug, know-it-all voice and a thinly veiled pro American attitude the book reeks of xenophobia and prejudice. This book is predictable from the first scene. There’s simply nothing cool about it like Ender’s Game or Ender’s Shadow. Worse, there's no deep understanding of motive of the characters as in SFTD, Xenocide, COTM nor the balance of the villain-less environment where even crazy religious fanatics like Qing-Jao are presented in a kind, likable light. For another writer this book would be a subpar effort but for Mr. Card this is a failure of grandiose proportions and may indicate a radical change in the author’s mindset. Too bad... really.