Rating: 
Summary: Compliments Ender's Game nicely!
Review: This was a great book, only Card can create such a diverse universe. Do not read it expecting tons of new info, most of it is a rehash from the orgininal Ender's Game, but the characterization was excellent. It you don't read just for the action aspect of Ender's Game, you will be pleased. Bean's perspective puts a whole new spin on things, he's got quite a story to tell also! I could identify with him just as much as I could with Ender. The two may have had almost too much in common. Regardless, read it, if you have half a brain, you will be glad you did!
Rating:
Summary: A worthy follow-up to the saga of little Ender Wiggin
Review: Bean, while small in stature looms large in the minds of avid readers of Ender's Game. Not because he is so much a part of the story but because he is not. The interaction between Commander Wiggin and his youthful counterparts is marked by a lack of information about where they come from. Card as always does a wonderful job fleshing out real and vibrant characters but he does so without telling us any of their history. In Ender's Game I was drawn to Bean for just that reason, who was this little boy who acheives command even younger than Wiggin himself? This question and more we find answres to in Ender's Shadow. How much of History's path is strewn with the bodies of the almost greats? Ender was a third but Bean was only second and that is almost unforgivable.
Rating:
Summary: Once again, Card proves his mastery of the literary art...
Review: Sitting here, organizing my thoughts, I'm wondering if maybe I'm a little biased in favor of this book, or rather, this masterpiece, that Orson Scott Card has presented to us. I think that I'm being objective here, but Card did so many things right with this book that I can't even think of anything he did wrong.First of all, his experiment in writing a parallel novel to Ender's Game was an unprecedented success. Even years after he first wrote Ender's Game, he managed to capture the same tone, settings, and feelings all over again, and then EXPAND upon them even further. Readers of Ender's Game will feel the inexplicable ties (philotic twining, anyone?) between these two books, the trade-offs going back and forth. The dialog sequences that appear in both books (the sort of "overlapping" parts) were not at all tedious as one might expect; quite the opposite, they were exhilarating because of the unique and contrasting perspectives presented in each one. At the same time that Ender's Shadow resonates with Ender's Game, however, it's also subtly different. It's a much more mature novel, even as it marks a return to the perspective of the children of the battle school. While Ender's Game has that raw attractive aura about it, Ender's Shadow has a sense of overall grace and style built upon that raw attractive aura. All of the quiet little ironies, the subtle (and not so subtle) Biblical allusions, the tiny things like that all integrate so seamlessly into the overall story that it's breath-taking. Not to mention, of course, the overall story *itself* is incredible. I'll openly admit that I cried twice during this book, and we're talking real crying here, not just eyes watering. Not a small feat. Overall, this was an entrancing masterpiece of science fiction. The whole book weaves an intense tapestry with the original Ender's Game to create an entirely unique and wonderful experience. Don't pass this one up just because you think that nothing could compare to Ender's Game. The two work together, hand in hand.
Rating:
Summary: Almost as good as Ender's Game
Review: This is an excellent book! Finally, a book in the Ender's series that re-captures the magic and intensity of the first book. The three that came between Ender's Game and Ender's shadow are hollow and directionless compared to these two.
Rating:
Summary: as amazing and life changing as Ender's Game
Review: It's the first hardcover book i've ever bought, and the only book that would have paid anything for. i bought it from the bookstore before it was even on the shelf. Mr Card, you rule. Ender's Game changed my life, and even my own writing. Ender's Shadow has done it again. It deserves the Hugo and Neblua. This book and Ender's Game belong on the shelf of great literary works of mankind, next to Aristotle and Plato. Some may think I'm over-hyping it. I'm not. Read the book, and read Ender's Game too. Your life will never be the same.
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely annoying.
Review: When I first heard Orson Scott Card was writing another book that took place in the Ender's Game universe I was exited, to say the least. After reading the first four chapters of Ender's Shadow, attainable at the official web site of OSC, I ,almost literally, couldn't wait. Now that I've read the novel cover to cover I am thoroughly disappointed. It does not complement Ender's Game, which is my favorite book, it tries to overpower it. Although Ender's Shadow never contradicts Ender's Game, the two books often disagree. Many of the reviews that gave this book five stars were done by people who had read only the first four chapters, which were extremely good. This latest Orson Scott Card novel shows that while OSC's grasp on scientific principles has increased, his knowlage of what makes a great novel has dramaticly decreased.
Rating:
Summary: pretty dang good
Review: I got a copy a couple days before 8/31 in a little shop of "the boardwalk". All in all, I finished it in less than a day. I was very pleased with what I read. What I found particularly interesting though, was how, while reading Bean's thoughts while in a conversation with Ender, or something that also happened in "Ender's Game", I got a totally different view on the event, than from "Ender's Game". Many times throughout "Ender's Game", I presumed what Bean was thinking most of the time, and most of the time, it totally differed from what "actually" happened in Ender's Shadow. When I was reading, I couldn't help but find these moment's, and many times I felt there were some major contradictions, but Card seems to pull it all off nicely, leaving you pleased with your buy.
Rating:
Summary: Bean: No Longer in Ender's Shadow
Review: I read "Ender's Shadow" last night. I became a fan of Orson Scott Card after reading "Ender's Game" and "Speaker for the Dead." I can't say that I've read all of his books, but I've read a goodly portion of his science fiction and fantasy works. "Ender's Shadow" is an excellent read. It was interesting to see the different perspective on the same events portrayed in "Ender's Game." How does it compare to "Ender's Game?" I believe "Ender's Shadow" is very well written and plotted. Card shows us what are happening in the shadows behind Ender Wiggin's rise. It's one of the best books I've read this year. For what it's worth, "Ender's Shadow" is currently my 3rd best book of the year (counting those published in 1999) -- oddly enough behind two other novels starring children as protagonists-- J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." In addition, Card writes in his Author's Note that one book that helped him was one I read just three months ago, "Makers of Modern Strategy: From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age." Edited by Peter Paret, it is also a very good book. I believe I'll check that book out of the library again. "Ender's Shadow" is definitely a 5-star book. Now, I wonder who's next. More Bean? The story of Peter Wiggin?
Rating: 
Summary: Great but not as good as Ender's game maybe 4+ stars
Review: I bought on the 31st and read late and finished it the next day. It was good and gave more insight to Battle School, Graff, Bean, etc but it ended to early I was hoping to go beyond and have more after the war was done. Be sure to read Ender's Game first to appreciate this book more and to get the appropriate impact of Ender's game.
Rating:
Summary: Orson Scott Card Does It Again
Review: If you loved Ender's Game, you'll love Ender's Shadow. I stayed up last night to read it. Like EG, ES is a quick read, appealing to children and adolescents, yet has something more to say to the adult as well. It is definitely a "stand alone" novel, but if you haven't read EG, read it too (doesn't matter which one you read first). OSC has done a masterful job of portraying identical events through very different eyes. Both boy geniuses and much, much more, Ender and Bean are very different in many ways. Bean seems to know more about Bean than Ender does about Ender, and at times knows more about Ender than Ender himself. Yet despite all his abilities, which sometimes exceeds even those of the mighy Ender, Bean has one fatal flaw that will prevent him from attaining the position he somtimes believes to be rightfully his. All in all, a penetrating psychological study of children, their interactions with each other, the world, and adults, written in the same style as EG, but with Bean's personality instead.
|
