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Shadow of the Hegemon (Ender, Book 6) [Mass Market Paperback]

Orson Scott Card
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (279 customer reviews)

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Book Description

December 9, 2001
The War is over, won by Ender Wiggin and his team of brilliant child-warriors. The enemy is destroyed, the human race is saved. Ender himself refuses to return to the planet, but his crew has gone home to their families, scattered across the globe. The battle school is no more.

But with the external threat gone, the Earth has become a battlefield once more. The children of the Battle School are more than heroes; they are potential weapons that can bring power to the countries that control them. One by one, all of Ender's Dragon Army are kidnapped. Only Bean escapes; and he turns for help to Ender's brother Peter.

Peter Wiggin, Ender's older brother, has already been manipulating the politics of Earth from behind the scenes. With Bean's help, he will eventually rule the world.
Shadow of the Hegemon is the second novel in Orson Scott Card's Shadow Series.

Frequently Bought Together

Shadow of the Hegemon (Ender, Book 6) + Shadow Puppets (Ender) + Ender's Shadow (Ender, Book 5)
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Orson Scott Card finally explores what happened on earth after the war with the Buggers in the sixth book of his Ender series, Shadow of the Hegemon. This novel is the continuation of the story of Bean, which began with Ender's Shadow, a parallel novel to Card's Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Ender's Game.

While Ender heads off to a faraway planet, Bean and the other brilliant children who helped Ender save the earth from alien invaders have become war heroes and have finally been sent home to live with their parents. While the children try to fit back in with the family and friends they haven't known for nearly a decade, someone's worried about their safety. Peter Wiggins, Ender's brother, has foreseen that the talented children are in danger of being killed or kidnapped. His fears are quickly realized, and only Bean manages to escape. Bean knows he must save the others and protect humanity from a new evil that has arisen, an evil from his past. But just as he played second to Ender during the Bugger war, Bean must again step into the shadow of another, the one who will be Hegemon.

In Shadow of the Hegemon, Card can't help but fall back into old patterns. But while the theme is the same as in previous books--brilliant, tragic children with the fate of the human race resting on their shoulders--Shadow of the Hegemon does a wonderful job of continuing Bean's tale against a backdrop of the politics and intrigue of a fragile earth. While the novel is accessible, new readers to the series would be wise to begin with Ender's Game or Ender's Shadow. --Kathie Huddleston --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

This fine follow-up to Ender's Shadow features that novel's hero, Bean (now a young man), wrestling with Card's trademark: superbly real moral and ethical dilemmas. In a world between wars, filled with ambitious countries jockeying to carve up their neighbors, the children of Battle School are the strongest asset a nation can possess. The greatest of the children, "Ender" Wiggin, has gone off to colonize a new world. The second best, Bean, is hunted by a young psychopathic genius, Achilles, who schemes to conquer Earth with the aid of Ender's soldiers. Peter, Ender's brother, who was too ruthless to make it to Battle School, also works to rule the planet, but through more peaceful, political means. Bean must decide if becoming Peter's shadow and guiding him to become Hegemon will help defeat Achilles, and if one boy's megalomania will make a better world than another's. Children playing at war as if it were a game recalls Card's most famous work, Ender's Game, which won both a Hugo and a Nebula award. The complexity and serious treatment of the book's young protagonists will attract many sophisticated YA readers, while Card's impeccable prose, fast pacing and political intrigue will appeal to adult fans of spy novels, thrillers and science fiction. (Jan. 2) Forecast: Card is immensely popular; this is one of his best novels. Like Ender's Game, it will soar on genre lists and should flirt with, and perhaps woo, regular lists. Tor will ensure this through a $300,000 ad/promo campaign including a nine-city author tour.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 451 pages
  • Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (December 9, 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0812565959
  • ISBN-13: 978-0812565959
  • Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (279 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,682 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Orson Scott Card is the bestselling author best known for the classic Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow and other novels in the Ender universe. Most recently, he was awarded the 2008 Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in Young Adult literature, from the American Library Association. Card has written sixty-one books, assorted plays, comics, and essays and newspaper columns. His work has won multiple awards, including back-to-back wins of the Hugo and the Nebula Awards-the only author to have done so in consecutive years. His titles have also landed on 'best of' lists and been adopted by cities, universities and libraries for reading programs. The Ender novels have inspired a Marvel Comics series, a forthcoming video game from Chair Entertainment, and pre-production on a film version. A highly anticipated The Authorized Ender Companion, written by Jake Black, is also forthcoming.Card offers writing workshops from time to time and occasionally teaches writing and literature at universities.Orson Scott Card currently lives with his family in Greensboro, NC.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
61 of 67 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars The Next Great Political SF Novel? January 2, 2001
Format:Hardcover
Orson Scott Card says in the afterword to "Shadow of the Hegemon" that this book is as different from "Ender's Shadow" as "Speaker for the Dead" was from "Ender's Game". He's right. Where "Speaker for the Dead" turned and looked at the universe 3000 years hence and examined, in great detail, religion and life, "Shadow of the Hegemon" turns and looks at political interplay and fear in this world 150 years from now.

