Shadow of the Hegemon

Rating:
Summary: Very Good
Review: A very good book to read after checking out "Ender's Shadow". It's very interesting to see how the the interaction between the characters is written and how the plot turns out. Very entertaining, recommended to Ender's Shadow fans and others alike.

Rating:
Summary: Not Card's best, but enjoyable
Review: Shadow of the Hegemon is the sequel to Ender's Shadow and takes place a year after the events described in Ender's Game / Ender's Shadow . Like in Ender's Shadow the protagonist is Bean, formerly a member of the Battle School and a hero of the Formic War under the leadership of Ender Wiggin.

The elite children of the world are sent to the Battle School to combat the threat of the Buggers. With that threat met and the war ended, the school was disbanded and the children sent home. Now, nine of the children are kidnapped and an attempt was made on Bean's life. Bean has to go into hiding. He believes and old rival is behind all of this. The Battle School children are valuable as military strategists and the stability of the world is beginning to evaporate.

With the publication of Ender's Game so many years ago, Orson Scott Card has created a possible future for our planet that is stunning in the intensity of what is done to children to ensure survival. The original Quartet followed Ender Wiggin. The new series (the Shadow series) is following Bean, the smallest and smartest of them all. Bean has always been in the shadows, though. In the shadow of Ender Wiggin, and in the shadow of Ender's brother, Peter, who will become ruler (Hegemon) of the world (we learn of this in Card's second novel Speaker for the Dead , published in the mid 80's). While some events may be implausible, they are believable within the confines of Card's created world. This novel can stand alone and works well on its own, but is much more enjoyable as part of the larger series.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, more satisfying for those historically minded
Review: I'm writing this mostly in response to other reviewers. I'd like to address two points: the issue about Card's vision of geopolitics in the future, and the issue about the role of Battle School grads in the future.

Contrary to a vision of the future where peaceful democracies are the norm, and the world is conflict-free (see Fukuyama's essay The End of History), the future depicted in Shadow of the Hegemon is one where nations, barely held in check by military balance-of-power, are one evil leader away from aggressive territorial conquest, a la Hitler. It's not clear that this vision is really plausible, but the reader needs to accept it at face value - otherwise there'd be no interesting plot! If you do find this premise highly implausible - don't buy the book. (Keep in mind this is fiction though so chill out!)

As to the issue of whether the significant role of the Battle School grads is believable - I vote yes. These guys won the Bugger War, remember? The fate of humankind was put in their hands. But Card does make it clear that the ideas of Bean and other Battle School grads are not slavishly followed by world leaders - in fact acceptance is hard-won, if at all.

In the case of Achilles - his charisma has always been emphasized - thus he is able to persuade world leaders to follow his bidding. Not entirely believable - and probably the weakest aspect of the book. It's not clear whether his charisma could truly surmount the initial obstacles posed by his reputation as a psychopath, and obvious inexperience at Battle School.

Keep in mind, also, that the world has gone through some significant turmoil, having fought off an alien invasion. Geopolitical stability is NOT the norm, and this is the environment in which the Battle School grads are injected.

Rating:
Summary: He's Killing It...He's really Killing It
Review: He wrote a masterpiece worthy of Heinlein (sp?). Now he is churning out plot filler like an anonymous serialist. The Ender series is working on the Star Wars principle--the closer to the original the book is, the better it is. I stopped reading this one 1/4 of the way through after realizing that, a) not only was I not enjoying this book, but b) it was also sucking the life out of the other, good books in the series. For this reason, it deserves a couple of negative stars, but the space-time continuum of amazon.com won't abide that.

Rating:
Summary: Card Delivers Once Again
Review: Attention all science friction readers: All praise to Orson Scott Card for his maginificent creation, "The Shadow of the Hegemon." This sequel picks up the action following The League War at the end of "Ender's Shadow." The brilliant young children of the International Fleet have been returned to their families on Earth. As countries become restless after an uneasy peace, the brightest children are being pressed into military service for their home countries. Other countries, under the influence of one physcopathic child, Achilles, choose to make a grab for the best of the best, Ender's former "jeesh." The action continues as war opens on Earth again, and a new power under the leadership of the evil Achilles rises. The action follows Bean, who has been altered genetically to be impossibly genius, in his attempt to save the world from destruction under Achilles any way he can. Card's fast-paced style will keep readers turning the page to see if Bean will survive his next encounter and stop his arch-nemesis. The author's voice pulls the reader into the twisting, ever-chagning plot. Card's amazing attention to detail and imagery paint the scenes perfectly for the reader. This book deserves the five-star rating in most respects. A few distracting points include slower spots in the story. The book is almost too long. For example, one chapter focuses completely on Bean when he is left alone by the Thai military. Bean is isolated from the world essentially, and Card doesn't alleviate the problem by keeping the action going. The chapter consists of Bean sitting in his room waiting for someone to call on him. On the positive side, besides these minor points, Card delivers once again. Readers of any of the Ender Series or Card's other books must read this novel! They will not be disappointed in the least.

Rating:
Summary: Best book in the series to date!
Review: Shadow of the Hegemon, the sixth book in Orson Scott Card's Ender series, is a "must read" for fans of these books.

In my opinion, this book, the second dealing with Bean instead of Ender, is the best of the series. It is not as philosophical as previous books, with more action and a view of world events and politics that makes you wonder if it could actually happen. The fast-paced action of this novel moves the story forward at a frantic pace, but give you time to appreciate the complex nature of each of the characters as they develope.

Because this book builds heavily on previous novels in the series, I definitely recommend that you read Ender's Game (Book #1 in the series) and Ender's Shadow (Book #5 in the series) at a minimum in order to appreciate this book.

