Ender's Shadow

Rating:
Summary: Gripping and a great ride
Review: I had read Ender's Game a LONG time ago, and then found Ender's Shadow a while back, and devoured it. I enjoyed it so much, I had to find Ender's Game to re-read it and reacquaint myself with the universe they live in.

This book is essentially Ender's Game from Bean's point of view, and it gives you some GREAT insight into who Bean is, and what drives him. It's also a great "outside" view of Ender and his experiences in Battle School.

This is diffinitely a great book to recommend, especially to boys of middle school and high school age as they struggle with some very real identity issues.

Rating:
Summary: Better than Ender's Game
Review: At first I was skeptical about buying this book because I though it would just be a repeat of Ender's Game. Boy was I wrong!! This is a great book and everyone should read this book, wheter you have read Enders Game or not. I enjoyed the story from Beans point of veiw much more than Ender's. There are charecters in this book that are not in Ender's Game, but all the charecters from Ender's Game are in this book. This is a great book, everone should read it.

Rating:
Summary: Because he is an underdog
Review: My favorite thing about Ender is the fact that he is an underdog. He is a "third," looked down upon by general society (ie. Mrs. Pumphrey's first grade class), he is small (even for a six year old), and he is an outcast (set aside because he is different). The only thing he has going for him is an intellect surpassing that of any child, as well as an undeniable charm, and an unrivaled ability to lead. These are the qualities that make him a perfect candidate for battle-school training and a later command position.
Ender may be the most intelligent that Battle-school has ever seen, but perhaps for that very reason Ender develops many enemies, not the least of which is an honor-struck spaniard, named Bonzo. If Ender survives the rigerous training at battle-school that's only the first hurtle.

Rating:
Summary: Best book.
Review: This is by far the best book in the series. I have fallen in love with the character Bean. If makes normal people, such as i, feel very dumb sometimes. It's so hard to describe how much i like this book. It seemed completely natural for this book to happen. However, we don't really know if any of the other characters deserve a Parallel book, maybe they did! Anyway, I'm glad i read Ender's Game before i read Ender's Shadow.

Rating:
Summary: If you want the same novel as Enders Game, then read this on
Review: Enders Game is perhaps the most compelling book I've ever read. Enders Shadow, is basically that, a book that stands in the shadow of Enders Game. I felt that it was basically good, just lacking in any of the originality that we had with Enders Game. It tried to hard to have that same magic. It just didn't make it for me.

Rating:
Summary: A sandwich story
Review: I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed this story. Bean's background made me feel for him much the same as certain key characters did. I must credit Card for using identical dialogue with "the other side of the story" where applicable.

The once reason that I did not give this 5/5 stars is much of this novel seems to be in preparation for additional tales. Achilles character and the fact that Bean was caught up in some sort of sci-fi "Parent Trap" relationship with his older twin brother all seem to have no place in this story or essential background of the character unless some additional events in the later stories require them. This creates a distraction from the main story presented in THIS novel.

It remains to be seen if this distraction is worth while as Bean's story is still developing, but if you enjoyed reading "Ender's Game" and can read this without expecting to read your favorite stories about learning how to play in the battleroom all over again then you will enjoy this book as well. If you want to hear about someone learning the same things the same way that Ender did in the first book of the series, take out some white out and your old copy of "Ender's Game" and put your name in his place. You'll be much happier.

Rating:
Summary: Parallel Excellence!
Review: Wow, this book replaces Ender's Game as my favorite in the series! I checked it out from the library near my grandparent's house, and finished it that night before I had to leave for home! WowwieWowWow that was good! Just the whole idea of rewriting a book from another character's perspective is interesting, and Mr. Card managed to keep the same general storyline and environment fresh and brand spankin' new-feeling. The characters are still well-developed and the writing is still natural-feeling. This book and Ender's Game blur together in my mind, but I can always recollect how much I liked reading this on the big, blue couch at my grandma and grandpa's house.

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing Book
Review: In Ender's Shadow, Orson Scott Card manages to retell the same story he told in
Ender's Game, without much repetition or overlap. I've never read anything quite like this before and found it to be a very interesting concept, that must have taken an incredible amount of planning to be pulled off.
The book starts on the streets of Rotterdam, where poverty is rampant. Bean is homeless, and young, but brilliant. By manipulating those around him, Bean is able to change the way every homeless child lives in the city, and he is found by a women who tests children for battle school. He passes the tests and is sent off to battle school where his side of the story of the battle against the buggers is told.
In this book, we see beyond Ender, and into everyone else who helped him to destroy the buggers. Card also manages to give us more insight into Ender, although he is not focus of the book at all. This book is an amazing accomplishment, but at times gets tedious with the tremendous amount of detail. The biggest failing of the story is the characterization of Bean. He is an untouchable character who us little with which to empathize because of his incredible genius and his inability to identify with anyone else.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing Much New Under the Sun
Review: Mostly Parallel to Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow tries to tell the same tale only with more insights. The protagonist in this book is Bean, a different version of Ender, a much more intelligent character whose humanity is in debate.

Throughout the book Bean argues with himself about moral dilemmas and discusses his actions compared to Ender's in similar cases.

For those who have read Ender's game and think that in this book you'll find another insightful story I recommend to reconsider; while Bean is supposedly intellectually superior to Ender, readers will be disappointed by the many quotes from Ender's game, vocalized by Bean, which are unsatisfactory explained from Bean's line of thought. Indeed, the reader will be left with the impression that many a sentence were reasoned with the arguement "so I said..."

Rating:
Summary: Milking an old cow
Review: Ender's shadow is an attempt to squeeze more money out of Ender's game. Same story, different viewpoint. Although Bean is a great character, he's too great, he can do too much, making him a characature of his cameo appearance in Ender's Game. Like many assisting roles, he is great in the cameo, but is flat in the starring role. Only Card is to blame for this. I feel he was trying to create a superheo out of Bean, but couldn't quite do it. All of the campy superhero antics were built into this book, the vague beginnings, superhuman abilities, and especially the idea of an arch-nemesis who coincidentally comes from the same home town as the hero. Card, I though better of you. If you're in love with Ender's Game, you'll like it because of the return to Battle School and all of Ender's gang. But on it's own, the title says it all, it is dwarfed in Ender's shadow.