What made "Shadow of the Hegemon" stand out for me was the political aspect of the novel. Orson Scott Card has done a better job of painting national politics and intrigue across a worldwide scale better than any science fiction or fantasy writer I've seen since George R.R. Martin's "A Game of Thrones". The scope that he uses is very impressive as he takes the political action of the novel across most of the Asian continent and shows situations that are, on the whole, relatively plausible.

Card's work in blending national policy with personal motivation is very impressive. However, there are a few small areas I quibble with. I think that the world community he paints one hundred and fifty years hence is a little tainted by personal bitterness, both to the US and China. Whether he meant it to or not, it does, to me, detract a bit from both the plausibilty of the book and the overall quality of the writing. Likewise, while I am not a student of South and Southeast Asia, I question his wisdom in using just once source apiece - as he states in the afterword - when creating his India and Thailand circa 2150. This fact appears rather obvious when reading characters' discussions of these two countries....

Nonetheless, the novel is still a wonderful read. Card takes a couple of classic premises for novels and blends them into a story that, if it occaisonally lacks for original plot twists, one that shows how well he grasps both individual struggle and national interplay.

On the individual side of the novel, Bean, Peter and Petra all take on additional depth in this novel and all three become characters that I am eager to read more about in the remaining two novels in Card's "Shadow" series. As adolescents and teenagers, they are as believable as they were as children in "Ender's Game" and "Ender's Shadow". As people, they develop more depth to their character - especially Peter - and move in directions that are, if predictable, certainly arrived at unpredictably.

In retrospect, what definitely stands out for me in this book, are the political machinations. I'm sure that will be what primarily stands out one, five, or ten years from now. Anyone with an interest in political struggle should read this book, as well as any Orson Scott Card fan who wants to see him successfully tackle new areas of writing. While I do have minor reservations about the world as he creates it, I have none about the way his characters move it and move through it. Read more ›

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28 of 31 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Satisfying January 12, 2001
Format:Hardcover
How do I review this book? Do I review it on the basis of the craftmanship of the storytelling? In that case, five stars without question. Do I review it on the basis of the fact that I stayed up five hours past my normal bedtime to finish it because I was so involved in the story? Again, five stars without question. You'll notice, though, that I gave it four stars. Without giving too much away, here is why:

1) In reading the scene with Bean and Ender's mother, there was a point at which I no longer heard Ender's mother, but heard Orson Scott Card. Normally, he does not do this... I think that his passion for that particular belief was so strong that it overwhelmed the character. I may be wrong, of course, but that is how I percieved it.

2) As another reviewer has mentioned, the plot relies heavily on the notion that a nation would follow Achilles in a situation where it is highly unbelievable that that nation would do so.

3) There is a major continuity flaw in the book with the other ones. When Peter reveals to the world that he was Locke and Valentine was Demosthenes, it breaks the confidentiality that Demosthenes appears to enjoy in the Speaker for the Dead trilogy. That could be explained by Jane cleaning up the references as she does later, but unless I misremember there is a point where Ender and Valentine are travelling, Valentine is writing as the "unknown" Demosthenes, and Jane had not yet been introduced.

