Rating: 
Summary: As expected, nothing new
Review: I am sure that I am not the only one that suspects that Card wrote Ender's Shadow to take one final squeeze out of the cash cow that is Ender's Game. How fitting the book is called Ender's Shadow, because it IS the same story, the same characters, only paler in comparison. Bean is an interesting character and perhaps Card should have expounded more on the other battle school kids earlier, but to retrofit the story this way is just plain unnecessary. It lacks the newness, uniqueness, and ultimately - the surprise ending of the original. Most of the book is rehashing the same events of EG, but with a seething, gnashing jealous, yet superior, Bean in the background. With the help of Sister Carlotta, he does redeem himself from being a soulless, arrogant Napoleonic runt, though not by much. What is next? We will find out that it was Petra - the real uber supremo genius, not Bean, not Ender - who won the war?What is new: modern technology that justifies Bean's abnormal genius traits. There is one particular scene that some may find ludicrous involving Bean's miraculous feats of survival whilst in diapers. This first book is insubstantial, but I do recommended giving it a run anyway, as the rest of the series takes an arc that a lot of Ender fans were yearning for - the first couple of years post Battle School. The tale takes on mythic proportions as the young prodigies assume leadership of various nations and battle for control of Earth - against an arch nemesis named, quite suitably, "Achilles". It is less sci-fi and more speculative political drama with a dose of Card's singular use of child heroes.
Rating: 
Summary: What has happened to Card?
Review: Nobody liked Orson Scott Card's great books more than I did: Speaker for the Dead, Ender's Game, and the first few books of the Alvin Maker series are real classics. Which makes my disappointment at reading Shadow of the Hegemon all the more heartfelt. If you are a complete OSC fanatic, or a 16 year old science fiction fan, go ahead and read it. It does have a certain amount of Heinlein-esque derring-do and fun. For anyone expecting more from a book, like fully fleshed out characters, a fully imagined universe, or even a modicum of plausibility, you can do much better. The story continues the adventures of Ender Wiggin's sidekick Bean from Ender's Game; after being returned to Earth at the end of the Formic War, Battle School kids have become prized commodities and the ones from Ender's group become sort of pawns in an immense and totally implausible geopolitical game. Inexplicably, one battle school reject, a psycho street kid from Bean's past, as taken over Russia and has led them try to capture all of Ender's team. Petra is captured, Bean is on the run, and Peter Wiggin is on the way to not only becoming Hegemon but having a miraculous transformation into a nice guy, apparently because his parents told him (once) that they were as proud of him as they were of Ender. A couple of leaks to the captured kids, except for Petra who's dragged off by the pscyho to India; she inexplicably follows him around missing many opportunities to escape as he plots India's attack on Burma and Thailand, then all his plans fail but WAIT he was actually working for the Chinese all along, and Bean allows him to escape when he finally rescues her. And Bean and Peter are so successful that China ends up capturing India, Burma, and Thailand whom they were helping...this is a dumb book in so many ways I can hardly describe them, but of course I'll try anyway: a) Ender's Game had a level of believability because the war there was essentially a video game; it's easy to believe that kids would be great at that sort of 4 dimensional strategy. It's almost impossible to believe that kids, no matter how smart, could have that sort of effect in a real world military campaign, in any century. I've never soldiered, but I have enough respect for what they do to know that to lead them, there's no amount of genius that would substitute for some real world experience.
b) Achilles is a ridiculous bad guy--he FAILED OUT of Battle School--so if Battle School was so good, why would he be any better than all the Battle School graduates? Let alone able to convince three successive governments to let him run their country without showing any success. This is so ridiculous as to be insulting to the reader
c) Petra who is supposed to be tough is ridiculously weak and lame: we hear about how she is battleschool trained and Achilles isn't so she can take him in a fight, but she only tries attacking him once, very late in the book, and lets him get the drop on her...she's alone with him and the prime minister of Pakistan and never tries to get away from him. If the book were deeply written enough to imagine some sort of Stockholm syndrome at work, that she was somehow under his spell, it would have been more believable but that is clearly not what we are told.
