Think you know books? Try our new Book Trivia!

Summary and Reviews of Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card

Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card

Ender's Shadow

by Orson Scott Card
  • Critics' Consensus (9):
  • Readers' Rating (28):
  • First Published:
  • Aug 1, 1999, 384 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Dec 2000, 384 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Book Summary

A companion volume to Ender's Game. The story of another of those precocious generals, the one they called Bean--the one who became Ender's right hand.

Orson Scott Card brings us back to the very beginning of his brilliant Ender Quartet, with a novel that allows us to reenter that world anew.

With all the power of his original creation, Card has created a companion volume to Ender's Game, a book that expands and complements the first, enhancing its power, illuminating its events and its powerful conclusion.

The human race is at War with the "Buggers," an insect-like alien race. The first battles went badly, and now as Earth prepares to defend itself against the imminent threat of total destruction at the hands of an inscrutable alien enemy, all focus is on the development and training of military geniuses who can fight such a war, and win.

The long distances of interstellar space have given hope to the defenders of Earth -- they have time to train these future commanders up from childhood, forging them into an irresistible force in the high -- orbital facility called the Battle School.

Andrew "Ender" Wiggin was not the only child in the Battle School; he was just the best of the best. In this new book, Card tells the story of another of those precocious generals, the one they called Bean--the one who became Ender's right hand, his strategist, and his friend. One who was with him, part of his team, in the final battle against the Buggers.

Bean's past was a battle just to survive. He first appeared on the streets of Rotterdam, a tiny child with a mind leagues beyond anyone else's. He knew he could not survive through strength; he used his tactical genius to gain acceptance into a children's gang, and then to help make that gang a template for success for all the others. He civilized them, and lived to grow older.

Bean's desperate struggle to live, and his success, brought him to the attention of the Battle School's recruiters, those people scouring the planet for leaders, tacticians, and generals to save Earth from the threat of alien invasion. Bean was sent into orbit, to the Battle School. And there he met Ender....

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

Booklist
Card has taken the venerable SF concepts of a superman and an interstellar war against aliens, and, with superb characterization, packing, and language, combined them into a seamless story of compelling power. This is Card at the height of his very considerable powers...a major SF novel by any reasonable standard.

Booklist
Card has taken the venerable SF concepts of a superman and an interstellar war against aliens, and, with superb characterization, packing, and language, combined them into a seamless story of compelling power. This is Card at the height of his very considerable powers...a major SF novel by any reasonable standard.

Library Journal
As a maker of visions and a creator of heroes...Card is not to be outdone.

Library Journal
As a maker of visions and a creator of heroes...Card is not to be outdone.

The Houston Post
Orson Scott Card made a strong case for being the best writer science fiction has to offer.

The Houston Post
Orson Scott Card made a strong case for being the best writer science fiction has to offer.

The Seattle Times
Card is a master storyteller

The New York Times Book Review
Mr Card writes with energy and conviction.

The New York Times Book Review
Mr Card writes with energy and conviction.

Author Blurb Ben Bova
A quarter century ago I was privileged to publish the original 'Ender's Game' by Orson Scott Card in Analog magazine. That extraordinary story established Scott as a major talent. Now the saga continues, but in a new and unique way, a way that only a writer as gifted as Scott Card could produce. And our enjoyment increases by a quantum jump. Magnificent!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked Ender's Shadow, try these:

  • Mockingjay jacket

    Mockingjay

    by Suzanne Collins

    Published 2010

    About this book

    More by this author

    Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins’s groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year.

  • Armageddon's Children jacket

    Armageddon's Children

    by Terry Brooks

    Published 2007

    About this book

    More by this author

    Set in a near-future United States ravaged by nuclear fallout, widespread plagues, and chemical contamination, Armageddon's Children follows a handful of unlikely heroes as they struggle to survive in a poisoned world infested by demons, insane "once-men," and other mutant creatures too horrific to describe.

We have 6 read-alikes for Ender's Shadow, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
More books by Orson Scott Card
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
Broken Country (Reese's Book Club)
by Clare Leslie Hall
A love triangle reveals deadly secrets in this thriller for fans of The Paper Palace and Where the Crawdads Sing.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Angelica
    by Molly Beer

    A women-centric view of revolution through the life of Angelica Schuyler Church, Alexander Hamilton's influential sister-in-law.

  • Book Jacket

    The World's Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant
    by Liza Tully

    A great detective's young assistant yearns for glory, but first they have learn to get along in this delightful feel good mystery.

  • Book Jacket

    The Original
    by Nell Stevens

    In a grand English country house in 1899, an aspiring art forger must unravel whether the man claiming to be her long-lost cousin is an impostor.

Win This Book
Win These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas

"[An] atmospheric tale of unexpected hope." —Lisa Wingate, New York Times bestselling author

Enter

Book
Trivia

  • Book Trivia

    Can you name the title?

    Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

W the C A the M W P

and be entered to win..