Ender's Shadow (Shadow, #1) (Ender Saga)

by Orson Scott Card

Welcome to Battleschool.

Growing up is never easy. But try living on the mean streets as a child begging for food and fighting like a dog with ruthless gangs of starving kids who wouldn't hesitate to pound your skull into pulp for a scrap of apple. If Bean has learned anything on the streets, it's how to survive. And not with fists. He is way too small for that. But with brains.

Bean is a genius with a magician's ability to zero in on his enemy and exploit his weakness.

What better quality for a future general to lead the Earth in a final climactic battle against a hostile alien race, known as Buggers. At Battleschool Bean meets and befriends another future commander - Ender Wiggins - perhaps his only true rival.

Only one problem: for Bean and Ender, the future is now.

"Ender's Shadow "is the book that launched The Shadow Series, and the parallel novel to Orson Scott Card's science fiction classic, "Ender's Game."

• ISBN10: 0765342405
• ISBN13: 9780765342409
• Publish Date: 19 May 2002 (first published 1 September 1999)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Tor Books
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 480
• Language: English

Reviews

A good refresh on the series since I hadn't read the original in a while. Sets up for the sequels well. I almost want to go back and read the original.

[adamfortuna]

Beans character is an oddity. I enjoyed the character in this one, but less so in the political intrigue that came up later in the Bean series. For the Enders Game story though, this one was impressively fun. The thought of reading the same story from another character was not at all exciting to me, yet this was a fun read.

[empressbrooke]

This book is a testament to Card's talent and skill. Since it runs parallel [b: Ender's Game|375802|Ender's Game (Ender's Saga, #1)|Orson Scott Card|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1408303130l/375802._SY75_.jpg|2422333] and even shares some of its scenes, it ran the risk of being redundant. However, not only does seeing Game from Bean's eyes bring an entirely new meaning to Ender's story, but it builds Bean's background and fills in the time at the Battle School after Ender's departure.

One thing that impressed me was Card's handling of the Fantasy Game. In Game, a good portion of the book was spent on Ender playing it and the adults analyzing what his choices meant. Rather than rehashing it in Shadow, Card chooses to have Bean refuse to play it and shows us what the adults make of that refusal. I thought it was a particularly brilliant choice that kept the book fresh.

Bean's view of what Ender thinks of him is especially surprising after reading Game. I never got the sense in Game that Ender shares these views, so it was interesting to see the differences in their thoughts.

After spending some time with the rest of the Ender books, I'm especially eager now to go back and read Bean's series to see what sort of person he becomes after Battle School. Even though the title suggests he is only a shadow of Ender, Bean is even more fleshed out than Ender was.

[remo]

después de haber disfrutado como un enano de El juego de Ender, Orson Scott Card nos da la oportunidad de revivir la historia desde los ojos de otro protagonista. La misma historia. Parecería que nos aburriríamos, pero no. La mejora mucho, nos da mucha más información sobre cosas que Ender no vio pero Bean sí. Otra obra maestra.