With all honesty, I don’t know what to say right after I finished this book. The book never failed to impress me as it failed my first impression. Yes—my first impression. The fact that I didn’t read yet the Ender’s Game series made me hesitate in pursuing reading the Ender’s Shadow. Credit to Orson Scott for initializing the reason why should I read the book through his well written foreword. Another thing, I’m not deep into novels which set above the earth—or in other words, the outer space. Glad that the book has stricken me--not the setting but the story line and the main the protagonist of the book.Bean is a gifted child. Or is he even a human to be referred a child? When Bean crawled from danger when he was almost one year old, he knew then that he was no ordinary kid. He looks 2-year old kid but the real is he’s 4 years old, yet he thinks at least 10-year old bully. He gets himself a family but soon finds out it wasn’t a good idea because it tends him to escape from the murderer of the person who gave him life—Poke. Through Sister Carlotta and through Bean’s intelligence, he made it to be a launchie in a Battle School where everyone is trained to be commander of the fleet. No matter how smart he is when all his teachers doubt his ability, he still has to prove something. And the worst of all despite the fact that everyone knows he’s the one who has the highest score in every field, yet it is as though inevitable to be a shadow of another excellent student named Ender.Proven and tested. This book is a butt-stapler. Once you get hold of this book, you’ll never try to put it down. One reason of why the book a page-turner one is how interesting the main character is. Have you watched Baby’s Day Out movie? If yes, imagine that this book is a way how we’ll know the main protagonist’s—the baby--perspective. Bean himself is a strong catch up that bounds the reader not to miss even a single word of the book. I admire the personality of Bean that it made me relate myself to him. If you think because I’m smart as him, then you’re stupid like meowing dog. Bean’s intelligence is exceptional that even the readers won’t even guess what had he planned, much less the other characters of the book. His mind is unpredictable, yet prompt. The personality that we shared is how not to snap back when the bullies are up for humiliation and fun. Thus, the only way to cease it is to gain respect and honor. If I have the list of likable child characters, I now say that Bean is at the top of them as what his ratings did in this book. His way of defeating an enemy is not by killing him/her but by letting the authority to do it without dirt in his hands. His means of winning a battle is not by competing to others, instead sharing of knowledge for unity. Bean is not character of bravery but an image of tactics, intelligence and maturity. That’s the Kid. That’s Bean. That’s my favorite character.I love the premise of the book. All along reading the book, as if I was with his journey, I realized that all he needed was love and appreciation. However it wasn’t dig deeply in this book, but as you get yourself into the character, you’ll notice the missing piece of his life that though he was scared to have, he was definitely in need of it. I also love how this book ended, even this book is meant for a series, the ending was justifiable break indeed.I find the book perfect for my taste. From the very first page of the book up to the end is amazement to me. I once said that this book never failed to impress me and I will not hesitate to repeat it all over again. I didn’t pick the wrong book, though I never yet tried reading the Ender’s Game. And because of that, since this book has given also much credit for Ender Wiggin, it’s an exact timing of reading the more precise happened in the battle through reading Ender’s Game.When 2011 started, I decided to have a basis in giving the books ratings. And apparently, this book passed far beyond my standards. So great that at least, for this month, I have read a much deserved book to have my five stars. I haven’t suggested yet any books from my previous reviews. And now I dare break it by recommending this to everybody else especially to those who haven’t read yet the Ender’s Game and also to everyone who loves YA sci-fi books. Some of the sci-fi or dystopia books now are no good than a talking mud, but believe me; this book will hunt your obsession and will cause an impact on every cell of your brain.
I think I may have like this better than Ender's Game. Maybe I wouldn't have liked it at all if I had read them back to back or had read it rather than listened to it, but trying to remember the sequences in Ender's Game as I read them from a different perspective was interesting. I enjoyed seeing the story from the one training just in case Ender fails. Bean's impassionate analysis vs Ender's emotional turmoil. The kid you don't quite like at first because he's too self-confident in his intelligence and then you learn to trust him better than you would yourself. That's about how I felt about the book too. Slow at first but then as you weave into Bean's perspective you see everything from his conclusions and I came to like him very much, more even than Ender. I empathized with him more and came to to root for him more than I ever had for Ender. How systematically Bean took his place knowing everyone would follow Ender but not him, understanding people did not like or trust him, processing lengthy paragraphs of deductive reasoning in a split second until he had could accurately access any situation so you as the reader recognize the potential he never gets credit for. His story's a little more heart-wrenching than Ender's. He could have been the hero, even if he did not believe it himself. I liked that Bean. And I liked his story. My only disappointment with the book is that in Ender's Game this was obviously not Bean's story and the few interactions that did not feel authentic to Bean's character are connector points to Ender's story. Case in point, when Bean says he can't find his way back to the dorm, when Bean freaks out not understanding when Graff takes Ender to Commander school, and most importantly when Ender deducts that Bean is a great strategist on small projects but not good at grasping the whole picture. Card tries to smooth these over with excuses like Ender being fed doubts about Bean so he won't keep him busy, but it doesn't quite hit the mark. Either Ender isn't as brilliant as he's sold to be in not being able to understand Bean's genius or Bean was never intended to be as large of character as Ender's Shadow portrays. I just wish Card would have known Bean's story while he wrote Ender's so he could place better clues about Bean's story in the original story.
