Ender's Shadow

Rating:
Summary: A Great Tale of Survival
Review: Ender's Shadow is a parallel novel. I wouldn't call it a sequel because a sequel is what happens after the previous book. This book was just a different version of the story, Ender's Game, told from a little boy named Bean's point of view. At first, the character Bean seems empty and emotionless, living in poverty and seemingly not having a future. Although small for his age, he manages to survive only because of his extraordinary intellect. To Bean, the only thing that matters is the sole thing that matters to any animal; survival. He manages to be discovered and sent to Battle School, a school for future commanders of the International Fleet, the only defenders of Earth from the space aliens, Buggers. To many, he was saved from hunger and a fruitless life, but little did anyone know, the real danger only lied ahead for the little boy.
Orson Scott Card depicted a great tale of survival of the fittest, morals, and even had religious aspects. This book was a very compelling read. It was one of those 'can't-put-the-book-down-because-I-want-to-know-what-happens-next' kind of books. I would definitely recommend Ender's Shadow to anyone who's interested in science fiction or psychologically challenging reads. Two thumbs up!

Rating:
Summary: Not the Same as Ender's Game
Review: I thought that Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card was a very good book. Ever since I finished reading Ender's Game, I was dying for a sequel, and that's what this is. Well, actually, it's not really a "sequel" by definition, but it certainly is just as good. I say it's not a sequel because it does not take place after the first book. It's more like a parallel story to Ender's Game. Ender's Shadow takes place not from Ender's point of view, but from Bean's point of view. It tells of all Ender's adventures, but they are told from the perspective of Ender's "shadow". Bean is Ender's shadow because he is Ender's equal in ability and intelligence, but is just a few years younger.
Of course, the book does go into more of Bean's background: where he came from and how did he get into battle school, which all turns out to be very interesting. The one thing that I didn't like about the book, and this is just a personal opinion, but I didn't like the way that they portrayed Bean to be just as good as Ender in everything, when if you'd read Ender's Game, you'd know that Ender is a child genius who is more smart, yet so much more misunderstood than anyone could imagine. If you just read Ender's Shadow and not Ender's Game, you'd never really understand about the real main character of the whole series. I don't like the way that they make Ender seem so stuck-up in the book, but I guess I just like Ender's character better. I recommend that if you want to read this book, read Ender's Game first because then you'll fully understand what's going on.

Rating:
Summary: Card¿s description makes this a sequel great
Review: Orson Scott Card uses great description in the novel, Ender's Shadow. His description of things such as how Bean feels or why there is zero gravity in the center of the ship. These descriptions make you feel as if you are right there in the story. Card's descriptions strengthen the novel incredibly. Card makes you want to keep on reading, because the story just pulls you in until you are done reading. You can not go one page in the book without having imagery that makes you almost able to touch and see what is really going on. Little kids think that they will not like chapter books because they do not have any pictures, but Orson Scott Card makes the story as if every page has a picture and there are no words.
Orson's description increased my likings of this book, because there are a lot of boring books out there that have great diction or a cool dialect. Those books lack description to give you an extremely clear picture of the setting of the story. Description lightens up a dull book with just a few imagery words. Things like, "the boilers were rough scrap metal, with about a million holes." A book can have the most stupid characters but it can still be a good story if it has the right amount of description. Normal people want to be able to visualize what is happening in the story they are reading, and description pleases them. Card's novel, Ender's Shadow, is a page turner with all of the description of the setting, characters, etc.
Great novels' are made by the description of the story. If you are reading a comforting story, then it is good to know that the place where the main characters live is a peaceful place. Ender's Shadow is a novel full of suspense, and the setting reflects that. The space station is dark and dreary, and filled with the lies of the teachers. Rotterdam is described as a war zone between the young kids, and the large powerful bullies. Card's description causes a change in your mood when Bean goes from Rotterdam to Battle School. Battle school is still an unsafe place, but it is a lot better than in Rotterdam. When Card decides to end the novel he again changes the mood. When Bean is re-united with is family, you get a feeling of security and comfort because it is a happy ending.
Evidently, Orson Scott Card's description made this novel even better then it would have been with out it. He makes the reader keep reading, making them anticipate what might happen next. The description makes the scene at battle school come to life right before your reading eyes. Some books are really interesting and with great description it makes the book even better then the book was already. Ender's Shadow was a great story, along with his great character structure and his well planned out description of everything in space. He made me feel as if I was following Bean along in the space station to everything he did. Description makes any book with no pictures a great book that has many "mind pictures". Orson Scott Card makes Ender's Shadow a picture book with no words, even though it is really a book with no pictures but all there is, is words to describe and make mental pictures for the reader. The description made this book a great story.

