Shadow of the Hegemon

Rating:
Summary: Ah, the supreme son returns!
Review: I picked up Ender's Game only last summer because I was bored in North Carolina. It was a required reading for juniors, which is NOT my year, so I figured it'd be another boring book about what's right and wrong. All these ideas also compounded with the fact I cannot STAND the science fiction and fantasy genre.

How wrong I was. Ender's Game was a delightful, quick paced and honest insight into pushing a kid too far. I read it within two hours, and the moment I was back home in Virginia, I purchased Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind. But my father came home with a book and gave it to me...

Ender's Shadow. I read that book with a fervor I had only slightly felt while reading Ender's Game. I liked Bean in Ender's Game, and now I loved him. Imagine how delighted I was to discover a new book was coming out!

And it was, is and will always be one of the best books I've ever read. Shadow of the Hegemon fills that uncomfortable gap between Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead. 3,000 years of emptiness are replaced with spine-tingling action and amazing politics and war.

Bean is at his best, free of the Formic War hanging over his head...and is almost immediately shoved to the front of a world heading for battle between the world powers. Ender's 'jeesh' or the genius fighters who conquered in the final battle against the invading menaces, is kidnapped with such skill that Bean knows it has to be a powerful nation. When his family's vacation house is blown with enough force to flatten the surrounding houses--and people--Bean goes into hiding with Sister Carlotta, the nun who saved his life. And he knows that it can be only one person behind these kidnappings--Achilles.

With deft political manuevers, Bean gets Peter Wiggin, Ender's older brother who carries on the nets the name Locke, which is connected with the fragile cease-fire at the end of the League War, which erupted minutes after the final battle, to convince Achilles sponsors they do not want Achilles anymore. The children are all released with the exception of Petra Arkanian, the sharp tongued girl from Salamandar Army.

Now Bean is in a race against time: he desperately wants to save Petra, but is it worth putting his life, Carlotta and the world's freedom in danger of being conquered by Achilles?

This book, without a doubt, not only brings us closer Bean, letting us know who he is even more than Ender's Shadow, it also sheds light on Petra. Those who found Bean annoying in Ender's Shadow will no doubt find him practically intolerable in this book. He knows he the smartest person for the job, and he's going to get it done. The only thing is, as much as he likes to think he has no feelings, will his personal feelings for Petra and Achilles cloud his judgement?

Recommended for anyone who loves military and political fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good... But...
Review: I love anything Orson Scott Card writes, and this is no exception. However, I think that in this story following the end of the Formic War, he focused too much on Bean and Archiles and not enough on Peter. I think that if this book would have been writen with Peter in mind for the main character it would have been a lot better.

As much as I like Bean, I don't like Archiles. Not because it's a character that I don't like because of his personality, but because I didn't like him in Ender's Shadow. Somehow Peter doesn't make Battle School because he's too aggressive, but they administer this kid in there even though he was older and had a gimp leg (they fixed that I know). But nonetheless, Card makes Archiles way too powerful, and it takes away from the story.

It's a good read, but dissapointed me as it could have been much better.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I don't need to say that Ender's Game was one of the greatest science fiction books of the century, nor do I need to point out that Ender's Shadow was very impressive as a sequel. Unfortunately for his readers, Orson Scott Card has not been able to pull off a third such masterpiece. Shadow of the Hegemon had potential, but it had several irrtating flaws.

First of all, Card uses historical allusions on virtually every page of this novel. Now, Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow had allusions in them, but they were done tastefully. In this book,every other sentence is a military history allusion. Now, I enjoy history myself, but the way Card does it is ridiculous. It gets really boring after awhile. And many of his readers are teenagers, like myself. Most teenagers aren't going to grasp the significance of the Charge of the Light Brigade.

Secondly, he will NOT stop rambling about the politics. I realize that politics are an important part of a novel like Shadow of the Hegemon, since the whole story is about children trying to manipulate the world's politics. However, he goes a little overboard. He spends at least half a page talking about the socio-political effects expected to come of Peter moving the Hegemony to brazil. He goes on and on and ON about why Thailand is the most effective country for Bean to seek an office in. He explains in great detail why the Muslim nations wouldn't want to kidnap Petra. He drones endlessly about the spirit of Russian imperialism. That is important to do, but he does it OVER AND OVER AND OVER again. Even the politicians don't ramble about politics as much as this book does. He needs to focus on the story a little more.

The story was somewhat interesting. I had often wondered what would happen when the Battle Schoolers were repatriated. The only trouble is that he spends too much time on Petra and Achilles. I can't speak for the rest of the readers, but everyone I've talked to who has read the book wants to see more of Bean and Peter. They are the ones we know from the other books-they are the ones we are reading the book to find out about.

Basically, if you are going to buy a book from the Ender series, this isn't the one. It does not even come close to doing justice to its distinguished predecessors. Furthermore, it is too long. The story Card takes the entire book to tell could easily be told in a novella. Unless you are a hard-core fan of the series, I advise you to save your money

Rating:
Summary: Uncle Orson Does It Again!
Review: ... If I'd listened to ...[the negative feedback], I would have missed out on an outstanding read. Card had a tall order in SotH and he pulls it off well. The international events and military operations frame, but do not interfere, with the continued personal stories of Bean, Petra, Peter, and Achilles. I couldn't put it down.

Rating:
Summary: Card hitting his stride
Review: To make my preferences known from the start: yes, of course I was struck _Ender's Game_ (I don't know who wasn't), but _Speaker for the Dead_ left me unimpressed, let alone its subsequent sequels. I was therefore skeptical about _Ender's Shadow_--but found myself liking it very much, and even considering it superior than _Ender's Game_ in some aspects.

