Customer Reviews

Ender's Shadow

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1 star:		(17)

 

 

Every few years, a book comes along that burns into the very core of the reader, leaving memory of the book for many, many years to come. When ENDER'S GAME first appeared in the mid-80's, the groundbreaking novel did more to turn legions of "mainstream" readers into sci-fi fans. The gripping human drama in that Hugo & Nebula winning book left many of us stunned and wowed.

While some many have followed Mr. Card's foray into the further adventures of Ender Wiggins through the sequels, I personally couldn't get through SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD and decided to abandon the further life story of Ender. And when I saw that a "parallel" novel of ENDER'S GAME was published, I thought to myself, "Well, Mr. Card is selling himself out. Talk about rehashing."

Then as fate would have it, I picked up ENDER'S SHADOW anyway about a week ago and began reading a few days ago. By page 2, I was hopelessly lost in the world of Rotterdamn, where the 2-year old Bean begins his political maneuvering, leading to murder, lies and powerplay by various memorable characters. Forget SURVIORS. The truth about human nature and its various social manifestations are in ENDER'S SHADOW. The reason why ENDER'S GAME was so successful was that, despite its background as a SF story, it was really about believable characters that you cared about. ENDER'S SHADOW does that, too, and by the end of the book, you're sad that you'll have to say goodbye to your imaginary friends.

From the backstreets of Rotterdam, through the Battle School, then to the final simulation game that signals the end of the war between human and buggers, we see the transformation of Bean, from the secretive, emotionless, distrusting schemer to a full-fledged leader of soldiers.

For those who think SHADOW might be rehashing old story, read the book and see how perfectly it fits into the GAME. While events are the same, Ender is only a pivoting point for Bean, the lead character. They say that the journey isn't the destination; it is the journey itself, the road by which you arrive at the destination. The story here is the road where you walk with Bean, where the now-old surprise ending of the GAME is not the point.

For those who have never read ENDER'S GAME, you might want to read that first, but frankly, even without that first book, you'll thoroughly enjoy this one. But, again, frankly, you'll be mad at yourself in the end because, 9 out of 10, you'll wind up picking up that first book immediately.

Is ENDER'S SHADOW equal to ENDER'S GAME? Probably not. But what can equal the power of the first book? ENDER'S SHADOW is almost as good, and will not disappoint. Don't take my word for it. Go ahead and read it.

Card, in the acknowledgements, voices his wish to have named the book Urchin, only to be trumped by the marketability of the name "Ender". So in a desire to sell books, his publishers convinced him to force everyone to look at Bean, and at this novel, through the eyes of their love for Ender and Ender's Game. That was a mistake.

It seems that the Ender aficionadoes out there judge Card a standard by which he himself set. For them, every other book must meet or at least approach meeting the acclaim of Ender's Game, otherwise it is a dismal failure. To anyone fitting this description, please read Card's masterpiece, "The Worthing Saga". I think you may finally be able to tear yourselves free from your Ender obsession and be able to recognize that Card is a very talented and engaging writer even when he is not writing about Ender Wiggin. Then perhaps you can return to "Ender's Shadow" with an open mind.

"Ender's Shadow" is a well-written, substantial book in it's own right. The development of Bean through his precocious street life to the final battle reveals a depth and complexity beyond even his hyper-brilliant mind. This is not a novel about a "superkid" as a reader below says. This novel dives into a child's psyche to discover what lies bare at the center of all of us. There is no question as to Bean's ability. His infallibility of mind leaves no excuse for any fallibility of character. Card is hopeful about human nature and exemplifies with Bean the possibility of benevolence even in a world of vacuous and deceptive morality. Card's little urchin from Rotterdam stands tall enough on his own and casts a shadow so large that a comparison to his commander is not necessary. And so it is with this book and its "parallel".

If you loved Ender's Game, I can say you will definitely love Ender's Shadow. Orson Scott Card's concept of a parallel novel is brilliant. These two books fit together incredibly well.

Ender's Shadow focuses on Bean, one of the members of Ender's Dragon Army. If you read Ender's Game, you'll remember Bean, who was the small soldier that Ender saw as a younger version of himself. Bean was more brilliant than any other of Ender's soldiers. His size and his brilliance form the basis for Ender's Shadow--along with a lot more.

The events from Ender's Game are repeated in some places in the novel, but from Bean's viewpoint. This "Rashomon" style of story telling is always exciting--you get the story as told by two different participants and witnesses to the same events.

