Rating: 
Summary: Ender doesn't deserve this!
Review: If you are looking at this book, wondering whether or not to buy it, you've probably thought of something like this:"How on earth can this story, which I already know the ending to, be as compelling as the original?" My answer to you is, it can't. Ender's Shadow is a bit too contrived for my taste. The book tries to tell the same story, but from a different point of view. The problem is, the original story is changed significantly, and not in altogether positive ways. It was quite clear to me that OSC never intended for Bean to be the character he is in Ender's Shadow. At least, not until he started writing this "parallel novel." Oh, sure, the facts are all the same, and even some of the conversations are verbatim from the original. But the intent behind the events -- the meaning of what actually happened -- is much different, which is key. Anyway, if you're a big fan of the series, you'll probably like Ender's Shadow. If not, read something else instead.
Rating: 
Summary: achieves the impossible
Review: I admit that when I first picked up this book I expected that I'd be sorry I bought it. After all, I knew very well that it would be pretty impossible to surpass Enders Game. I first re-read enders game and then finished Enders Shadow. (I suggest this to all potential readers). To make a long story short. I was stunned. Enders Shadow reveals a completely new dimension to Enders Game. It was like looking in the pocket of a favorite old jacket and finding a forgotten folded up hundred dollar bill in one of the pockets.... Way cool! I didn't think card could pull it off... But he did... In spades. And I never thought I'd be expressing this blasphemous statement: "Enders Shadow is BETTER than Enders game!" How could Card somehow manage to find a completely new dimension despite all those previous constraints? This, of course, is an impossibility so he must not have done it. My guess is that I was overcome by ink fumes and dreamed the whole thing.... But dang! What an awesome dream. Clear your mind, read Enders Game first, then start Enders Shadow and pay CLOSE attention... I think you'll be as amazed as I was!
Rating:
Summary: A Shadow of "Ender's Game"
Review: I was really looking forward to this novel. After all, Ender's Game was so good, and Card failed to follow up with fabulous sequels. So, in a sense, this book was like a second chance for me to enjoy the universe Card created 10 years ago. Ender's Shadow is a VERY good book. However, it does take a while to get into. Not much happens in the first third, and frankly Bean's life before Battle School does not make for page-turning entertainment. Once Bean hits space, however, the book begins to take off. I was worried we would be reading exactly the same things we read in Ender's Game, but happily, I discovered that Bean's point of view on events was much different from Ender's. Bean has his own skills and abilities, and Card interweaves them into the story we already know, but in doing so, the story is vastly different. Yes, we know the ending, but because Bean is a different character, the ending is still satisfying. Also, I'm happy to say that Card has set up a sequel with Bean. I just hope he can write an exciting sequel this time, with even more action and adventure than in Ender's Shadow. He's crafty, this Card guy. He's created a new chance to explore Ender's universe. I just hope his next book isn't Speaker for the Dead, part 2.
Rating:
Summary: Even better than I'd hoped
Review: In this "parallel novel to ENDER'S GAME," Bean starts as an intelligent but starving (and I do mean starving) four-year-old on the mean streets of Rotterdam. By chance he is noticed, then tested for both intelligence and leadership potential by the International Fleet. The IF runs Battle School, a facility where children are taught the skills necessary to win the inevitable War with the Buggers, an alien race who nearly wiped out all human life. I'm not big on either military or intrigue plots, but ENDER'S SHADOW has very little of these. It is a fascinating study of a fascinating character, the events and ideas that shape his life and his mind, and how he copes with it all, from the gang bosses of Rotterdam to the other kids (all older than he) in Battle School to finally meeting the almost legendary Ender Wiggin to the stress and trauma of impending war. While ENDER'S SHADOW takes place in the same time frame and covers some of the same events (from Bean's very different point of view rather than Ender's) as ENDER'S GAME, this novel stands alone very well, so that it doesn't matter which of the two you read first. I first read ENDER'S GAME several years ago and greatly enjoyed rereading it (for the fourth or fifth time) immediately after finishing ENDER'S SHADOW. Orson Scott Card's latest has all the pathos and insight we've come to expect from him, along with characters one can't help but like and even admire. A truly spectacular book that will stay with the reader long after the last page, ENDER'S SHADOW is my pick for both the Hugo and the Nebula Awards this year. Kimberly Borrowdale Under the Covers Book Reviews
Rating:
Summary: Same story
Review: Before I start, I thought that Ender's Game was the best science fiction book I've ever read. So I was really looking forward to Ender's Shadow. And the first few chapters (ie Bean as a kid) were really good - reading Amazon's excerpt sold me the book. But once the story gets to the point where Bean meets Ender, I found it a bit like watching a whodunnit movie where someone has already told you the ending. We already know what's going to happen. The great joy of having the story unravel in unexpected ways wasn't there.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: A wonderful book. Card in brilliant fashion takes us into Ender's world again. I loved it.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful retelling of Ender's Game!
Review: This book was fantastic. I started reading it today at 5:30 pm, and I put it down at 11:50, finished. That marked the first time I'd ever read a full length novel cover to cover in one sitting(I even read the acknowledgements-i was so reluctant to put it down!), and I can probably say that I've never been more compelled to keep turning those pages! Revisiting the story of Ender's Game was wonderful, and 'Shadow' is certainly no slight to the original. All of the intensity is still there, coupled with a more thoughtful and analytical perspective that Bean brings to the table. Read it, find out about Bean, and be impressed.. he even manages to make Ender seem a little dim at times :)
Rating:
Summary: Excellent! Better than previous "sequels"
Review: "Ender's Game" was a real joy to read, to me the sequels were very disappointing. They were good, but "Ender's Game" was TOO good to live up to. Now there is a sequel that can live up to or exceed the first book! "Ender's Shadow" has the same grace of narrative and involving characters that "Ender's Game" had, but somehow Bean is an even more fascinating character than Ender. The world of adults is Ender's enemy in "Ender's Game," but for Bean, his own worst enemy is himself--he is nearly incapable of emotion due to the survival mode he has known all his life. The saga of his young life is a struggle to get out of survival mode and learn to connect with other human beings. The depth of the story is enhanced by the fact that we've been here before, in "Ender's Game." With "Ender's Shadow" Card has brought out the very best of his abilities. READ IT!
Rating:
Summary: Surprise Suprise
Review: First off I was amazed at the amount of people who didn't like theis book because, Bean doesn't think the smae things about Ender, Ender thinks about himmself. Bean is a different peson, and differeent people have different opinions about other people. I tihnk that so many people refuse to like this book because it makes them deffensive. Ender represents their fantasy self, they believve they could do the things he did to people if pressured, when in reality they are more likely to play it safe wait and lay their trap... like Bean. If you've read this book, it rips that fantasy apart, and shows us too truly what we are really like. OSC is a genius when it comes to character development, and makes Bean come truly alive. Bean has to constantly fight to become someone and deals with self doubt and his own genetic fallicies in the book in a creative way. And for those of you pruists who decided to reject this book on a single concept you knew you could get away with, I find the MD device as unbelievable as a lightsaber, but I still love the book and it doesn't interfere with my reading of it, because I'm not looking for a reason to hate it, I love it for what it is, which a lot of you need to do for ES Adam
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Ender's Shadow is a great book. For those of you who believe it was only written to make some cash-you may be right, but it still rocks. I would rank this book right up there with Ender's Game. I had to go back and read Ender's Game for the third time after finishing Shadow, just because I wanted to see how the two fit together. I thought that the ender's series rapidly started going downhill after EG, and I simply refused to read Children of the Mind. If any of you feel the same way, don't worry, its good!
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