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Ender's Shadow (Ender, Book 5) (平装)
by Orson Scott Card
| Category:
Fiction |
| Market price: ¥ 108.00
MSL price:
¥ 98.00
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Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
A spectacular parallel novel to Ender's Game, Shadow is a strong story with a rhapsodic prose. |
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AllReviews |
1 2   | Total 2 pages 12 items |
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Jeremy Smith (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-12 00:00>
Orson Scott Card's Ender's Shadow is a parallel novel to Ender's Game. It takes place at the same time as Ender's Game and the events fold out in the same way but from the viewpoint of a different character, Bean. The book tells us how Bean survived on the streets of Rotterdam as an orphan at the age of 1 and how the nun Sister Carlotta (a recruiter for the International Fleet) found him and he tested as a genius. He was then sent up to Battle School to train to command the fleet that would destroy the Bugger home world and save Earth once and for all. When he was in Battle School, he quickly became the best student next to Ender and even better than him in some ways. Bean is quickly shipped off to Command School to be Ender's right hand man and replacement years before his age would usually make him eligible. Then, the teachers at Command School start throwing ultra realistic "training" battles at Ender and his crew. Bean, being as smart as he is, even figures out the conspiracy the teachers have going but must hold inside everything he learns less he jeopardize the last hope for all of Earth. If you wish to know what Bean learned I guess you're going to have to read this book! |
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Travis (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-12 00:00>
Although the reviews now indicate how I feel about the book. But at first many probably doubted that card could essentially tell the same story twice. However, the story while similar to Ender's Game, does a brilliant job in its own right in becoming a separate book from it's original predecessor. The storyline of Bean from his struggles on the streets of Rotterdam to his acceptance and difficulties in Battle School , is extremely compelling. If you loved Ender's Game, you might like Ender's Shadow even more. What makes it unique is the fact that not only does it tell some of the events but besides the plot of the Bugger War (Called Formics in Ender's Shadow) and Bean's original struggle to stay alive, is the subplot of his origins. Without giving too much away (possible spoilers ahead), Bean is not a normal child in any sense of the word normal. The source of Bean's intelligence is gradually unraveled throughout the book by the International Fleet and Sister Carlotta (Bean's mentor and protector during his time on Earth before Battle School). I found this subplot to perhaps be the most exciting of all. It gave the original Ender's Game a new dimension to look at. Ender's Shadow not only gives the reader some of the events that the reader read about in Ender's Game but fills in alot of the gaps as well that are told from the standpoint of the people on the "other" side of the equation.
Bottom line is if you haven't gotten this book yet, you are missing out on all the magic that made Ender's Game great and Ender's Shadow even better. Pick it up, you won't regret it! |
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Eric Terrell (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-12 00:00>
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! |
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G. Liwerant (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-12 00:00>
In the future, mankind's only hope in a desperate war against an alien species is its children. The young and brilliant are shipped to Battle School in Earth orbit to learn the skills needed to lead Earth's defense force. But what happens when the Battle School instructors, the Earth governments, and the fellow students become the most dangerous forces that they must learn to fight? Orson Scott Card returns to the Ender universe with a "parallel" novel that takes place at the same time as the original Ender's Game. The hero is the young genius that Ender met in Battle School: Bean. Bean earns his name in the hellish streets of Rotterdam where Poke declares that he isn't even "worth a bean." Well, is he? And is Ender's Shadow as good as its predecessors?
Bean's psychology is given a few logical glances and then disregarded in lieu of the advancing plot. Card is capable of far more philosophical engendering than he infuses into Ender's Shadow. What was more of a disappointment was the careful dance Card initiates in attempting to save his former novel from that most horrible of fates in the artistic world - the remake. Bean seems to have trouble escaping the shadow of Ender from Card's earlier novels - as the title might suggest. Card seems aware of the possibility for this detraction; the text tries too hard to make both Bean and Ender the simultaneous heroes of the plot. The characters should speak for themselves; but too often, Bean is speaking for Ender in an attempt to reassure the readers of Ender's Game that Ender's accomplishments will not be diminished.
Does Ender's Shadow escape the gravity of Ender's Game? Card makes a good attempt at separating the two novels while retelling essentially the same story. As always, his prose is excellent, his skills of characterization are immense, and his insights into the minds of children are luminous. Card's ability to write a fast-paced, intellectually stimulating parallel to a former work is astounding. Bean is worth a bean after all. Despite its small but noticeable shortcomings, Ender's Shadow is worth reading whether or not you have read any other novels from the Ender Universe. |
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G. Williams (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-12 00:00>
As a supplement to Ender's 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 being genius is a happy wonderful thing, when in reality it is a lonely place, being the smartest person in the room usually means you have no one that can understand your perspective.
It is also an exploration of the difference of ability and intelligence. For while Bean's character, is clearly the most intelligent, he comes to realize that Ender is clearly the one most fit to lead.
