Shadow of the Hegemon

Rating:
Summary: Good psychology
Review: Orson Scott Card has a large following (see the many reviews of his books). This is well-deserved. The Ender saga is probably his most famous endeavor. However, IMHO this 6th volume is not as engaging as some of the others in the series as far as pure science fiction goes. On the other hand, Card embeds his works with gems of psychological commentary on humans and how they think, act, etc. These are brilliant. As a collector of quotes, my favorites from this book are:
p. 58: What a laugh, though. To think that one human being could ever really know another. You could get used to each other, get so habituated that you could speak their words right along with them, but you never know why other people said what they said or did what they did, because they never even knew themselves. Nobody understands anybody.

p. 81: You don't have to eat the entire turd to know that it's not a crab cake.

p. 111: Most victories come from instantly exploiting your enemy's stupid mistakes, and not from any brilliance in your own plan.

p. 138: It isn't lying to tell a bureaucrat whatever story it takes to get him to do his job properly...If he does his job properly, he'll understand the purpose of the rules and therefore know when it is appropriate to make exceptions.

p. 153: Whether you trust somebody or distrust him has a lot more to do with the kind of person you are than the kind of person he is.

p. 322: Satyagraha-The willingness to endure great personal suffering in order to do what's right...What matters is that you do not hide from the consequences. You bear what must be borne.
It's worth the read just to hear his insights.

Rating:
Summary: Good story, but the Wiggin stuff isn't.
Review: All that stuff about Peter Wiggin getting the world by the tail by posting on the Internet. It's just stupid.

What would really happen is Peter would post something, then scores if blowhard nitwits would excoriate him and call his mother a female dog fertilized by a chicken.

Nobody would take it seriously at all except the stupid people posting, like Peter, but lots of typing would happen.

Rating:
Summary: A brilliant followup to Ender's Shadow.
Review: If you were a fan of Ender's Shadow, you will undoubtedly enjoy this book as much as I did as a fantastic sequel.

This sequel fills in much of the gaps whereas the Ender's Series concentrated primarily on what happened to humanity in outer space. Ender's Shadow and the books that procede it concentrate on the struggle for humanity to unite under one ruler in Shadow of the Hegemon.

This book was great as it tells you what happens on Earth while Ender is busy helping humanity colonize "The Hundred World's".

Card adds a bit of refreshing insight into the life of another hero, Bean and adds another interesting perspective on the Ender story with the story of what happened after Ender left Earth.

If you haven't read this book, I highly recommend that you don't miss out for much longer!