If you have read and enjoyed the earlier books, of course you should read this one regardless of the minor flaws. If you haven't read Ender's Game, though, do not read this one yet. Go, now, and buy that book. You will not regret it.

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23 of 26 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Card does it again! January 7, 2001
Format:Hardcover
When I picked this book up, frankly, I was worried. Several months ago, I read Ender's Game, and loved it. Not long after that, I devoured Ender's Shadow with gusto, becoming ridiculously enamored of the main character, Bean. But... how could this book, Shadow of the Hegemon, possibly live up to the high standard of the earlier novels?

Well...it did! Card weaves a thick, suspensful plot about the political intrigue on Earth after the Formic Wars. We learn more about each character, their personalies, their secrets, their motives. Sort of an insight of why they do what they do. Petra and Peter in particular become far more in focus than in Card's other books. The storyline was surprisingly good, and not at all predictable.

Do I recommend this book? Of course. But first, read Ender's Shadow, which is equally good (if not slightly better). Card's a great writer for people who don't like SF books, and those that know they do. Don't worry. You won't be disapointed.

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18 of 21 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars More great reading about Bean January 2, 2001
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
I couldn't wait to pick up my copy of Card's new book! Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow are important books for me so it is hard to be critical of this new installment. However, this book is much more accessible than some of the other Ender sequels and is a great continuation of Ender's Shadow. Bean is far from normal and he makes an interesting character to follow.

Without giving any spoilers, it is great to finally read about Peter and the events on Earth after Ender's departure. Of course, the other books set in this universe have referred to some of the events that occur, but now knowing the story behind them is much more satisfying.

If you are not familiar with the Ender series, please do not start with this book. Ender's Game should be read first for the pure joy of it. Then read Ender's Shadow and finally this book. You won't regret it. I have recommended Ender's Game over and over for more than a decade and have never had a negative response.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
I don't usually go for science fiction but with this series I couldn't put the books down. I ended up ordering the whole series because I really wanted to know what happened to the... Read more
Published 5 days ago by Alvie Charles Mills
5.0 out of 5 stars Excited to read this book!
I have read Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. I liked them both but seem to prefer Bean's character better so a friend recommended I continue reading the Bean Series of books. Read more
Published 6 days ago by Jeff
5.0 out of 5 stars Dear mister Card
Orson Scott Card has done it again. I am once again in awe of the world he creates. Thank you sir, once more for such a thrilling adventure, and I can't wait for the next one.
Published 9 days ago by Devin Miller
5.0 out of 5 stars Still one if the best books ever
There are only two books I read ever year. Several times a year. Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. And whenever I finish Ender's Shadow I always find myself finishing the Shadow... Read more
Published 13 days ago by Akin Opesanmi
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Book, wonderful series
I have always loved the Ender series and the Shadow series, and have re-read all the books in each many times. Read more
Published 18 days ago by Andrea Gooder
4.0 out of 5 stars It was alright.
I love Orson Scott Card. I have read most of his books from this particular series at least 3 times each.

This one was different though. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Katherine Zonneveld
5.0 out of 5 stars More details, fill in the gaps and blanks and questions!
Orson Scott Card sure hooked me with the first Ender's Game book, and now I am into the Shadow series, because he just keeps adding more into the gaps and spaces that existed in... Read more
Published 2 months ago by AreThree
5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting....
Like the other books in the Ender/Shadow series, it's hard to put the book down and go on with reality....
Published 2 months ago by Shane Nychy
5.0 out of 5 stars Great novel
I've found the Ender-verse an addictive set of novels. Being able to follow the characters of Enders Game through the near and long term story lines is very interesting.
Published 2 months ago by Lee Reynolds
4.0 out of 5 stars Great, logical, interesting, and historical. Love it.
This book is great for those who enjoy both political fiction and suspensE novels, and even had a very wide range of readers, from young high schoolers to adults who just enjoy a... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Brett Hadfield
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