Rating:
Summary: Average
Review: I must say Card knows how to write entertaining books. It's no small exploit, I believe, to add 5 books to a first novel on one particular subject without becoming too boring. The characters are well defined (if not believable, but a sci-fi book is not necessarily aimed at being "believable"), the plot is catching, and the whole thing is well written enough. Nothing new nor extremely exciting here, especially for those who already read a couple of other Card's stories, but a really pleasant reading.

What bothered me, as other reviewers I believe, is Mr. Card's strange tendency to have peremptory opinions on subjects he obviously know nothing about. As a former cadet and history lover, I think his insights on strategy and military history are hilarious. Having lived in several countries, I am very surprised by his way of describing European countries or Russia. I have found no less than two major errors about catholic theology in one single sister Carlotta's dialog line. How can an intelligent man seriously say that Spanish kings are the most stupid run of leaders in history ? Etc.

I understand if a writer doesn't have the right to speak about everything, it's the end of litterature, but maybe a little humility would help. I truly believe Mr. Card is talented, and I believe his novels will be much more fun when he stops considering himself a thinker (he really is not a thinker!) to dedicate himself to his real talent : writing entertaining stories.

Rating:
Summary: Terrible
Review: "Shadow of the Hegemon" doesn't really even deserve one star. After Ender's Shadow came out, I had some hope for the Ender series, but with Shadow of the Hegemon, it's going right downhill again.

First of all, the characters in this book are unbelievable and are nothing like themselves in previous books of the series. Achilles, instead of being a clever-but-psycho serial killer, is now an astronomically brilliant, meglomaniacal super-villain bent on world domination. All he lacks is a brightly colored mask and a goofy nickname, and he could be a perfect foe for Batman. And the whole suppressed romance between Bean and Petra confuses me. I mean, Bean is ten years old! Isn't he a little young for that kind of stuff? Most children that age are still at the stage of "girls are yucky". True, Bean isn't your average ten-year-old, but I still found the whole thing a little disturbing.

Secondly, Card spends too much time switching from plot to plot. Half of the book is talking about Petra's captivity with Achilles, and the other half focuses on Bean's adventures with Peter and Sister Carlotta. All of the skipping back and forth can really interrupt a reader's train of thought. I found it rather annoying, myself.

And what has he done to Peter? Peter, it seems, is not really a little ... in training. He's really just trying to take over the world because he wants Mommy and Daddy's approval. Somehow, his abrupt change in personality was less than believable. Whatever happened to the half-mad, violent-natured little tyrant of "Ender's Game"? If you ask me, he was much more likable when he was torturing squirrels.

But what really annoyed me about this book was Card's thinly disguised Messiah complex. He seems to have only written this awful novel as an excuse to ... America. And his LDS preachiness was even more tiresome. I am a Mormon myself and it even got on MY nerves. If he wants to preach, he should put it in a story where it fits. The preaching in Shadow of the Hegemon didn't really fit in with the story or advance the plot. Between that and his reversed-patriotism, I was about ready to throw this book out the window by the time I reached the end.

In short, this book was definitely not on a par with its distinguished predecessors. It was just a tragedy. A tragedy that they did this to Bean and Peter, a tragedy that they did this to the readers, and a tragedy that they killed a tree to print this. If you really have to know what happens to the old characters, I suggest you save your money and get it from the library.

Rating:
Summary: A definite page-turner, if a little unbelievable at times
Review: Finally, the long downward spiral of the Ender series (soon to be renamed the "Wiggin" series? - Ender never appears in this book) has been halted, and we have a truly entertaining page-turner. While Xenocide was less enjoyable than Speaker for the Dead, and Children of the Mind less enjoyable again, this second book in the "Shadow" subseries is definitely better than the first. Returning from the Battle School to an Earth that is once again fighting with itself, the young men and women who won the Formic War are in high demand to plan strategy for the nations bent on world domination - in this future universe, they are India, China, Russia, and Brazil. Achilles, Bean's arch-nemesis from Ender's Shadow, has re-emerged as a mastermind bent on world domination. As his first step he kidnaps a number of Ender's former army-mates and sequesters them in Russia, in addition to trying to kill Bean. Bean escapes and enlists the help of Ender's brother Peter. The stage is then set for a battle of wits between the schemes of Achilles, aided by his captured Battle School graduate, and Bean and Peter.

The action is furious and fast paced. Card's vision of the future is an interesting one - he sees the United States as growing complacent and lethargic, existing only to cater to markets for their trade goods (I'm sure political scientists could read all sorts of hidden meaning into Card's statements on the U.S. in this future history). The politics he creates are nicely interwoven, and are believable. He continues to emphasise the folly of arrogant adult leaders, as compared to the non-linear thinking possible only of the young and irrepresible. It's to Card's credit that he doesn't get bogged down in details (like Children of the Mind) but lets his characters inhabit their future world as if it really exists. We learn about it simply through inhabiting the same space while we are reading the story.

There are a few problems. It is a little simplistic in its portrayal of military affairs (especially when compared to a Tom Clancy book, for example) - there is little here that is innovative (socially or in military equipment), and the diplomacy practiced by the main protagonist countries is laughable. That Achilles can so easily manipulate the governments of these powerful nations is a serious strain on plausibility. However, none of these points detract unfavourably from the overall story, which is well-paced and thoroughly enjoyable. While not as good as Speaker for the Dead, easily the best book in the Ender series, it is very good and a worthy addition to the Wiggin Saga.

Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: I've never read Speaker for the Dead or it's sequels, because I just wasn't interested . . . but when Card came out with a book about what happened on earth right after the Battle School kids got home, I couldn't resist. It's a good book, as long as you brush past the swearing.