Shadows of Greatness (3D6)

I'm a huge fan of Orson Scott Card's Ender books. I'm not prone to loaning out books, because I hate not getting them back. Ender's Game is a book I make an exception for. I do so because I love the book, and like sharing those things dear to me. As a result, I've now have bought three copies of the same book. There will always be a copy on my bookshelf. I've re-read Ender's Game at least three times, and will probably do so again. Yes, it has a simplistic plot, but the twists and turns and furious pace of the story make up for any fallacies.

Subsequently, I have enjoyed each book in the series as they've been published. Speaker for the Dead was a vastly different novel from EG, but a good solid read in it's own right. I enjoyed the next two books, but did have some problems with them. The contrived ending of Xenocide left me angry, and Children of the Mind, while a good book was a disappointing end to a good solid series. I read Ender's Shadow with both reservation and excitement. After the progressive decline of the Ender books, I wasn't too eager to read another; however, a parallel story to Ender's Game did sound engaging. I wasn't disappointed. I've been waiting too long to get my hands on a copy of Shadow of the Hegemon. It fell a little flat of my high expectations.

In this novel, Card sets out to fill in a small portion of the missing years between EG, ES and SftD. I expected the rise of Peter Wiggin to the office of Hegemon to be the focus. It is instead the backdrop. While Peter does form an alliance with Bean, his importance is marginalized. Instead, the main plot focus is the kidnapping of the Battle School Graduates and the machinations of the diabolical and psychotic Achilles (from Ender's Shadow). It is a fast paced story that reads quickly; however, it isn't fluff. Card does his best to illustrate the political maneuvering of all the major countries of the time. So much so, that at times the novel does not seem like SF, merely possible events of a not too distant future. The plot isn't perfect (skip the rest of this paragraph if you don't like spoilers) I saw through the fact that Achilles was most likely not working for India to begin with. It took Bean several chapters to figure this out. That bothers me, Bean is supposed to be the genius, not me.

I also found it ridiculous that these kids, Battle School Graduates or not, would be so easily handed the reigns of power. I agree that their perspective countries would view them as a valuable resource, but not until they've become adults. The believability of the novel would have been higher had it taken place 10 years after the Formic War versus one or two. The next paragraph is a spoiler, so skip it if you'd like.

There is a chapter in which Bean meets Ender's mother and talks with her at great length. I have several problems with this chapter. First of all, Bean is on the run from a psychotic killer who would like nothing more than to see Bean dead. Bean, who is a tactical genius, has a brain fart and not only visits the Wiggin home in Greensboro, NC (which he suspects is being watched by agents working for his nemesis) but then proceeds to tell her exactly who she is. She then invites him inside and explains to him that she and Ender's father are not the "normal" people they seem to be. In fact, they are both highly intelligent and have regulated themselves to normal lives in the hopes of raising their children in the indoctrines of their religion. I know that Card is a Mormon and is devout about his religion, but I felt like he was ambushing the reader with an opportunity to preach. His explanation of the Wiggin parents, and the entire situation was ridiculous and felt like it was just thrown in. I don't blame Card, I blame bad editing.

I give this 3 out of 5 d6. Fast paced plot, the political maneuvering was good and interesting but the credibility of the plot faltered.
 

 
 

 

 

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