It explores what sacrifices we ask of our military, and reminds us to let our children have a childhood. As the beginning 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 millennia. |
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Jim (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-12 00:00>
This a very well written book that takes place durring the same time as Ender's Game but through Bean's point of view. Although the book stands alone, I'd recommend reading Ender's Game first. The book has a lot of overlap with Ender's Game but fills in many of the holes and provides more interesting details and plots that are only glimpsed at in Ender's Game. The main character, Bean, is another genius, though for different reasons than Ender, but unlike Ender, Bean is actually smart. In Ender's Game, Ender was born to be a genius who would lead the humans into battle against the buggers but the people in charge were able to trick him very easily even though they practicly tell him what they are doing. Bean, unlike Ender is actually able to figure out what is going on, making this book much more sensible. Also, even though, at first Bean seems a sort of one- dimmensional weak little kid genius, his character becomes much more developed than Ender through the process of this book and the later books in the Shadow Series. |
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Chris Connell (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-12 00:00>
Ender's Shadow is the reflection of Ender's Game. Except in this book, it shows the perspective of Beans life. The author did an excellent job of paralelling the two books.
Ender's Shadow shows the perspective of Bean, wherein this book, Bean living off the streets of Rotterdam, joins a group lead by Poke. From the beginning Bean is an astonishingly bright kid compared only to Ender while in battle school. All is well when Bean joins Enders team. Until he and the rest of Dragon army is split up into different teams pitting them against each other. While Bean commands Rabit Army, he also has the hefty task of finding out all of the information that the teachers are hiding from them. Unfortenatly Bean has an encounter with a well-known enemy from the streets of Rotterdam. Bean must out-smart his enemy before the enemy outsmarts him.
This book is much better to Ender's Game. For this book explains why everything that was hidden in Ender's Game happend. Bean is one of the brightest kids in battle school. He has the reactions of a fox and the reasorcefulness of... well ender yet better. Bean is able to find things out about battle school that ender didnt learn till it was all over. This book shows the relationship between Ender and Bean while still giving you a brilliant yet understandable reason of it all.
Most Ender's Game readers that i have talked with, don't end up reading Enders Shadow, thinking that it would be the entire story over again just writen in a different expression. But that is not true. Enders Shadow explains the unsolved mysteries that leave you hanging and annoyed.
No other author could of writen this as good and as brilliant as Orson Scott Card, KUDOS! |
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-12 00:00>
I picked this novel up after reading Ender's Game and while I was hopeful that the novel might be good, I was doubtful it could live up to Ender's Game. It did.
The novel tells the same story as Ender's Game. The world has been nearly wiped out in two previous invasions by aliens and to ward off a future attacks, the governments of the world have united and set up a space station to train super genius children. The novel tells the story from the perspective of Bean, another child at the station.
Bean lives a life quite different to that of Ender. Where Ender lived happily in a suburban household, Bean has lived on the streets struggling to survive. The first few chapters of the novel are about Bean's life on the street and play a critical role in the development of Bean's character.
The character of Bean is very unique. Like Ender, he performs better than those around him and is picked out by the commanders. However, as information about Bean's... unique situation comes out, the commander's begin to question their faith in Bean, making for an interesting dilemma.
The novel has several interesting sub plots such as the search for Bean's origins and his feud with Achilles. The way the novel reveals more information about the events from Ender's Game adds to the interest of the novel.
The story has few flaws. While it lacks a new story (it is essentially Ender's Game retold) the new perspective and the sub plots that result make it well worth the price of admission. |
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Jeff (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-12 00:00>
I read Ender's Game a couple of years ago. I liked it so much I went to look for more books by Orson Scott Card, but then I saw this book and the fact that it was basically the same story from Bean's perspective, and I thought how lame. I mean tell a different story, or like a sequel or something. So I skipped it. Then a friend said I had to read it. So he gave me his copy in like March. After school ended, I decided I should read it so I could give him his book back. Truth: I loved it. I don't know if it had to do with the fact that I hadn't read Ender's Game in a while, but the story was great, seemed new and different even though it was familiar. The world these guys live in is so unique, the games so interesting...it makes you want to be there and want to get them out of there at the same time. Anyway, a great story, and don't skip it just because you read the first one. It's totally different. |
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Andrew Jones (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-12 00:00>
Its been a long time since I read Ender's Game, but it stands out as one of the most memorable science fiction books I've ever read, so when Orson Scott Card returned to this series with a parallel story, my expectations were very high indeed. This book isn't a sequel or a prequel, but instead is a companion volume. It covers essentially the same time period and events described in Ender's Game, but from a different point of view. While this concept could easily detract from the original story, Card demonstrates his immense talents by actually enhancing and expanding the original story. The new perspectives bring a freshness to the story, and the divergent paths of the two characters provide opportunities to delve more deeply into the story. The result is an amazing book that will thrill anyone who read and enjoyed Ender's Game, while making converts of readers experiencing Ender's story for the first time. |
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1 2 | Total 2 pages 12 items |
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