Ender's Shadow (Ender, Book 5) by Orson Scott Card
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Book Reviews of Ender's Shadow (Ender, Book 5)
Book Review: on going tale
Summary: 5 Stars
For any reader who thinks they understand the whole story here is a book that lets you look though the eyes of another character and gives you insight to a tale you already know the ending to.Book Review: enders shadow
Summary: 5 Stars
ender's game and ender's shadow are both very good books and it doesn't meter which book you will read first.Book Review: New Perspective
Summary: 4 Stars
Ender's Shadow is one of the fun literary games where similar content based around the same time and place as Ender's Game is explored, but from the viewpoint of a different character. In this novel, we get to delve into the psyche of Bean. Bean was the side character whom some critics of the original viewed as Ender's propagation of dismissing someone's talents or abilities because of age or size, exactly as had been done to him.
*** SPOILERS ***
As I was reading this book it seemed like the classic one up scenario. In Ender's Game, we have Andrew "Ender" Wiggins who is the most brilliant strategist and commander the world has known and which the whole of humanity has rested it's hopes. In Ender's Shadow, we learn that Ender wasn't the smartest, and in fact was unknowingly relying on Bean... who had a better understanding of, well... Everything. The only exception being how to handle people and instill confidence and courage. In other words, Bean is better than Ender in every way except one. This seems a little hokey to me. Particularly as we read through Part One of the book, wherein we find that Bean is able to accomplish all sorts of wonderful feats, all while four years old, malnourished and living on the streets. Let alone the fact that he saves himself from certain death, teaches himself to read, speak multiple languages, etc with no help. In a word, Hokey.
Soon, however, we learn that Bean is a super-intelligent genetically modified version of a human. (Is he still human?) He isn't limited in what a normal human can learn. The theoretical trade-off? He won't live long.
*** END SPOILERS ***
The events of the novel are, for the most part, not too much of a surprise. We have already seen these same events unfold in Ender's Game. And yet, in my mind, instead of making the novel less interesting, it makes it more-so. But then, I enjoy an introspection that can take a look into how different people will view the same events.
I enjoyed this novel quite a bit, even if it was hokey. Well worth the read... Much better than the last two Card novels I read, Xenocide and Children of the Mind. Hopefully the rest of the Shadow series will live up to this one.
Book Review: Interesting Angle
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a companion book to "Ender's Game." It tells the story of the same time from the point of view of another student at the battle school. Bean, the smallest boy under Ender's command, had an entirely different experience from Ender growing up. Bean starts off on the streets in a city slum at the age of four. He was tiny but brilliant and managed to give advice to a gang leader that let him into her gang, where he was able to get food and belong to something like a family. But his intelligence was dangerous to him. The boy who takes over as leader of the gang holds a grudge against Bean. When a missionary tests Bean and decides he is bright enough to get into battle school, Bean takes the opportunity.
At battle school, Bean tries to figure out what is going on behind the scenes. He refuses to participate in the mind games the teachers want him to play, and instead he spends his time trying to figure out what the teachers know. He comes dangerously close to getting sent home because of his good guesses. But the teachers need him and think that if something happens to Ender, Bean will be the one to take over his command.
It isn't until halfway through the book that Bean actually meets Ender and their lives intertwine. This book is interesting because it shows Ender from an outsider's point of view. I kept thinking back to what was going on in Ender's head and comparing it to what Bean was thinking about him. It made for an interesting side story to "Ender's Game." I found myself wishing I had been able to read this book first.
I didn't like how Bean and Ender never really ended up understanding each other. I had hoped by the end of the book Bean would like Ender more than he did, since I found Ender such a likable character in "Ender's Game."
Book Review: A Shadow Read
Summary: 4 Stars
In the 1985 sci-fi classic "Ender's Game", the brilliant Ender Wiggen enters battle school at the age of 6 years old, in a short time he is commanding his own unit. The entire school runs on series of games which tests the children, but Ender has his own game in play and those under his command are forced to put their full faith in his increasing erratic behavior. This then becomes the premises of "Ender's Shadow", a parallel book to "...Game" that follows the life of Bean, one of Ender's trusted generals. The book begins with Bean's life on the streets in Rotterdam. He is an orphan, soon aligned with a local gang and their sociopath leader Achilles. With the help of a local nun, Sister Carlotta, Bean finds his way into battle school and applies his superior intellect, as well as his life on the street, to the corridors and commanders of his new home. Midway through the book, Bean joins Ender's crew and the reader finally gets to see Ender Wiggin through another perspective.
As a parallel novel "Ender's Shadow" is surprisingly fresh. The sub-plot is well known if you've read "Ender's Game", but the main story line is solely about Bean and his mysterious past. We know bean is from the slums of Rotterdam, but Sister Carlotta explores his life and birth through the novel as well. The end ties up a little too neatly but what "...Shadow" has to offer that "...Game" fell short with is a fully fleshed out character in Bean. Bean has a lot more flaws than Ender, he more complicated, and he brings refreshing clarity and insight to the first book.
"Ender's Shadow" on it's own is a fine read, but I find it hard not to separate it from "Ender's Game". The two really should be read back to back, though "...Shadow" stands more frimly on it's own.