Ender's Shadow

Rating:
Summary: Strong Companion to Ender's Game
Review: Ender's Shadow (better title than Urchin, which I understand the author prefers)met my very high expectations. Ender's Game has long been a favorite of mine. (I recognize the strength of Speaker for the Dead, but I found Xenocide and Children of the Mind unsatisfying). I was enthused that the story of Bean would be told in more detail, and I hoped that his story would have the depth and narrative urgency of Ender's Game. It surely does, and I highly recommend this book to everyone who enjoyed Ender's Game. The character development is good, and somehow Mr. Card keeps an element of dramatic tension even though I well remember the story of the same events from Ender's Game. Bean is now a three-dimensional gifted boy, whose future matters to me. The story of his desperate early years and his uneasy home in the Battle School is interesting, and focuses effectively on the moral issues that he must face. Mr. Card's best books (and there are many) affect me because the essential dilemmas faced by his characters deal with choices of morality, rather than how to win by cleverness - Bean is always smart, but he learns that being smart is not always the same as doing right. As others have noted, there is obviously room left for a sequel to explore Bean's fate. Bring it on.

Rating:
Summary: Ender's Game revisited
Review: Can you tell the same story a second time and make it as fascinating as the first time?

OSC obviously can do it: In Ender's Shadow he once more tells the story of the war with the Buggers, this time from the point of view of Bean, one of Ender's fellow leaders in that war. Through the different perspective, the plot gains more than enough to captivate this reader. Knowing how the war will end did not diminish my suspense, as the actions and reaction of Bean and the other children with him and Ender keep adding new aspects to the developement of the story.

So in summary, OSC can retell a story so well that as soon as I had closed Ender's Shadow I immediately started to reread Ender's Game. As I had read it the last time several years back, this turned out well worth, too.

However, if you haven't read either of them yet, do start with Ender's Game, as the climatic revelation at the end of the war is not quite as shocking in Ender's Shadow.

Rating:
Summary: Card has DONE it again!
Review: Ender's Shadow, seems to be at first, a recycled story of Ender's Game and an attempt to "cash in". After reading the book, the answer came clear. Orson is still able to captivate his readers in almost anyway possible.

The story is an account of the life of a genius, called Bean. We get a first-hand look at the life of Bean, and not merely a different perspective of Ender's Game. We get to know more of Bean and his way of thinking, what his life has been and his mysterious orgins. Successfully, Card is able to create a new and enjoyable story out of the old. Truly being a "parallel novel" since both (Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow) compliment each other so well it makes it such a book that those who read Ender's Game will enjoy Ender's Shadow.

PS: Watch out for the movie Ender's Game coming soon.

Rating:
Summary: Even better than Ender's Game
Review: Who would have thought it possible? Ender's Game was a fantastic read when I read it 10 years ago. Ender's Shadow is even better. After reading Ender's Shadow, I went back and re-read Ender's Game. Ender's Shadow adds to the basic storyline of Ender, but at the same time it takes away from some of Ender's flawlessness, making Ender both bigger in the Eyes of Bean and smaller in the eys of the reader. I won't say any more. Read it! Read them both!

Rating:
Summary: Ender's Shadow
Review: Ender's Shadow is in my opinion the best book to come out since Ender's Game. It is an excellent read and will entertain the reader all the way through. The story of Bean is even more fun to read than Ender's Game. One of the best books I have ever read and I definitely recommend this book to everyone.

Rating:
Summary: Starting at the beginning.....again
Review: When I first picked up Ender's Game, I was not sure what to expect. I was only about twelve or thirteen, and it looked a bit too much like a "grown up" book to me. But still, having nothing else I wanted to read, I decided to be brave and try to read it. I now have all of the books in the Ender's Game series, and I have read each of them at least twice. So, when I heard that there was going to be a new book, I was elated. Then I found out that it was about Bean. I was disappointed at first that I would not be able to hear more about Ender, one of my favorite literary characters. But again, I decided to brave the unknown, and picked up the book described by the author as a parallel, only not. Two pages into the book, I was hooked. Card's deft portrayal of the streets of Rotterdam, the imagery of the starving children, the familiarity of the Battle School, with previously unknown views coming into play, and at the center of it all, Bean. The smallest child, both on the dangerous streets and in what become the equally dangerous halls of the Battle School, Bean not only survived, but triumphed. Like Ender, Bean is a character who gets into your heart, under your skin. He becomes the child you never had, the child you remember being, and the child you always envied. And through it all, the tale I remember so well from Ender's game runs through, like strains of a familiar melody winding through an unfamiliar song. Scenes are replayed through another viewpoint, and with this new perspective the reader gains another dimension on what they already know. However, one of the best things about this book is that it is not a prequel, or a sequel. The events in Ender's Shadow occur at the same time as those in Ender's Game, and so a reader new to the series can choose either book to start with. There is no information in Ender's Shadow that is unclear without reading Ender's Game, and vice versa. So, for the new and established fan alike, this should be an enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: Best Novel published in the 20th centuary
Review: Review: I have always read science fiction and fantasy with a passion. But when I picked up this book I never suspected to ignore the rest of my christmas gifts and be up reading the entire night . This is a great book to start the Ender Quartet. It is also an excellent parrell novel to Ender's game. I intend to go purchase all of Scott Cards other works.Even if you don't love Sci-Fi read this one anyway.

Plot: This is the story of Bean (a.k.a. Julian Delphki)Bean who is 5 has spent his entire life on the streets of Rotterdam. But after some bully on bully fighting and murders Sister Carlotta a Catholic nun come and tests childeren for the battle school, where children are being trained to fight the buggers an alien race that is trying to over throw the earth. At this school Bean meets Nikolai Delphki (who has schoking resiblance to Bean) He also meets Ender the gem of the battle school.,

Rating:
Summary: Put the word ENDER in and make some $
Review: I just finished reading Enders Shadow and I have this urge to let my feelings be known...I will keep it short. It seems to me that OSC is just trying to cash in on his largest commercial success with this latest "Ender" novel. The worst part of about this is that it seems to be working. In ES there are too many times where OSC has to bend the plot points of the original book to fit his new one. We are supposed to believe that Bean was this genius who was REALLY behind a lot of Enders supposed brilliance? I am a purest and a traditionalist and an admitted admirer of Enders Game but ES has changed a lot of how I viewed EG so now I must pretend that this new Ender book (and the inevitable sequels) don't exist and that hurts. By the way, did you know that Wantnot is really the Maker not Alvin!?!?!?!?!

Rating:
Summary: I loved this book but...
Review: I really, really like this book. I thought that it brough a deeper meaning into Ender's actions in Ender's Game, and told the amazing story through a different viewpoint. If anything, I think that we should have ssen more Bean and less Ender, but overall I loved to great storytelling and masterfull writing. Read this book if you liked Ender's Game!

Rating:
Summary: A look at EG from another point
Review: This book is from Bean's perspective (if you haven't read Ender's Game, bean is a charecter in that book.) Well crafted, it stands on it's own from EG. Also is not the same books as EG, it is totally different