Rating:
Summary: The best review
Review: Hi. This book is about a boy named bean and his travels where he meats his brother Nikolia that he meats his in battle school. How he defeats a bully Achilles.It is very good . It is about how he becomes a military genius and helps Ender. Then he goes home to his true parents the Delphikis.

Rating:
Summary: Very Complementary Companion Tale
Review: Orson Scott Card, who is perhaps most famous for his mid-eighties sci-fi novel ENDER'S Game, prefaced this title stating it wasn't a sequel. It isn't it is a companion piece I would say focusing primarily on the character of Bean. Card tells his origins on the streets, and how he found himself in the Battle School. It also though focuses on not only secondary character's but on Ender's universe in a much more macroscopic way. In 'GAME, the primary setting was the actual battle school, and Ender's immediate environs. In 'SHADOW however the reader is given not only a larger geographic scope to enjoy, but also a grander geopolitical, socioeconomic context for the overall story.
I imagine it wouldn't be easy returning to a world so admired and imitated after fifteen years and numerous novels, but Card does so with grace and aplumb. Shadow may have been written immediately after Game except for the clear sense of Card's evolution of a novel displayed in the latter title. I raved about Ender's Game in one of my reviews, so naturally had high expectations for this paralell/paralax tale, and wasn't disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Ender's Shadow Review
Review: Ender's Shadow is now, quite possibly, my favorite book, because of its excitement and suspense. In my opinion, to fully appreciate and understand this book, Ender's Game should be read beforehand. I think this because the main character in Ender's Shadow, who is simply named Bean, is introduced in Ender's Game. Also, some of the more complicated ideas, such as "Battle School," and some of its many rules are also introduced in Ender's Game.

To interest the reader as soon as possible, Orson Scott Card immediately starts the book by demonstrating how much of a genius Bean is. He does this not by telling what he can do, but he puts Bean in a situation that Bean must deal with to survive. This situation is the horrible street slums of Rotterdam. This isn't only where he learns to survive, but also where he makes loyal friends, but also enemies. He also demonstrates his ability to learn languages within a week! Although this seems unrealistic at first, all is explained in the book.

A major thing I like about the way this book was written, is how it built suspense. For example, a character would be thinking about how he will frame, or even kill another character, and the plan seems so ingenious that it can't fail, then right when the character is about to make his move, the chapter ends, and it switches to a completely different part of the story. This certainly made me read for hours more trying to find out what happens next!

Another quality I like about the way Orson Scott Card writes, is he adds history into his books. For instance, he compares strategy used by Napoleon, to strategy used in the middle ages. Not only are these strategies interesting, but he demonstrates, and gives examples of when they were used, and when a good time to use them would be. I like history a lot, so this addition just enhanced my enjoyment for the book. Orson Scott Card also developed his characters very well, and by the end of the first chapter, I was in love with Bean. This also caused problems though, because I was always worried something would happen to Bean, because he was constantly in dangerous situations. I almost wanted to skip ahead and find out what happens, but I resisted, and it payed off!

In conclusion, I extremely highly recommend Ender's Shadow, by Orson Scott Card to everyone. I know this book was recommended to me because I needed to read a book in a short period of time, and I just couldn't put it down! I also highly recommend the author, I have read some of the other books written by Orson Scott Card, and I have loved all of them! This is definitely a must read, and a must reread! I hope this review helped in making a decision about this book.