We also get two important new characters here; Sister Carlotta, a feisty, brilliant nun and Achilles, Bean's nemesis and all-around nasty guy.

The opening chapters that describe Bean's first years are some of the best writing Card has ever done. Bean's early life in Rotterdam just about made me want to cry. I loved the wider perspective on Bean and Ender and the other members of the Battle School. The twists of plot, the surprises and the interactions of the characters are gripping. I couldn't put Ender's Shadow down. Along with Ender's Game, it's on my list of top ten favorite science fiction books of all times.

The fifth book in the Ender series (and the follow-up to the somewhat disappointing "Children of the Mind"), "Ender's Shadow" is a parallel novel to "Ender's Game": it relates many of the same events in the first book, told from the point of view of Bean, one of the other boys in Ender's army. I greeted the idea of this book with some skepticism, but I'm happy to report that I was wrong: Card's experiment is non-stop, page-turning fun.

Like "Ender's Game," this novel is a bildungsroman--a coming-of-age story about a boy training to be an intergalactic warrior. Both novels share many of the same characters (including Petra, Dink Meeker, Bonzo, Mazer Rackham, Crazy Tom, and Colonel Graff), entire episodes are recapped from Bean's point of view (although often with an unexpected twist), and even some of the dialogue is repeated verbatim from one book to the next.

Yet the disparities are so dramatic that it's truly like reading completely different novels. The opening chapters, set in the slums of Rotterdam, are so unlike anything in "Ender's Game" that, until Bean finally arrives at Battle School, it's hard to believe you're reading the same series.

Unlike "Ender's Game" or "Speaker of the Mind," however, there are no great bombshells or plot twists; the author's usually impressive bag of tricks can't overcome the fact that most of his readers know what will happen at the end, so he doesn't even try to disguise the "big secret" that made the first book so unforgettable. Fortunately, Card's prose style has matured greatly over the years, so he is able to write instead an extraordinary psychological novel, describing a confusing world from Bean's precocious (but still childlike) perspective and allowing the reader a few minor, but still satisfying, revelations that were "omitted" from the first installment.

It's been many years since I first read "Ender's Game" (one of my all-time favorite sci-fi books). Although I remember quite well the basic story (who wouldn't?), I forgot enough of the book to make this fifth episode seem fresh and exciting. But I suspect that even readers who just recently read "Ender's Game" are likely to enjoy Bean's version nearly as much.

I read Ender's Game, the first book in Orson Scott Card's Ender saga, a couple of weeks ago and found it compelling reading. The book was by turns exciting and tragic, and Card's writing style was brief and to the point, focussing on the characters and messages within the story without falling into the trap of excessively descriptive prose to pad the book out. This made Ender's Game one of my favourite books of all time, and I eagerly awaited the sequel (Speaker for the Dead) to appear in my local library. However, Ender's Shadow (Card's latest novel in the saga), was available first and I desperately needed to read another of the series. This book is a parallel novel to Ender's Game, set in the same time period and featuring the familiar settings of Battle School and Command School, as well as most of the original characters. This time the story is seen through the eyes of Bean, a frighteningly intelligent and perceptive boy who has had to fend for himself living rough on the streets of Rotterdam since the age of 9 months! (He is no ordinary child). His sharp mind and will to survive against all odds are soon noticed, and like Ender he is rushed through Battle School as the threat of the alien invasion draws closer. The character of Bean contrasts Ender perfectly - his early years on the streets have made him calculating and without emotion. It is fascinating to see his attitude to Ender change as the story progresses and Bean realises and accepts the part that he will play in the war against the alien race. He learns the meaning of love, trust and loyalty, and finds that he has, after all, got a soul. Anybody who has had to struggle in life and felt that they were "different" will relate to this aspect of Bean's character. Much of the story concentrates on Bean's thoughts and unfailing sense of logic and tactics, making Bean's character probably better defined than Ender's, but I somehow cared more about Ender because he was ridden with guilt and regret at the tragic end of Ender's Game. In contrast, Bean's conscience is clear at the end of the "Bugger War" (he doesn't have to live with the consequences) so the reader feels much less pity for him. In this respect, the conclusion of this book has less impact. In brief, Ender's Shadow is another classic which can be read immediately after Ender's Game - reading the saga in this order probably has its benefits, as it is rewarding to have the first novel fresh in your mind. "Shadow" explains many events and actions of the characters from "Game" but you have to bear in mind that "Shadow" is seen from Bean's perspective and opinion. Ender's Shadow has pages that are almost cloned from Ender's Game but are new and fresh because of Bean's outlook, and these are expertly handled. This book didn't quite have the impact on me that Ender's Game did, but I still cannot recommend it highly enough. Now on to Speaker for the Dead!