What do You think about Ender's Shadow (2002)?
I recommend Ender's Shadow.*****I cannot believe it's been five months since I read Ender's Shadow and I have yet to write its review like, right now. It's not as much as I could not put my coherent thoughts in place, but perhaps it is hard to give justice to the brilliance of Ender's and Bean's story.Bean is a freakin' genius. In Ender's Game, he wasn't much of a favorite because he barely registered in my radar while reading it. Imagine me getting a little surprised that a parallel book was written for Bean's story. I asked myself, then: is he really that strong a character that he needs a book on his own? I dunno. But reading Ender's Shadow was worth the doubt.I just find Bean too good to be true. You know? I mean, I know I will always be an Ender Wiggins fan. This book said that Bean is almost an equal to Ender, but to me? No, not really. Ender is far more human in the aspects of guilt, remorse, and conscience. And for that, he has more edge than Bean. I thought Bean's character too technical and too perfect for my taste in heroes. Still, he captivated me with the raw innocence he unknowingly has because of the decisions of the adults before his time.Ender's Shadow is a terrific companion novel of Ender's Game. It brought me back to the viciousness of battle school. I believe I will be a completist of the Ender (and Shadow) series. :D
—Maria
This book tried really hard to ruin Ender's Game for me. The premise of the book is that Ender wasn't really the hero of his own book, but that his course was manipulated and prodded onward by an even greater genius, in the form of Bean, a member of Ender's army.Bean had a brutal upbringing on the streets, and somehow ended up in Battle School, where he takes over the computer system and runs everything by the time he's six. He ensures that Ender ends up saving the world -- without his help, Ender would have failed.It was interesting to see the events of Ender's Game from a different perspective, but that's about the only positive thing I have to say about this book. Possibly the deepest theme element in the book is how Bean's interactions with Ender forced him to care about someone other than himself. End of Bean's worries that he might not be human.It seems like Orson Scott Card also tried to pull in some elements of Alan Dean Foster's "Flinx" series, with the whole "genetically manipulated super-human with emotional insecurity" thing.Great. "I see your super-genius and trump you with a super-super-genius." Lousy book.
—Jared
When I first heard Orson Scott Card had written a parallel story to Ender's Game, dealing with virtually the same events as the original book but told from another character's perspective, I thought it was a cheap way to cash in on the success of his first bestseller. Like many people, though, I had to eat my words after reading Ender's Shadow. For not only is it as gripping a read as Ender's Game, but in some regards it is actually a better book.Ender's Shadow centres on one of Ender's lieutenants, Bean, an even younger and more intelligent child prodigy than Ender himself. After some thrilling adventures on the streets of Rotterdam, Bean is sent to Battle School, where he keeps hearing about this genius called Ender. Bean gets obsessed with Ender, or rather with proving to himself and others that he is a better strategist than Ender. But when he finally meets Ender, he realises that there is a reason why Ender is revered the way he is, and learns to accept his place in the universe. Nope, he doesn't get to command Earth's army, but he plays a major part in the background -- in many ways a more interesting part than the one Ender plays in the foreground. Ender's Shadow does have a few problems. As a Dutchwoman, I dearly wish Card had gone over the Dutch names and references in the Rotterdam segment with a Dutch person, as many of them are riddled with mistakes (Sinterklaas lights? WTF?). Furthermore, there were a few times (especially halfway through the book) when I found Bean's superiority complex a bit grating. Apart from these minor flaws, though, Ender's Shadow is a solid novel by an author who had clearly matured immensely since writing Ender's Game. The prose in Ender's Shadow is much richer, the psychology has more depth, the back story is more fully realised, and thanks to Bean's amazing tactical and analytical insights, he is able to offer an interesting perspective on events known from the first book. Bean himself, too, is a much better drawn protagonist than Ender -- not always entirely likeable, but always fascinating. His story may lack some of the surprise and impact of Ender's, but in its own way it's thoroughly engaging and thought-provoking. It easily holds up as a stand-alone book, and as a companion piece to Ender's Game, filling in gaps and providing new perspectives on known events, it is simply superb. I never thought I'd say this about a young-adult-meets-sci-fi novel, but there you are. Good stuff.
—Martine