Rating:
Summary: awsome
Review: Enders Shadow by: Orson Scott Card 469 pages
Enders Shadow is Enders Game told from Bean's point of view. This is a story of Bean's life. How he (Bean) became to be in the IF. This tells why the story Ender's Game went so well; why the good and some of the bad happened. How Ender jeesh came to trust him and how it felt from a different point of view.
Bean grew up on the streets and befriended a group of orphans. He takes over without any one knowing and gave them a plain to get a bigger bully (so others will be afraid of him) to get in line at the soup kitchen. They live on the streets in Rotterdam and have no food source. That's when Bean and Achilles meat sister Carlotta whose teaches there family (group of orphans) how to read and write so that they can find real families and jobs. This is the begging of the story of Bean's life.

Rating:
Summary: Incoherent story, lacks insight into human nature
Review: Publisher: Shake that moneymaker! Woo hoo!
Orson Scott Card: Uhmm, ok...

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Ender's shadow is a retelling of the original Ender's game story, but from Bean's perspective. I really liked the original, but it is simply impossible to get into Shadow because the main character is completely unrealistic. Bean is portrayed as a super genius who(as a 4 year old) actually ends up making the most important decisions in Battle School. The justification for this is something along the lines of "Bean is so intelligent that he doesn't need real-world experience to make the right decisions". Such a hopelessly naive idea of what intelligence is simply makes me feel sorry for the author who, as an adult, should know better. To be fair this was a problem with Ender's game as well, but not to the same degree.
When Card made Bean second guess the army's overall strategy after reading a book on 15th century fortifications I completely lost interest in the story(although I forced myself to finish it). Such actions have nothing to do with intelligence. Rather, they are poor attempts at patching up a truly sad plot.

What makes it worse is that there is no gradual development of the story. It just takes huge leaps whenever Bean has his revelation-style insights.

2 stars, because some parts of the book are actually quite good if you manage to forget Bean the impossible genius.

If you want good novels where children are the heroes, try Vernor Vinge's "Across Realtime"(sf), "A fire upon the deep"(sf) or Raymond E.Feist's Magician saga(fantasy). Orson Scott Card has many good novels as well, but this isn't one of them.

Rating:
Summary: awesome
Review: Coming from someone who owns, and loves, Ender's Shadow, I would strongly recommend reading it. It has an awesome story line and, even though they are kids, great characters. It is hard for me to tell you about this book because there is so much stuff that happens and so much emotion behind it all. Throughout the novel, if there was someone sneaking around through vents, hacking in to the schools computer to find out information on other students or confronting his superiors, it would be Bean. He was always trying to get, and keep when he could, a step ahead of his fellow classmates. Bean was extremely young when he entered battleschool, about 6-years-old, but by far the smartest student. He could be smart because he just is, or because his DNA was altered by a mad-scientist before he was born. This novel was extremely entertaining because I loved to watch how bean would acknowledge his opposition (being they are in the battle room or on the streets), analyze their behavior, and expose their weakness. He did this to anyone, from enemies to allies. Bean was sneaky and cunning. His main problem, or greatest feature, was his size. He was picked on by other kids and was not thought of first when the time came because the kids at the school assumed small=not useful/dumb. This book shows beans life, starting on the streets to his intense years at battleschool. I suggest that everyone reads Ender's Shadow.

Rating:
Summary: a must-read if you liked Ender's Game
Review: What a novel idea. write a second book, telling the same story as the first but in a different person's perspective. how many pairs of books like this are in existence? Card was amazing in that he made the events that happened in Ender's Game just as suspenceful and exciting in this book. you never feel bored just because you already know what happened (from Ender's perspective). plus, it was so refreshing to know Bean's background.
I was so happy when this book came out, because I was so disappointed after reaching the end of Ender's story at Children of the Mind.
This book was a lighter read than Ender's Game, less anxious and on-edge; but more outrageous than any of this other books, a bit less realistic in my opinion. But still a great one!