I don't really blame Card for writing this book. Not every writer has a lot of control over what he/she writes - some of them just get possessed by the Muse and, seemingly unable to control themselves, produce whatever experiment or tour de force the Muse happens to have in mind. Card seems particularly susceptible.

So here is Card's dilemma: having produced the gemlike Ender's Game long ago, and having composed the superb sequel Speaker for the Dead, and two less superb sequelae, he now looks back upon Ender Wiggin's original supporting cast and finds himself overcome with regret for their untold stories. "What a pity," he may have said, "that I did not shape the character of Bean in my mind those many years ago, as clearly as I beheld the Wiggin family! Well, better late than never!" So he creates this book, a book 'parallel' to Ender's Game, the same slice of time and space (mostly) seen through the eyes of Bean.

Well, here's the unavoidable and really problematic thing: after you get through the opening chapters about Bean's toddler-genius life in an apocalyptic Rotterdam reduced to the conditions of life of the Ik in Colin Turnbull's "The Mountain People", you find yourself in the story of Ender's Game. Yes, it's another perspective. Yes, it's a complementary set of insights. But it's the same setting and the same War and many of the same battles. The bottom line is that the sum of Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow is less than two whole books, and really comes to something like 1.3 Ender's Game Units. And since you HAVE to read Ender's Game, because it really IS a gem, then you will find yourself only about 30% more fulfilled having read this one IN ADDITION.

Now, it may be that there are some people reading this review who have not yet read Ender's Game. I must direct those people to go out and read EG, because it is by far the superior work, and then decide whether the additional "perspective" is worth the additional time. Of course when you pick it up you may conclude that it is just another entry in the "harsh space military school" genre, which well by now ought to have been drained by a host of authors, going back before Heinlein and leading up to Busby and Feintuch in the present. But this would be like dismissing Lord of the Rings as "just another fantasy novel with elves". At the heart of any such genre there are a few Epitomes, seed crystals which give the genre its life and form.

Ender's Shadow suffers in comparison with Ender's Game, because Bean is a superman. Superchild. Much more so than the talented Ender. And that makes him less interesting, not more, in my view. The superchild genre has also been heavily mined over the decades, and this volume (even considered completely independently from Ender's Game) suffers in comparison with Cherryh's Cyteen, Dickson's Final Encyclopedia, King's Firestarter, Van Vogt's Slan, and the whole Justice League of other superchildren in contemporary SF.

For a good superman/woman/child novel to work, it helps if there is some tension between the superbeing's assets and weaknesses. The first few chapters balance this nicely: how does a four-year-old, super-smart but without any access to machines, manage to avoid starvation and murder? (Actually, a book about Bean's hypothetical twin brother Schmean, who never goes to School but stays in Rotterdam fighting for survival, would have been better.) But the tension deflates rapidly when Bean reaches the School, where he will not be killed, where he has enough to eat, and where he has utterly hacked the Network inside the first day. After that he is ten steps ahead of everyone the whole time, the officers gape and gasp ("How could he have found THAT out! ") and there's no suspense. Furthermore, having been raised in the barbarism of the streets, he progresses more or less automatically toward Goodness, driven by his good genes, I suppose. Ender's own story was much more interesting, both because he was not a Superbeing and because the progress of the story was the other way, as he was being twisted away from normality toward being a Weapon.

Now, here is what Card should have done. If he was really overpowered by the desire to tell Bean's story, and/or other tales of the Dragon Army, he should have considered the drastic step of rewriting and expanding Ender's Game (you can call this the "Director's Cut" solution if you want). That might have resulted in a larger and better book. As it stands, Ender's Shadow is not much more than a shadow of Ender's Game.

The good news is that your worst fears are not true. This is not merely a cynical attempt to cash in on Card's most popular book by rewriting it. It's a fast-moving novel, a good read, and an interesting parallel--Bean has to learn to become civilized, even as Ender has to learn to become savage. It's quite a bit better than most of the direct sequels to _Ender's Game_.

