Orson Scott Card - Ender's Shadow

[I, Brian]

Original review by Elaine Frei:

Ender's Shadow is a rather unusual novel in that it tells essentially the same story as another novel by the same author. But in reality Ender's Shadow is not at all the same novel as Ender's Game, the earlier work by Orson Scott Card. While you might be excused for thinking that once you had read one of them, there would be no reason, no need to read the other, you would be wrong in thinking that. For while the earlier book is the story of Ender Wiggin, child military genius, Ender's Shadow is the story of Bean, chosen to be Ender's second in case the boy was unable or unwilling to carry out his mission. Bean is an orphan, even younger than Ender but in some ways more brilliant and more capable.


To begin with, the first seventy-five pages of Ender's Shadow are Bean's story of survival as an orphan on the streets of Rotterdam and of his rescue by Sister Carlotta, a rather extraordinary nun with the ability to strike fear even into the military officers charged with training an army to fight off an alien invasion. But even after Bean arrives at Battle School and the events covered are those already visited in the earlier novel, the point of view is so different that even knowing the outcome of certain events is not an obstacle to enjoying Ender's Shadow.


Conversely, not having read the earlier novel is not an obstacle to enjoying Ender's Shadow. It is entirely possible to read and enjoy it without having any idea of what has gone on in the earlier novel. Ender's Shadow is designed so that it can function as a stand-alone novel. All the background about the two previous invasions of earth by the Buggers, an alien race with a hive-like social structure is there - how the human race barely fought of the invasion; how they created the Battle School to train the best and the brightest to repeal an expected third invasion; and how these experiences had changed, and failed to change, Earth's social and political structures and behaviors.


One more thing makes Ender's Shadow a good read: it works on more than one level. It is a good, hard science fiction adventure novel of the future. It is equally interesting as a meditation on how our society treats its brightest children. There is also a good deal of political speculation that makes sense as credible extrapolation from current political realities that furnishes readers interested in that subject a great deal to think about.

[vervain_ashe]

I read Ender's Game years before Ender's Shadow. In hindsight, I could not enjoy the shadow without the game. I have, however, read every current book in the Ender's series, and I like Bean's storylines, but Ender is still my favorite. But we all know what happens in the end, and there are still the children to read about... so.... what d'you think we'll get next?