Rating: 
Summary: Best characters in SciFi today, strong series.
Review: Orson Scott Card is a master of writing in a world of the future while still keeping the issues and characters believable. He's a rarity in the genre in that his characters are the story, not the technology. And no one is writing characters much better than Card these days.This one gets a four, but only because it doesn't pack the same punch, either in character developement or in deftness of plot, as Ender's Game or Speaker for the Dead. This doesn't mean you shouldn't read it, and taken as a whole, the Shadow series is shaping up to be a little more mature and is strongly on course. Ender's series tended to ramble towards the end, but this series seems to stay strong. The moral issues are deftly addressed, but we're left to make our own conclusions. The peoples and cultures are well done and accurate, and they make the book very appealing to me as a person who loves to travel and to *feel* new places. The plot is interesting and involving, and the book is very easy to read. The pacing is never ponderous, and I had it finished in 2 days, in spite of my work schedule. All in all, Card's books are strongly recommended, especially in the light of all the terrible SciFi that you see on shelves today.
Rating: 
Summary: Another money-maker for the ambitious Mr. Card
Review: At first I was stunned at how brief this book was (compared to Speaker for the Dead, for example). Upon reading it in a day and a half I realized that all Card is doing now is cranking out product that his legions of fans will buy automatically without thinking. I was once one of those fans, when Card was an "automatic buy". About SHADOW PUPPETS: There's hardly a "there" there. Despite the heavy "portentiousness" of the writing (you can tell Card is writing "literature"), the plot seems contrived and the characterization thin and the novel is over all too soon. Card, by now, is a multi-millionaire and a movie of ENDER'S GAME is coming out soon; but right now, with this unexceptional book, it just seems that Card is abusing his fans by cranking out a book based on characters that should have been put to rest long ago. I know this review will offend Card's followers, but I'm not writing these words to offend anyone. (And I know I won't persuade a single Card reader.) This is just my opinion, the opinion of a former true-beliver. (I've even read his Mormon books.) My advice to Mr. Card would be to write a decade of stand-alone novels such as PASTWATCH or A PLANET CALLED TREASON or HART'S HOPE. If he did, he might get people like me back. But I don't think he will. There's too much gold in them thar hills and Card was never one to turn away from a gold mine. (Perhaps no one would. But Card's weathly enough now to do anything he wants. And I want the old Card back. Not the new one. Not the superstar. I want the hungry writer of Analog stories of old.)
Rating: 
Summary: Ender's Game--the Hegemon makes a big mistake
Review: I think Orson Scott Card's return to the subject matter of "Ender's Game" has yielded some of his best science fiction to date. "Ender's Game" is one of the most popular science fiction books ever written, a classic tale of heroism and struggle set in a fascinating futuristic military strategy setting. "Shadow Puppets" is the latest in the series of "parallel" novels to "Ender's Game" and it is an exciting book, worthy of its predecessors. The two previous follow-up novels, Ender's Shadow and Shadow of the Hegemon were absolutely great. Card takes up the story of Bean, the tiny but utterly brilliant soldier who is picked by Ender to be his true successor and whose story is one of survival against cosmically cruel stacked deck. Bean not only survives, he flourishes despite continued odds. This, the latest of the three "post-Ender" parallel novels develops his story further. And it has Card's signature plot twists, military strategy, characters who are Evil Incarnate, and those whose evil is a mask for vulnerability. Card has a great ability to write a tight, exciting plot -one that catches you off-balance at every turn.We get treated to that kind of writing in "Shadow Puppets." I was never sure who was going to betray whom, or who would surface from previous characters to take on an expanded role. We get to watch our favorites, tragic Bean and the irritating but somehow lovable Petra grow up quite a bit. Happily, the end of "Shadow Puppets" leaves many, many questions unanswered, plenty of doors open and I am sure there will be a "Shadow's Child" to follow along. You could view all these sequels as just one giant serialized book, but I don't care. I want more, more, more!!! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Rating: 
Summary: A mixed bag
Review: Card has long advocated the idea that the heroes of the story need to be moral heroes for the reader to identify with them, which makes sense. But in the recent novels, Card seems to require that the heroes are not just moral, but that they are all good Mormons at heart, even though none of them are in fact (except Theresa). Specifically, the earlier installment presented us with a nun believing that the great goal in life is to get married and have lots of children - which we could buy because she was already established as an eccentric and highly unusual nun. But the same idea has spread throughout the main cast of Shadow Puppets, including not just the battle school grads from Thailand and Armenia, but even a gay convict. (Indeed, at least half the world might potentially be offended by this novel, with its combined polemic against gays, Muslims, and Chinese.) Not only has the line between good guys and bad been painted as vastly as possible - each character might as well wear a white or black cowboy hat - but with the character's motivations appearing so arbitrary, the plot their choices drive also becomes contrived. This is compounded by the impression that all these super-genius characters appear to have been taking stupid pills since the last installment; their actions are decidedly non-genius. Without spoiling the plot, Bean and Petra make some extremely questionable judgment calls in their newfound quest to ignore the war and instead start having children, leading them into a new crisis which was blatantly obvious from a mile away, even without superhuman intelligence. Arch-rivals Peter and Achilles, also supposed geniuses, also suddenly have very little to prove it. The novel begins with Peter bringing Achilles to become his "assistant" at the Hegemony, a move laden with promise for schemes within schemes as these two grandmasters vie both to use and eliminate each other along the way to capturing world power. Instead, it turns out neither of them has any plan at all, with Peter suddenly fleeing when everyone freaks out that Achilles anticipated being rescued. Meanwhile, Achilles does nothing more than gain shadow power by being buddies with everyone - it's a wonder Elizabeth Bennet didn't displace William Pitt - and subsequently try to seize the office of the Hegemon, which has been depicted at length as an almost powerless institution, and certainly a huge step further away from world dominion than when Achilles had the Chinese Empire under his thumb. Secondary characters also get left out to dry with unfortunate consistency. Suriyawong is set up early in the novel as if the expansion of his role from the previous novel will continue here, but then we never hear anything more than passing references to him again. Virlomi is likewise expanded into the most interesting she has been in the series, yet she feels totally disconnected because the plot ends up requiring her never to communicate with any of the other characters (coded emails notwithstanding). And Han Tsu is suddenly rolled out late in the novel to bare his perspective on working for the enemy.