d) This is an incredibly thinly imagined and poorly conceived future world. We're told in an afterword that he's read one book about India and one book about Thailand...but his understanding of geopolitics and of war is something a smart 9th grader should surpass. China is able to conquer India because India moved ALL their soldiers to Burma and Thailand? Come on! The geopolitics of the book have been compared to a game of Risk, and that's really about the level it is: incredibly simplistic. So simplistic as to be just dumb. Reflecting no understanding at all of how relationships between countries, at peace and war, really work, and making no attempt to try and guess how 200 years might change things.
e) Lastly, the whole issue of character and genius are just not working any more. To write effectively about genius, the author has to actually SHOW the reader that his character is highly intelligent, not just repeatedly tell him. Card is unable to convince me that any of his characters are really smart, which makes the whole house of cards fall part. This is really a disappointment compared with good contemporary sci-fi as well as with Card's great work. And very sad because of the quality of Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead. It is, unfortuantely, consistent with some of the mindless pulp he's been turning out in the last few years, like Pastwatch and the whole Homecoming series, and I'm afraid that the Alvin Maker series may have gone downhill as well. Obviously I liked his best work enough to keep reading this stuff--but I sure hope he'll concentrate on salvaging his talent and deliver us something better...this is nothing but a disappointment.
Rating: 
Summary: Five stars for the Hegemon.
Review: Very witty book in which the characters are realistic, the insights interesting, and the plot has enough action to keep a 13-year old boy on the edge of his seat. It goes very deep into human nature and brings out some of the flaws in civilazation and human behavior that we see today, that have always been here, and will never go away. Card manages to bring many hypothetical situations into his story withot changing the course of history. All in all a very well written book.
Rating: 
Summary: Shadow Of The Hegemon!!!
Review: My book, Shadow of the Hegemon, by Orson Scott Card has a billion realistic thoughts and involves geniuses and their ideas. The book has basically three geniuses, one is trying to rule the world, another is trying to kill everyone especially on kid who put him in jail, and another who is a clone and is trying to escape the killer. My book has some action and a lot of twist, you think someone will do one thing and they do another or the actions of something go completely different then you thought.
This book is a sequel to a science-fiction book called Enders shadow. The books basically follow the main character, Bean, who is a clone and grows slowly every second. Right now he is very small for his age but when he is 25 years old he will be a giant! This book has little science-fiction thoughts and is mostly about escape and conquering.
I really liked this book because I love to have surprises around every corner. I don't like it to be very obvious what is going to happen and I like to see what they can thin of with there 'genius minds'. I liked the continuing story line of the first book, that made it more interesting for me. I believe that anyone who likes twist and mysteries and loves to think of what will happen next with the clues given will fall in love with this book. It always has you thinking and usually what happens is not what you expect. I think that people at most reading levels will love this book and enjoy reading it. This book was very enjoyable to me with the twist and the mystery and the genius minds and I would recommend it to most readers who love that kind of stuff and have read the first one 'Ender's Shadow'.
Rating:
Summary: Belongs in the Spotlight
Review: A Review by Kyle After the Formic War is over, Bean, Petra and the other battle school graduates return home. After 10 years of battle school they all plan to return to a normal life. Achilles, a student who was expelled from battle school and sent to a mental hospital, does not have the same plan for them. He has them all kidnapped except for Bean, whom he attempts to kill. Bean escapes and decides to do all he can to rescue Petra. Shadow of the Hegemon is another book written extraordinarily well by Orson Scott Card. The story keeps you guessing each character's next move. Orson Scott Card switches characters almost flawlessly. The author keeps the book realistic yet still amazingly interesting, integrating history with the future making the arguments and discussions easier to understand. The conflicts that the characters endure are perfect for the story. The author keeps the descriptions short but still full of the detail needed for the book. The action that Orson Scott Card incorporates into the story is exciting but not too long. The characters that the author puts in this book are all very realistic, everyday people. I would not be surprised to meet one of them on the street. Shadow of the Hegemon is a great science fiction book. I would recommend it to anyone who had read and liked Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, or any other books by Orson Scott Card. Even if you haven't read any of those books you might still enjoy Shadow of the Hegemon.
Rating:
Summary: This time the battle field is on Earth!
