Rating: 
Summary: achieves the impossible
Review: I admit that when I first picked up this book I expected that I'd be sorry I bought it. After all, I knew very well that it would be pretty impossible to surpass Enders Game. I first re-read enders game and then finished Enders Shadow. (I suggest this to all potential readers). To make a long story short. I was stunned. Enders Shadow reveals a completely new dimension to Enders Game. It was like looking in the pocket of a favorite old jacket and finding a forgotten folded up hundred dollar bill in one of the pockets.... Way cool! I didn't think card could pull it off... But he did... In spades. And I never thought I'd be expressing this blasphemous statement: "Enders Shadow is BETTER than Enders game!" How could Card somehow manage to find a completely new dimension despite all those previous constraints? This, of course, is an impossibility so he must not have done it. My guess is that I was overcome by ink fumes and dreamed the whole thing.... But dang! What an awesome dream.Clear your mind, read Enders Game first, then start Enders Shadow and pay CLOSE attention... I think you'll be as amazed as I was!
Rating: 
Summary: A Shadow of "Ender's Game"
Review: I was really looking forward to this novel. After all, Ender's Game was so good, and Card failed to follow up with fabulous sequels. So, in a sense, this book was like a second chance for me to enjoy the universe Card created 10 years ago. Ender's Shadow is a VERY good book. However, it does take a while to get into. Not much happens in the first third, and frankly Bean's life before Battle School does not make for page-turning entertainment. Once Bean hits space, however, the book begins to take off. I was worried we would be reading exactly the same things we read in Ender's Game, but happily, I discovered that Bean's point of view on events was much different from Ender's. Bean has his own skills and abilities, and Card interweaves them into the story we already know, but in doing so, the story is vastly different. Yes, we know the ending, but because Bean is a different character, the ending is still satisfying. Also, I'm happy to say that Card has set up a sequel with Bean. I just hope he can write an exciting sequel this time, with even more action and adventure than in Ender's Shadow. He's crafty, this Card guy. He's created a new chance to explore Ender's universe. I just hope his next book isn't Speaker for the Dead, part 2.
Rating: 
Summary: Take a chance
Review: I was utterly dissapointed by Card's "Xenocide." I was even reluctant to pick up "Ender's Shadow." Something about Bean, though, was intriguing enough to make me want to read the fifth novel in this series. It was *beyond* worthwhile. "Ender's Shadow" does, in fact, draw a parallel to "Ender's Game," but it is nothing like the first novel. Bean's experiences are so different and they add layers upon layers to the dynamics that were developed in the first novel. If you are simply interested in the bugger action present in the first novel, then no, this book is not for you. You already know the punchline. But if you've developed any interest in the children, in Ender, Bean or even their superiors then I *highly* reccomend "Ender's Shadow." As you get further into the book and find out more things, more "secrets" that Card has hidden, you feel like you're getting rewarded! Constantly, the author reveals more information from the first novel, allowing his audience to get a better feel for what was going on and to see the situation from entirely new angles. Try it!
Rating:
Summary: A heart-wrenching disappointment
Review: I wanted to love this book. I was so excited when it first came out -- ecstatic, really. "Ender's Game" has been my favorite book since I first discovered it over 10 years ago, and I couldn't imagine anything better than rereading my favorite story through another character's eyes. Boy, was I wrong. The story itself was well told, and if I had read this before "Ender's Game," I would have loved it. Unfortunately, what the book did for me instead was ruin the character of Ender. I loved Ender, his gifts and his faults, his failures and successes. I love his story and I've read it countless times. I didn't like the view I got of him from Bean, who according to "Ender's Shadow" was smarter and faster than Ender, who was ready to step in any time Ender stumbled, and who was basically just all around "better" than Ender. It felt like I was reading the self-absorbed biography of a jealous child trying to knock Ender off his pedestal, and I was left actively disliking Bean a whole hell of a lot. This book has colored everything I ever loved about Ender and "Ender's Game"; I pretty much am trying to just forget I ever read it.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: I enjoyed this book, though I'm fairly particular about what science fiction I will read. If you liked Ender's Game, I suspect you'll like this book too.
Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful, Wonderful Story
Review: Enders Shadow is actually my favarite story of all time. As a supliment to Enders game it has appeal on several levels. One, it explores the truth that truth is often a matter of viewpoint... That there are many sides to any story, and rarely do we have the advantage of knowing more than one. Secondly it is a great essay into the nature of genius... Often I think that people think that genius is a happy wonderful thing, when in reality it is a lonely place. As the sentiment found in C J Cherryh's book "Wave without a shore" being the smartest person in the world means you have no one that can understand your perspective. It is also an exploration of the diffence of ability and intellegence. For while Bean's character, is clearly the most intelligent, he come's to realize that Ender is clearly the one most fit to lead. Something liberals in our country could take a lesson from. It explores what sacrifices we ask of our military, and reminds us to let our children have a childhood. As the begiining of the Shadow series, it is in more action oriented and fast paced linier exploration of a character than the also wonderful Ender series that gets in to deep religious theory and covers milenia.