_Shadow of the Hegemon_ is even better.

When I heard the title, I was shocked. The Hegemon? Who cares about Peter? I didn't want to know his side of the tale. Nasty bloke, he. But the promise of more Bean pulled me in. (You *do* need to read _Ender's Shadow_ first.)

There is some Peter, yes, but his ascent to power is almost incidental. It is Bean who grows here, without the constraints of the tightly pre-determined plot that were present in _Ender's Shadow_. He was already a remarkable character; but, getting the sprinkles *and* the ice cream, you also learn the stories of other people who were in the Battle School: Petra, especially.

But the focus is on Bean, and how he wrestles with the turn toward war Earth is taking. Bean admits himself that his primary concern is for himself, not for world peace or even for other people; yet he is nonetheless pulled into this conflict.

I am neither a political scientist nor a historian, but I found the international scenario presented quite plausible. And the fact that it is children who are pulling all the strings doesn't seem ludicrous, either (although there are frequent occasions when adult characters can't quite believe it--a quite realistic touch). Card doesn't hide their conversations and ploys, and he does a very convincing job of portraying kids whose intellects are likely tenfold that of ours. There are also quite a few email-like messages presented as interludes, often referred to within the story itself, and I was quite pleased to see that they were included in their entirety, so that we could judge them ourselves. (And my judgment was generally favorable.)

I do object to Card's military history. If you take children, even geniuses, and train them for warfare in space, they are not automatically brilliant at earth-bound warfare, as well. Perhaps they're so smart that they can grasp either concept near-instantly, and I'm too dull to comprehend the possibility of that. But still, it gnawed at me, especially considering the heavy amount of strategizing that occurred in the story. Plus, he uses the ubiquitous "net" as a far too convenient tool. Its presumed security and use are frankly laughable, but forgivable, seeing how it *is* a tool, and a necessary one.

See how I'm picking at the little flaws? Perhaps this is the novel of less technical merit, when compared to its prequel; but in terms of pulling at emotions and weaving brilliantly colored characters, I believe this is Card's best.

Rating:
Summary: Card is Slipping
Review: This is the first book in the Ender's series to have Card's child prodigies seem unbelievable. Card has become a little too infatuated with his concept of child military geniuses conquering the world. Once again Bean returns as the brilliant child hero of the book and the story focuses strongly on him and his struggles to defeat arch-enemy Achilles. Peter Wiggin, the future ruler of the world and Ender's older brother, is relegated a minor role.

The characters are stretched rather thin and I had difficultly believing them. Achilles, who was a broke child on the streets of Rotterdam, surprised us all when he was sent to battle school in the first book. He was only there a little while before returning to earth, but that time was apparently enough to hone his military genius, allow him to take control of three different nations at his leisure and also broker a peace agreement between Pakistan and India in only two days of work. That's pretty impressive!

Peter Wiggin does not appear as the brilliant internal political mind we had come to expect, but as someone unsure of how to act moving forward lacking in courage and ambition. He's worried of his role in the upcoming strife and what he should do. Lucky for him, slightly less intelligent Sister Carlotta is able to give him advice on manipulated international politics.

The book was fast paced and entertaining if a little unbelievable. I find myself growing less interested in Bean with each book. If you're a fan of the series, like me, you'll enjoy the book, but probably not love it as much as some of the previous in the series. Perhaps the next book will allow Peter to mature to brilliant political dictator we know he is suppose to become.

Rating:
Summary: More great stuff from Card
Review: My favorite in this series is still Ender's Game, but this book rocks.

Rating:
Summary: not the best, but still pretty good
Review: I love orson scott card's books, especialy Ender's Shadow, so i waited eagerly for the sequel. while not as good as the first, i wasnt disapointed. the book was suspenseful and very intersting. while the long descriptions of India, pakistan, and thailand's political history got a little boring, Petra's interactions with achilles and bean's with sister carlotta, were great. while its not exactly what i hoped for, Shadow of the Hegemon is a terrific book that provides a great lead-in to the next sequel.

Rating:
Summary: Not up to Card's usual standards
Review: I truly hate to rate any of the Ender series as low as 3 stars, but _Shadow of the Hegemon_ truly doesn't live up to such works as _Ender's Game_, _Speaker for the Dead_, and even _Ender's Shadow_. _Shadow of the Hegemon_ has elements of suspense within it, but is largely a not-too-cleverly-disguised platform for Card to preach his political beliefs, and to display his excellent grasp of political science. In many ways, it almost reads more like a reworked term paper than a science fiction novel.

After finishing _Ender Shadow_, I immediately picked up this next book in the series with my usual high hopes for Card's work; however, less than halfway through the book, I really didn't care how it all turned out, or what happened to many of the characters - and this is hugely unusual for me. I finished it for completion's sake, but frankly, I believe that anyone reading this series could probably skip this addition to the Ender series.

This is really a disappointment, much like _Children of the Mind_ was; it almost seems as if Card didn't quite have the material to create a full novel, but was under pressure to add another book to this well-selling series of boy-genius books. Still, I look forward to the next installment, and hope it returns to his complex story-weaving, and excellent character development.

Rating:
Summary: Bean Stalk
Review: Card has tossed another "Shadows" book out of the Ender Wiggin series of sci-fi. As much as I enjoyed the Ender novels, I am coming to enjoy the Bean novels even more. From the dregs of Battle School to the real world, Bean overcomes as only he can, with guile, guts and a lot of know-how.

I can't wait until Card gives us the story of Bean after Peter matures into the Hegemon of the future. It should be good.