Shadow Puppets brought too much to a conclusion for what is supposed to remain of the series. Suffice it to say that Bean, Petra, and Achilles have their future roles pretty tightly nailed down. Peter has inadvertently become the most interesting character, because he is the only one left whose motivation and choices as the story continues to progress are still enigmatic and conflicted. However, his rise to bring the entire Earth under his government, the only real pre-existing constraint on this series based on the earlier Ender novels, has never seemed as incidental or as unbelievable as at the hasty conclusion of Puppets.
Despite these let-downs, Puppets continues the Ender's Game / Shadow tradition of gripping adventure, devious schemes, and intriguing strategies.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This books goes along with shadow of the hegemon. couldn't put the book down. would recomened this to anyone who has read the enders game and shadow series. There was only one question i had after reading the book. What was the baby a boy or a girl?
Rating:
Summary: Great as usual, from OSC
Review: This third volume in the parallel series to "Ender's Game" (which began in "Ender's Shadow" and continued in "Shadow of the Hegemon") is an excellent showcase of Orson Scott Card's ability to weave remarkable character-driven storylines into intense geopolitical thrillers. Bean, once the smallest member of Ender Wiggin's world-saving jeesh, is rapidly growing -- not just into a man, but into a giant. When Ender's brother plots to free Achilles (the murderous genius who has schemed against Bean since they were children in the streets of Rotterdam), Bean and Petra Arkanian go into hiding, knowing that Peter Wiggin will never be able to control the evil genius they call "The Beast." Much of Card's fiction is a combination of a compelling character study and a serious political drama, but this contrast is much more pronounced in the "Shadow" series than in anything else he has written. I suspect this is because the "Shadow" series is not as far removed from our real-world present day as much of his other work. This doesn't stop it from being well-planned, well-researched and extremely logical -- yet still surprising. (Where else in contemporary American fiction will you find a Muslim army portrayed as the good guys?) With presumably one volume to go in this series, it feels as though poor Bean is headed for a tragic, heroic end. "Shadow Puppets" leaves one major plot thread dangling, and it's not at all the one you would suspect if you've read the first two novels. I am very much looking forward to the conclusion of Bean's adventures.
Rating:
Summary: Shadow Puppets is an awesome book!
Review: Shadow Puppets is a really great book. This is my favorite book in the series of Bean, with the other two books being Ender's Shadow and Shadow of the Hegemon. Shadow Puppets is the first thing I have ever read that has made POLITICS INTERESTING! That is Really Good! I read this book for most of the day of September second, the last day of my summer break. If I'm spending my last day of freedom before going back to school :( reading a book, then that has to be a REALLY GOOD BOOK! I can't really write a summary for this book without giving away stuff, so I won't try. I'll just say it has more of Peter, Bean, Petra, and Peter's parents. Also some other kids from Battle School. Achilles, Bean's enemy, is also talked about a lot, but he's not actually in a lot of the scenes. But he IS in some! This book starts where Shadow of the Hegemon ends, and if you are a fan of this series, you definitely have to read this book. I hope there's another sequel...
Rating:
Summary: A Letdown
Review: SHADOW PUPPETS isn't exactly disappointing, but it certainly does not pack the emotional impact of Card's previous efforts. Bean and Petra are the central characters in this installment but the "shadow" of Achilles is never far behind. We see the denouement of the conflict between Bean and Achilles started in Ender's Shadow, but there's a certain emotional detachment about the whole process. Card seems on auto pilot here. This is clearly a bridge novel that will eventually bring us to the full realization of Peter's hegemony
And this is definitely not a book to be read if you have not read the previous novels. One would be hopelessly out of the loop to make sense of it all without prior knowledge gained in the previous works.
Rating:
Summary: It stunk worse than my gym socks
Review: Card is a masterful writer- he can captivate, engage, entertain, and educate. He writes stuff that will make me laugh out loud or cry like a baby. This wasn't any of that. It had no depth. It reads more like a report on what everyone is up to now- like one of those spam Christmas letters you get from people you knew in college. Sure, it is nice to hear from them, but it doesn't really move you to call.
Rating:
Summary: A Marginal Book From A Great Author
Review: As soon as Shadow Puppets entered stores I ran out and bought it. I'm a huge fan of Orson Scott Card and the Ender series. Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow were my all-time favourite books. But while Ender's Game was spectacular, Ender's Shadow great, and Shadow of the Hegemon good, I thought Shadow puppets was way below my expectations. Everything felt tired, boring, and predictable. As with the later books in the Ender series, It seemed as though there wasn't enough plot to stretch across the pages. Bean and Petra's characters seemed to change radically from Shadow of the Hegemon and Ender's Shadow with no explanation. I also was disapointed in the dialogue. People said things rather abruptly and for no reason. Bean and Petra's romance also seemed very awkward with no excitement at all. And where was Achilles? His great chapters with Petra made me forgive some of Shadow of the Hegemon's boring parts. But as a loyal fan, I still give it 3 stars because it kinda satisfied my longing for another Ender book. It's great for fans, but I wouldn't really recomned it.
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