I am patiently waiting for my delivery of Shadow of the Giant as I write this.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not Ender's Game
Review: As you probably know by know, Ender's Shadow was written by Orson Scott Card to be a companion volume to Ender's Game, one of the most popular works of modern science fiction. What Card has actually created is the story of Ender's Game from a completely different perspective and thus gives us what is in fact a totally different story. Ender's Shadow is the story of Bean, who like Ender Wiggin is an extremely bright young lad who winds up as one of Ender's captains in the final battle with the Buggers. While this is a fascinating story that seems fresh and new when told from Bean's perspective, it has one major drawback: Bean is just too smart. I had real problems connecting with Bean as a character throughout much of this book, especially when he arrives at Battle School. His actions just didn't make sense to me. He seemed way too adept at figuring things out, way ahead of even Ender. Many times he seemed to guess at things that he could have no way of knowing and come up with the right answer. This issue knocked the book down to 4 stars instead of 5 for me. Other than that this is an excellent work that stands well as a sequel to Ender's Game. I found myself becoming engrossed with what was happening and reading for hours at a time. I highly recommend this to anyone who loved Ender's Game!
Rating: 
Summary: Don't ruin your memory of Ender's game with this
Review: As great as Card was with Ender's Game, he's disappointing with this. I can only guess that this was his editor's idea to revisit the Ender series from a different point of view and that Card went along for the ride to humor the publisher. There is little suspense of course, already knowing the outcome of the main plot.
Rating:
Summary: Musst read for Ender fans
Review: The release of Ender's Game, Card's first novel, firmly established him as a major talent in the science fiction genre. Card wrote several sequels to Ender's Game, but they took place thousands of years in the future due to the quirks of faster-than-light space travel. As a result, many fans felt unsatisfied with the sequels, even though they loved the original novel.
In a vast departure from the norm, Card wrote Ender's Shadow, a parallel novel to Ender's Game. A parallel novel takes place at the same time as the original novel, but is written from the viewpoint of a different character. This is a very difficult type of novel to write since presumably the reader already knows how the story will end. However, Card brilliantly executes this story by using a relatively minor (but engaging) character from Ender's Game and providing enough new material that the novel never feels repetitive.
Twice the Buggers, an insect-like alien race, have attacked the human race. The first two wars went poorly for Earth and so a battle school has been established to train new leaders for our military forces. An invasion fleet has been launched towards the Buggers' home worlds. Because of the vast distances of interstellar space, the battle school has time to turn out the supreme commander and his lieutenants before the fleet is in position to attack. The best and the brightest of Earth's children are recruited and brought to battle school to be trained as the future Napoleons of Earth.
Although Ender Wiggin eventually became the supreme commander, there were other candidates at the battle school. Bean, a small child even younger than Ender, possessed an uncanny strategic intellect and eventually became Ender's right hand man during the war against the Buggers. Card now tells the story of Bean's early years and his recruitment to battle school.
Barely surviving amongst the street gangs of Rotterdam, Bean used his vastly superior intellect to gain acceptance into a children's gang. Eventually, he molded his gang into a template for all other street gangs in the city. Bean's exploits attracted the attention of a battle school recruiter and he became the youngest person ever to enter the school. Once there he must use all his mental might to ensure that he becomes one of the few leaders that will have the chance to save Earth from destruction at the hands of the Buggers.
The first half of the book covers Bean's life before battle school and therefore covers totally new ground. Once Bean is recruited and sent up to the school, the action begins to overlap with the original novel. However, Card does a masterful job of constructing the action from Bean's perspective. Even some scenes that were included in the original novel seem fresh and new this time around. This is a very difficult type of novel to write, but Card executes it flawlessly. While this book did not have the surprise ending of Ender's Game (same ending, but we already knew the surprise), it is still a well-paced novel that did not fail to hold my interest. If you enjoyed Ender's Game, you'll love this book too!
Rating:
Summary: A bit repetitive
Review: Enders Game was Orson Scott Card's original novel that started the entire Ender series. It tells the story of a young prodigy, Ender, who quickly climbs the ladder of command and is soon responsible for preserving the human race. In both novels, either Ender or Bean, proves to be the central characters and the young geniuses who assume key roles in the defense of the earth. But the sequel to Enders Game seemed all too familiar. Despite the contrasting beginnings (Bean starts out in the run-down and conflict-ridden ghetto of Rotterdam, while Ender had a reasonable and well-nourished upbringing), the remainders of the stories are extremely repetitive. They both single in on a young boy and his journey as he strives to be the smartest and most recognized young wonder of the time. Bean is turns out to be Enders assistant in the end, and he follows a very similar path to the top as Ender did. Both went through the struggle of being tossed around by the older boys initially but both are ultimately respected by their elders. Both prove their strength and brilliance in the mini-games the children are involved in during training. And both children are secretly feared and intimidating to the other inferior children at the training center. Ender and Bean are also both deceived by the officers into thinking they are just playing a simulator when they are actually defending the earth from alien offenders. Overall, the novel was a good read by seemed too much like Enders Game. The two boys encountered much the same life at Battle School and were revered by many. They had virtually the exact same experiences that helped them develop into vital leaders that thrived among other boys and girls who proved too inept in the protection of the earth.
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