Ender's Shadow

· The Shadow Series Book 1 · Sold by Macmillan
4.6
1.02K reviews
Ebook
384
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

Orson Scott Card brings us back to the very beginning of his brilliant Ender Quartet, with the novel that begins The Shadow Series and allows us to reenter Ender's world anew.

With all the power of his original creation, Ender's Shadow is Card's parallel volume to Ender's Game, a book that expands and complements the first, enhancing its power, illuminating its events and its powerful conclusion.

The human race is at War with the "Buggers", an insect-like alien race. The first battles went badly, and now as Earth prepares to defend itself against the imminent threat of total destruction at the hands of an inscrutable alien enemy, all focus is on the development and training of military geniuses who can fight such a war, and win.

The long distances of interstellar space have given hope to the defenders of Earth--they have time to train these future commanders up from childhood, forging then into an irresistible force in the high orbital facility called the Battle School.

Andrew "Ender" Wiggin was not the only child in the Battle School; he was just the best of the best. In this new book, card tells the story of another of those precocious generals, the one they called Bean--the one who became Ender's right hand, part of his team, in the final battle against the Buggers.

Bean's past was a battle just to survive. He first appeared on the streets of Rotterdam, a tiny child with a mind leagues beyond anyone else's. He knew he could not survive through strength; he used his tactical genius to gain acceptance into a children's gang, and then to help make that gang a template for success for all the others. He civilized them, and lived to grow older.

Bean's desperate struggle to live, and his success, brought him to the attention of the Battle School's recruiters, those people scouring the planet for leaders, tacticians, and generals to save Earth from the threat of alien invasion. Bean was sent into orbit, to the Battle School. And there he met Ender....

THE ENDER UNIVERSE

Ender series
Ender’s Game / Ender in Exile / Speaker for the Dead / Xenocide / Children of the Mind

Ender’s Shadow series
Ender’s Shadow / Shadow of the Hegemon / Shadow Puppets / Shadow of the Giant / Shadows in Flight

Children of the Fleet

The First Formic War (with Aaron Johnston)
Earth Unaware / Earth Afire / Earth Awakens

The Second Formic War (with Aaron Johnston)
The Swarm /The Hive

Ender novellas
A War of Gifts /First Meetings

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Ratings and reviews

4.6
1.02K reviews
A Google user
April 9, 2008
Totally bored during Butch's Hartnell graduation I borrowed this book from Caspian, more as a joke but then I got really interested in it. Knowing absolutely nothing except that is is Science Fiction it took me a few times to re-read the beginning to understand. Overall it is a very interesting, detailed, engrossing read. The problems I had with it were...the street kids should have a very pronounced slang, yet they sounded educated...Bean is just too young, as well as the other children in the story (yes I know Bean is genetically altered but it is still too much) Achilles as a serial killer especially when he goes to Bean's army and escapes at the end is way to much... Also Bean having a twin older brother that becomes his best (and only) friend, who just happens to have loving wonderful parents. (Okay, he could have a brother, but this fate crap stuff is far too much)... The Catholic religion discussed so often has not changed at all from today's church (that isn't likely).... The children of the street would have taken refuge in the church, and no one seems to have.... Bean did not want to come back to help the children of Rotterdam... Nikolai returned to Earth sooner than Bean yet they showed up together... Ender's brother and sister were powerful leaders on Earth... The military would never has allowed children to fight that war no matter how smart of good at strategy. Females played too small a part representing percentages of the 1970-80s. Beyond all this it is a very good read. 6-2002
Did you find this helpful?
jrrthompson
January 22, 2015
Ender' Game is a story about a young, well liked genius learning to crush his enemies. Ender's Shadow is about a young, hated genius who already knows how to crush his enemies learning to be liked. Ender's Shadow builds upon the rich world of Ender's Game, and, in my opinion, is a superior story with a superior protagonist. Bean (said protagonist) fleshes out the narative of the first book, and lends a human element to some of the more cut-and-dry elements present in Ender's game. Definitly a good read
8 people found this review helpful
Did you find this helpful?
A Google user
December 11, 2017
Awesome, I never knew how much bean mattered, I thought he was just like the kids who helped Ender. This book is awesome. I recomend reading it immediately after reading ender's game, otherwise, this one might spoil the fun of Ender's game. Bean, the backup ender, and behind many of the seens. I was surprised, like (spoiler alert) the fact that bean organised Dragon army, or that he was meant to take over if Ender couldn't manage it. It was fun seeing into Bean/Julian's mind. Bean/Julian is awesome. The whole thing is just Wow, so much new information, If you like Ender's game, Read this.
4 people found this review helpful
Did you find this helpful?

About the author

Orson Scott Card is best known for his science fiction novel Ender's Game and it's many sequels that expand the Ender Universe into the far future and the near past. Those books are organized into The Ender Saga, the five books that chronicle the life of Ender Wiggin; the Shadow Series, that follows on the novel Ender's Shadow and are set on Earth; and the Formic Wars series, written with co-author Aaron Johnston, that tells of the terrible first contact between humans and the alien "Buggers".

Card has been a working writer since the 1970s. Beginning with dozens of plays and musical comedies produced in the 1960s and 70s, Card's first published fiction appeared in 1977 -- the short story "Gert Fram" in the July issue of The Ensign, and the novelette version of "Ender's Game" in the August issue of Analog.

The novel-length version of Ender's Game, published in 1984 and continuously in print since then, became the basis of the 2013 film, starring Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Hailee Steinfeld, Viola Davis, and Abigail Breslin.

Card was born in Washington state, and grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He served a mission for the LDS Church in Brazil in the early 1970s. Besides his writing, he runs occasional writers' workshops and directs plays. He frequently teaches writing and literature courses at Southern Virginia University.

He is the author many sf and fantasy novels, including the American frontier fantasy series "The Tales of Alvin Maker" (beginning with Seventh Son), There are also stand-alone science fiction and fantasy novels like Pastwatch and Hart's Hope. He has collaborated with his daughter Emily Card on a manga series, Laddertop. He has also written contemporary thrillers like Empire and historical novels like the monumental Saints and the religious novels Sarah and Rachel and Leah. Card's recent work includes the Mithermages books (Lost Gate, Gate Thief), contemporary magical fantasy for readers both young and old.

Card lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Kristine Allen Card, He and Kristine are the parents of five children and several grandchildren.

Rate this ebook

Tell us what you think.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.