Bean flees to the stars with three of his children - the three who share the engineered genes that gave him both hyper-intelligence and a short, cruel physical life. The time dilation granted by the speed of their travel gives Earth's scientists generations to seek a cure, to no avail. In time, they are forgotten - a fading ansible signal speaking of events lost to Earth's history. But the Delphikis are about to make a discovery that will let them save themselves, and perhaps all of humanity in days to come. For there in space before them lies a derelict Formic colony ship. Aboard it, they will find both death and wonders - the life support that is failing on their own ship, room to grow, and labs in which to explore their own genetic anomaly and the mysterious disease that killed the ship's colony.
Looking at the reviews for [b:Shadow of the Giant|8647|Shadow of the Giant (Shadow, #4)|Orson Scott Card|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165699277s/8647.jpg|4088], it's clear that a lot of people thought that it was the last book in the Shadow series. It really should have been, because this was a disappointing footnote. It's more of a novella than a novel, and it doesn't really serve any new purpose in the Ender's Game universe. The writing is really clunky and juvenile, and it seems to be Card's way to make sure that we really, really understand the messages that his other books were trying to tell us. There's lots of telling-instead-of-showing and beating-the-reader-over-the-head, which doesn't make for a very enjoyable read. Furthermore, Card decided to frak with the entire history of the Hive Queen, which was enough to make me decide this book doesn't really exist. Wikipedia shows that we're supposed to be getting ANOTHER Shadows book that links up with the end of the Ender series, but...I think I'll pass.
Reading updates
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Started reading
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10 February, 2012:
Finished reading
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10 February, 2012:
Reviewed