Ender's Shadow

ISBN 10: 1435235045 ISBN 13: 9781435235045

Synopsis

A companion novel to the beloved, bestselling science fiction classic Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, a major motion picture event in November 2013

If Julian Delphiki, known as "Bean," has learned anything from living on the streets, it's how to survive. And not with fists--he is too small for that--but with brains.

Bean is a genius with a magician's ability to zero in on his enemy and exploit his weakness. What could be a better quality in a future general to lead Earth in a final climactic battle against a hostile alien race?

Recruited for Battle School, a military installation designed to select and train children as future officers in the International Fleet, Bean meets Ender Wiggin: soon to become his best friend, and his greatest rival....

Readers can revisit the events of Ender's Game through the eyes of Bean in this companion or parallel novel. Readers who have not read Ender's Game will want to read it as soon as they finish Ender's Shadow. As Orson Scott Card says, "these two books complement and fulfill each other."

About this title

Review:

Ender's Shadow is being dubbed as a parallel novel to Orson Scott Card's Hugo and Nebula Award-winning book Ender's Game. By "parallel" Card means that Shadow begins and ends at roughly the same time as Game, and it chronicles many of the same events. In fact, the two books tell an almost identical story of brilliant children being trained in the orbiting Battle School to lead humanity's fleets in the final war against alien invaders known as the Buggers. The most brilliant of these young recruits is Ender Wiggin, an unparalleled commander and tactician who can surely defeat the Buggers if only he can overcome his own inner turmoil.

Second among the children is Bean, who becomes Ender's lieutenant despite the fact that he is the smallest and youngest of the Battle School students. Bean is the central character of Shadow, and we pick up his story when he is just a two-year-old starving on the streets of a future Rotterdam that has become a hell on Earth. Bean is unnaturally intelligent for his age, which is the only thing that allows him to escape--though not unscathed--the streets and eventually end up in Battle School. Despite his brilliance, however, Bean is doomed to live his life as an also-ran to the more famous and in many ways more brilliant Ender. Nonetheless, Bean learns things that Ender cannot or will not understand, and it falls to this once pathetic street urchin to carry the weight of a terrible burden that Ender must not be allowed to know.

Although it may seem like Shadow is merely an attempt by Card to cash in on the success of his justly famous Ender's Game, that suspicion will dissipate once you turn the first few pages of this engrossing novel. It's clear that Bean has a story worth telling, and that Card (who started the project with a co-writer but later decided he wanted it all to himself) is driven to tell it. And though much of Ender's Game hinges on a surprise ending that Card fans are likely well acquainted with, Shadow manages to capitalise on that same surprise and even turn the table on readers. In the end it seems a shame that Shadow, like Bean himself, will forever be eclipsed by the myth of Ender, because this is a novel that can easily stand on its own. Luckily for readers, Card has left plenty of room for a sequel, so we may well be seeing more of Bean in the near future. --Craig E. Engler, Amazon.com

Review:

"An absorbing, near-flawless performance."-"-Kirkus
"The wonders of Battleschool and flashsuits and children's armies should keep readers turning pages."-"-Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"An exceptional work." --"School Library Journal

Praise for "Ender's Shadow"

"The wonders of Battle School and flash suits and children's armies should keep readers turning pages."
--"Publishers Weekly "(starred review)

"The author's superb storytelling and his genuine insight into the moral dilemmas that lead good people to commit questionable actions make this title a priority purchase for most libraries."
--"Library Journal"

""

"The wonders of Battle School and flash suits and children's armies should keep readers turning pages."
--"Publishers Weekly "(starred review)

"The author's superb storytelling and his genuine insight into the moral dilemmas that lead good people to commit questionable actions make this title a priority purchase for most libraries."
--"Library Journal"

""

The wonders of Battle School and flash suits and children's armies should keep readers turning pages. "Publishers Weekly (starred review)"

The author's superb storytelling and his genuine insight into the moral dilemmas that lead good people to commit questionable actions make this title a priority purchase for most libraries. "Library Journal""

The wonders of Battle School and flash suits and children's armies should keep readers turning pages. Publishers Weekly (starred review)

The author's superb storytelling and his genuine insight into the moral dilemmas that lead good people to commit questionable actions make this title a priority purchase for most libraries. Library Journal

"

"The wonders of Battle School and flash suits and children's armies should keep readers turning pages." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"The author's superb storytelling and his genuine insight into the moral dilemmas that lead good people to commit questionable actions make this title a priority purchase for most libraries." --Library Journal

About this edition

• ISBN 10: 1435235045
• ISBN 13: 9781435235045
• Binding: Library Binding