Rating: Summary: something not quite there,though Review: I thought this was an excellent book, and would have given it five stars except for the fact that it is linked so closely to ender's game. ender's game had something I can't put my finger on that made it more vital and gripping. At first I thought it was the fact that several scenes are repeated in this book, but they are given a new twist that fan's of ender's game will surely enjoy. also, and this is kind of rediculous, I almost felt a bit of resentment to card for making ender seem more mortal and fallable.
Rating: Summary: Good after reading Ender's Game Review: This is a great book, but I doubt I would have liked it as much if I hadn't read Ender's Game. Bean is a very young orphan living on the streets of a large city. He gotten exceptence into a gang by getting them a spot in the line at the soup kitchen. On a test, he scored better then anyone else ever has, and goes to Battle School. Bean does better then everyone else in grades and tests, including the famous Ender Wiggin. This is a great book, because of the different perspectives of Ender and Bean. In Enders Game you think everyone is laughing at Bean, and in Enders Shadow you think everyone is embarresed at what Ender said. Also, there are some surprises and there are some misconceptions you get after reading Enders Game. The reason I said read Enders Game first and not Enders Shadow is that Enders Game was written first and it shows. Also, E.G. is much better. If you have not read Enders Game yet, read it, and then Enders Shadow, because the reason I like E.S. so much is because of the point of view.(don't get me wrong, it would still be 4 star if I hadn't read Enders Game) These books are both excellent.
Rating: Summary: Such a great book! Review: I'm a great fan of the Ender saga, and as one i find this book both interesting and impressive. it's a good book as an introduction to Ender's world, as well as a fun read for people who already know it. Fantastic book, that's all i have to say!
Rating: Summary: Not enough differences to make it interesting. Review: The book was far too similar to 'Ender's Game'. Bean's perspective was too introspective and not that interesting and my God was that Nun annoying. The book could have been 100 pages shorter.It is also evident that Card is writing this book with an eye to even more un-necessary sequels. Too many loose ends that I am not interested in following.
Rating: Summary: Thrilling and Intense Review: I read Ender's Game in early December when my boyfriend lent me his copy. I loved the book so much that I asked my grandmother for Ender's Shadow for Christmas. This follow-up/parallel for Ender's Game is all I ever expected in a science fiction novel. It's intense at some points, yet touching in others. When Poke is killed I was in tears. When Bean learned that Achilles was in Battle School I wondered why the people had excepted him when the nun told them specifically not to. In many parts of this book, I was crying so hard I couldn't think about anything else. At the end, as in all of Card's books, I was completely satisfied and fully content.
Rating: Summary: Is All Sci-Fi Essentially Childish? Review: Card has found the formula for a sci-fi hit. And I groan as I write this. Treat sci-fi as something childish and you will have a hit and make millions while those who treat it seriously starve. I hope this book's success doesn't signal sci-fi's funeral as a serious genre, but only something for kids and childish adults. That being said, I still give the book 5 stars because the way it gets into the heads of tabla rosa children faced with, ahem, military service in war is inimitable. The only weak dimension is the poor depiction of the adults, particularly the nun, who sounds like a Mormon rather than a Roman Catholic (compare the musings of a Catholic mind in the Canticles of Leibowitz). Card could probably write a third or even fourth parallel novel and sell them all because nobody else can make a kid's head come alive on the page so well and that is, in the final analysis, what he's selling, not sci-fi. Heinlein, after all, already did Bugs.
Rating: Summary: Very good, not as good as Ender's Game though Review: This is really a very good book in it's own right. It is better than I thought it might be in both creating a new story to tell, and telling the old one through new eyes. The novel progresses at a nice quick pace, and I ended up reading the whole thing in one night. One thing I enjoyed about it is how if you have read Ender's Game already, there are some parts to it which are very interesting to read, since Ender and Bean have such different reactions and thoughts about the same events. However, to say that this novel doesn't suffer some from being the same story would be a lie. It lost some of it's appeal since the plot was pretty much a moot point after a certain point. It's almost like listening to a remix of a song you really like. The remix is cool, and you can enjoy it, but the origional is still better. The ending sets us up for a sequel, which I look forward to with anticipation, since that's when Bean's adventures will become his own, and the only problem I had with "Ender's Shadow" will disappear.
Rating: Summary: Just exactly what I expected it to be Review: It is obvious that Ender's Shadow was written, if not completely, then partially to cash in on the success of Ender's Game. When I bought the book I expected it to be a very good book-since everything I've ever written by Orson Scott Card was very good-but not quite the quality of Ender's Game. This is exactly what I got. It seems to me that the things said about Bean, the main charectar in the novel, often work against the things said and implied in Ender's Game. But still, I loved the book. Basically, I recommend this book to fans of Ender's Game, but for new Card readers I advise you start with one of his better known works.
Rating: Summary: Ender's "Shadow" better than the original? Review: Well, it is and will always be (GASP! ) The character of Bean is a more complex character than Ender, and much more introverted and interesting. However, I see a few chincks in the armor. One, the situations are waaay too similar. Two, the climax is really an anti-climax, especially if you've read Ender's Game. So, although Shadow is the better of the two, it still isn't perfect or really different enough to be much more than a 3rd dimension to Ender's Life.
Rating: Summary: Surprisingly Impressed... Review: I have to admit that when I saw that Ender's Shadow had been released I put off buying it for several weeks. Ender's Game is my favorite novel, by far, and I have probably reread it eight times. When Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide and Children of the Mind failed to meet the standard that Ender's Game had set (the standard by which I have come to compare everything I read) I expected much the same from Ender's Shadow. But Card actually pulled it off. I found Ender's Shadow as close as any other book I've read, to meeting the standard Ender's Game has set. Though not quite it's equal, Card has come very close and I expect I will be rereading this one again and again, as well. Card's treatment of the characters and the eloquence in his writing style make both Game and Shadow very difficult to put down. The parallel events, from the unique perspective of Bean, make Ender's Shadow the perfect compliment to the original novel. I will be rereading Ender's Game before I start reading anything else, and will most likely read Ender's Shadow immediately after that. My only suggestion to anyone who has not yet read Ender's Shadow is to be sure to read Ender's Game first. But don't expect to be disappointed by either.
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