The bad news is that it significantly weakens the original novel. It turns out that Ender is really a putz, while Bean is infallible. Bean is never wrong. Bean knows everything before Ender knows it. Bean whitens while he brightens. And so on.

We are *told* that the difference is that Ender has the gift of making people devoted to him, as if this will preserve his heroic status. But we're never *shown* it--it's simply stated. It might be more convincing if Bean were more credibly socially dysfunctional, but Card makes Bean sufficiently sympathetic that this doesn't work either. We're left with the impression that Ender is a meaningless figurehead.

In the end, therefore, this book represents the inverse of a phenomenon often seen in action-based books/movies/comics/games: villain inflation. Villain inflation means that, after the heroes defeat the big bad guy in episode 1, there has to be an even *bigger* bad guy in episode 2, and an *EVEN BIGGER* bad guy in episode 3, ad infinitum. _Ender's Shadow_ is, if you like, "hero inflation": Card magnifies Bean and, in the process, undermines his original protagonist.

Had I never read "Ender's Game," I would have high praise to give to this novel, but I caution those who have a strong attachment to that original to approach "Ender's Shadow" with full knowledge of what you may find. Not only was I ultimately disappointed, but I almost wish I could un-read this book because of the diminishing light it cast upon the original for me.

The first third (or so) of the book, before Bean meets Ender, is a fine story and well-done. The plot of Bean's story is much the same as Ender's Game, and at times I found it a bit repetitive -- seeming sometimes to be merely a re-telling of Ender's early days with different names and places. Still, it was compelling and invoked enough of the original feel of "Ender's Game" for those very reasons that I enjoyed it considerably that far and was optimistic.

Thereafter, however, my impression changed sharply. From this point, the story builds itself by diminishing the original. Although I have read reviews by others who found it a wonderful tale of how Bean and Ender complimented each other, I found it a story of the true hero of the Formic War (the new politically-corrected name) -- Bean -- and the figurehead who was Ender Wiggin. This is, to an extent, and exaggeration, but I felt cheated out of the original story that I enjoyed so much, as if it had been torn down by this new re-telling and its magic forever tarnished. Be forewarned of this, if you cherise the original, and approach "Ender's Shadow" with caution. I, for one, wish now that I had never read this book and fear that "Ender's Game" will no longer hold for me the same magic it once did.

Ender's Game is a much-loved science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card. It is well-written, has surprise twists, and contains characters readers can identify with. It is also a near-perfect example of a stand-alone novel - the vast majority of loose ends are tied up, redemption is found, and readers generally go away content.

So where's the problem? Well, most authors, once they've had a major success, seem to be unable to leave their popular creations alone. Ender's Game gained a decent (but not nearly as good) sequel in _Speaker for the Dead_. Then came the disappointing _Xenocide_ to continue the series. Finally, _Children of the Mind_ rewrites what seems to be established facts in the series' universe. In the end, many readers are left scratching their heads and feeling disappointed; they are almost envious of their friends that decided to avoid the three follow-up books and read something new.

BUT THE SERIES DOES NOT END THERE. Card continues the saga (and opens up a new avenue for sequels) with _Ender's Shadow_. This book takes us back to the original Ender novel by following the life of Bean, a character established in Ender's Game. The "new" material on Bean (primarily his early life and genesis) is both clever and interesting. When Card brings Bean to Battle School and covers the same events in Ender's Game, however, he fails horribly - because he changes and revises the events in the original masterpiece to fit his new work. For instance, the beginning chapter conversations in _Ender's Game_ simply do not make sense if _Ender's Shadow_ is correct. Established events are impossibly distorted to the point where they seem artificial. Worst of all, the character of Ender is trashed and diminished in order to make the new hero, Bean, seem more necessary.

This is one of the few books I wish I could unread - not because I want that portion of my life back, but because it damages my view of a much-better work. I can not recommend this book to anyone that has already read (and enjoyed) Ender's Game.

I sadly found this book a great disappointment. Ender was portrayed as an especially gifted boy.. a one in billion. Card now feels that he has to make Ender look ordinary next to his latest hero. It was a case of 'too good to believe' for me. I love Card's portrayals of special people.. Ender, Alvin.. they're people you would like to be.. or at least have a ton of fun watching grow and learn through challenges. But this book was a step too far. Bean is never really challenged.. it's almost as if he has this magic power that can make any problem go away. The effect is that you end up not caring because you KNOW the magic power will appear on the next page and just wash the problem away. I'd rather go read Ender's Game again.