Ender's Shadow

Rating:
Summary: The two that should have been one
Review: After I read Ender's Shadow, I found a great urge to go back and read Ender's Game for the umpteenth time. Ender's Shadow and Ender's Game really should have been one book. They complement each other so well and yet have stood alone.

Reading many of the reviews, both good and bad, I found that many people forgot that this was a "parallel" novel. Think of these novels as "behind-the-scenes" of each other. It is very hard to believe that any one person could have performed the feats of either Ender or Bean without help.

People think of the title as Bean's experiences in his younger life and at Battle School being very similar to Ender's. Looking at it that way, it is very easy to see similarities. This is what I gleaned from the story; not that Bean would always be in Ender's shadow or that Mr. Card was trying to outdo Ender's game, but that Bean was working from the "shadows". You find out that when he isn't being told about in Ender's Game, he is still doing things that help the overall mission.

I highly reccomend this book to all of Card's readers, whether they have read Ender's Game or not. This is definately one that I will revisit my library for.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This is a Great Book. A must read for anyone who read Ender's Game or any Orson Scott Card novel Highly Recommened A great gift idea

Rating:
Summary: A different "tour de force"
Review: "Ender's Game" dazzled because of the original concept: that a child could do better than an adult at battle if he was trained and focussed enough. "Ender's Shadow" couldn't offer that, so had to make the reader care about the main character.

In this, Card succeeds magnificently. Bean's genetic heritage combined with the brutal early years had produced someone brilliant but barely able to feel emotion, let alone express it. He gradually becomes aware of this gap, and his faltering steps towards filling it are what draw you into the book and make it unputdownable.

All great science fiction revolves around one central question: what does it mean to be human? By tackling this issue head-on, Ender's Shadow is potentially greater than its predecessor. Times change too, and I wonder how the two will look 20 years from now?

Rating:
Summary: Card does it again
Review: This book is a great read it fully lives up the original. Bean's character is so well written that he makes you fell dumb, he notices things that you just don't and when he does you see that all the information was there. you even fell sorry for Bean becasue he will always be ecplised by Ender's greatness. The book also makes a powerful statemant about how pure intellect just isn't everything, Bean who is even smarter than Ender lacks the carisma of a natural born leader. The only falut I have with the story is how little one finds of Bean in Ender's Game. Shadow helps explian Bean's thoughts in his converstations with Ender and this helps make sense of his motives and the underlying feel one gets of Bean's importance in Game that was left unexplained. If you have anything to say about this you can e-mail me at [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Ender's Shadow is a Keeper!
Review: Twenty some years ago I read Ender's Game. That same dogeared paperback is still on my shelf. It now has a new companion and I will be reading it anew twenty years from now. There are few books that come along that can move the reader like Ender's Game and now Ender's Shadow. I have seen the street children of San Paulo and Olson Scott Card grabs you and sit you down on page one. Read it for it's more than fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Ender's Shadow does not live up to Ender's Game...
Review: This is a parallel novel to Ender's Game. It relates the same events of Ender's Game, but from the point of view of Bean. Ender's Shadow begins when Bean is four years old and barely surviving on the street. It tell of his struggle to survive and then his triumph in being accepted to Battle School. This novel has some new surprises in it. Surprises that I thought were unbelieveable. The book itself is a good read, however, it is not as good as Ender's Game. Some of the revelations are just too much in the sense that you almost feel contempt for Ender and shout to yourself, "Why doesn't he see this? Why is he letting himself be manipulated by Bean?". At least I did! I just did not accept or want to accept what Card was telling us about Bean. I have been looking forward to this novel for months and I can tell you that I was disappointed! The concept was so great, but I think that Card fell a little short on Ender's Shadow.

Rating:
Summary: Question
Review: This is adressed to all those who have read my previous review of Ender's Shadow. I'll duplicate it again so that you won't have to go back and look for it. the review was titled Ender's Game II: Bean's Game

and it stated the following: A writer writes a book, the book happens to be one of the best science fiction books of all times, and makes the big money. The author writes sequels, different but original, which are between good and terrible and which also bring in money, but not as much as the first book. So what does the author do? what would you do?

Orson Scott Card wrote Ender's Game again.

Not that the idea, telling the Ender story from Bean's point of view isn't interesting. The problem is, Orson Scott Card rewrote everything.

The result is that Bean is our new hero. he's the Nouveau Ender. Smarter then Ender, in fact. It feels like one of the comedies in which you have to take two people through the same place, without them meeting each other, only it's ain funny. It's like trying to sneak an Elephant through the City hall. It doesn't work, and it diminishes not only Ender's game, but also ENDER. But then, in the last two Ender tales, he had to fight tax colloectors and was bored to death by his wife. what can you expect?

There are good things in this book, too. The scenes without Ender are good, and finally getting an explanation for some action by Petra is almost worth the wait. I've been waiting for that answer for like 6 years.

BTW, if someone here hadn't read Ender's Game but did read Ender's shadow, please email me, I would like to talk to you.

anyone else feel free, too

(...).

Omer

Rating:
Summary: I'm so happy that Orson Scott Card is back in form
Review: A great companion to Ender's Game, which is one of the best sci-fi novels ever written. I've read the whole Ender series and enjoyed them, but was disappointed by how slow the pace of the novels became with each one. As much as I enjoyed them all, it was increasingly difficult to get into them. This completely changed with Ender's Shadow, which I could not put down. I would advise reading Ender's Game first as opposed to the comments of an earlier reviewer. Ender's Shadow will be more enjoyable having known the previous story.

Rating:
Summary: Orson Scott Card is Brilliant
Review: Card has outdone himself this time. Orson is able to take the same story line and give it a new perspective. Instead of being told in the perspective of a sympathetic genuis(Ender), it is told in the perspective of a genetically altered and very analytical kid genuis(Bean). After reading this book you would swear that Card wrote it at the same time as Ender's Game. Orson Scott Card has done the impossible, he has written a book that comes very close to the genius of Ender's Game. Very good book. Buy it, read it, and pass it on.

Rating:
Summary: Shadow of Substance
Review: Unfortunately, I cannot easily give Ender's Shadow that elusive fifth star. This is not any fault of Orson Scott Card's, however. This is a magnificent book, full of vivid description and a wonderfully woven story. My only regret is that my previous readings of Ender's Game (20 or so all told) colored my reading of Shadow. I cannot say I regret reading Ender's Game first, but at the same time, to read this book fresh, without the knowledge of the Ender story, would be magnificent indeed.