Review: This time the battlefield is set firmly on terra firma, Earth! Ender and his sister, Valentine are not around. The intelligent children from Battle School were trying to blend back into life on Earth when they were kidnapped, except for Bean. He, his family, and his neighbors were bombed! Bean went into hiding with Sister Carlotta. Ender's brother, Peter Wiggin, was their only hope. Peter may only have been a teen, but his intelligence at politics and pulling strings were as great as any of the Battle School Grads were at commanding! He held two names on the nets. Both were well known and had much influence. He was "Locke", known as a peacemaker, and he was "Demosthene". He would help retrieve the brilliant children. But Petra was the most important and she was held prisoner by Achilles! Peter intended to rule the world...and soon. He would become the Hegemon. But first, he and Bean must become alliances to defeat Achilles, before he manages to destroy all the nations! ***** Orson Scott Card's deep thinking strategies on national and global politics, as well as, on national and global military tactics are proven once again to the Sci-Fi reading public! The story mainly follows Bean, with Petra and Peter as secondary characters. But my vanity makes me like Petra the most. After all, change the P in her name to D and you have MY name! But more than that, I enjoyed watching her (as a 14 year old) using logic against grown men who trained in psychiatry. Petra has a way of seeing things more clearly than most. Here is a story that will hit the best seller lists almost immediately! It is not only excellent, it is awesome! *****
Rating:
Summary: The Shadow Series Continues
Review: While "Speaker for the Dead" takes place millenia after the two Battle School books, "Ender's Game" and "Ender's Shadow," "Shadow of the Hegemon" takes place shortly after those two novels. The war with the buggers (Formics) is over and all the Battle School children have been sent home, including Ender's jeesh (the ones who helped him in the final battle against the buggers)whom had graduated from the orbiting training ground... all but Ender who, under the Locke Proposal that ended the League War, is banished from Earth so that no military power may take hold of him. Not even Peter Wiggin, his brother, who has made it his destiny to rule the world. He is the first to sound the warning that Ender's jeesh is in danger of being kidnapped and used as forerunners for ambitious nations. His warning is not only ignored, but threatened if made public, and he is helpless to watch the children be kidnapped over a short amount of time as it is broadcast over the vids. Aside from Ender, only one member of his jeesh has gone unharmed... but that doesn't mean no one's tried. Bean, Ender's second, the most brilliant child to ever grace the Battle School, has no kidnapping attempt. Instead, a bomb destroys his home, and all the homes around it, but quick thinking keeps he and his family ahead of the danger; danger that he deduces has come from Achilles, an older boy who has a deathwish against the young Battle School graduate for making him feel helpless more than once. "Shadow of the Hegemon" strings away from the Battle School and loses that aspect of charm, but it remains an interesting thriller nonetheless, continuing the story of Bean on Earth as he tries to prevent the nations under Achilles's command from gaining the upper hand... or control of the world, and forming an uneasy alliance with Peter Wiggin at the same time, relying on one another's resources to resolve their ambitions and motives: Bean in his effort to save his friends, Peter in his effort to become Hegemon. While not AS good as the Battle School books, "Shadow of the Hegemon" is a worthy sequel and is definitely worth reading, as Bean's adventures later in life are far more exciting than the path Ender chooses to pursue. Very reccomended, but only after finishing both "Ender's Game" and more importantly for details on Bean, "Ender's Shadow." Then turn to this one. It's definitely worth your time. -Escushion
Rating:
Summary: BOOK OF THE YEAR
Review: This is an AMAZING! Book! Another fantastic breakthrough by Card it is set after Ender destroys the Bugers and people on earth celebrate his name. The rest of Enders cue went back to earth when and he left with the first colony ship. Now there are forces on earth who want power and the key to it is the battle ship grads.
Rating:
Summary: Standing In The Shadows
Review: the book "Shadow of the Hegemon" is a novel filled with paranoia and intensity, where you never know which side anyone is on or when a new obstacle will appear. continuing with the characters from "Ender's Shadow", but with Ender no longer a primary character, allows Card to explore the psyche of other major characters as they battle the intrigue and politics of a world on the edge of global warfare. this is a great book for any science fiction fan, intergrating complex emotions with brilliant technology.
Rating:
Summary: SHADOW OF THE HEGEMON
Review: The book "Shadow of the Hegemon" is a novel riddled with conspiracy and paranoia that keeps you wondering who's side anyone is really on, or when a new foe will appear. With Ender no longer a main character, the personalities of the supporting characters of "Ender's Game" are further explored, divulging their strengths, weaknesses, and fears. A very good read, and I highly recommend it to any avid science fiction reader.
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