Shadow of the Hegemon (Ender's Shadow) |
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| Title: | Shadow of the Hegemon (Ender's Shadow) |
| Author: | Orson Scott Card |
| Publisher: | Tor Books |
| Type: | Book / Hardcover |
| Publication Date: | January, 2001 |
| ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0312876513 / 9780312876517 |
| List Price: | $25.95 |
| You Save: | $8.82 |
| Amazon Price: | $17.13 |
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Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
OrsonScott Card's Ender's Game is one of the most popular science fiction novels ever written. Ender's Game won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for best novel when it was published. The book has gone on to sell well over a million copies. It tells the story of the boy "Ender" Wiggin and his hard-won victory over an alien race that would have destroyed the Earth and all of humanity.But Ender was not the only child in the Battle School; he was just the best of the best. In Ender's Shadow, Card told 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.And now Card continues Bean's story, and finally tells a tale long-awaited by his millions of fans. At last we learn what happened on Earth after the destruction of the Hive Queen's worlds; after humanity no longer had a single enemy to unify the warring nations. This is the story of how Bean turned away from his first friend, Ender, and became the tactical genius who won the Earth for Ender's brother, Peter, who became the Hegemon. AUTHORBIO: Orson Scott Card is the author of the national bestseller, Ender's Shadow, and of the beloved classic of science fiction, Ender's Game. He lives in Greensboro, North Carolina.
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
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Customer Reviews:
• Overall, An Excellent Series Of Novels.
29 May, 2009
This is the continuation of a series... if you have not read the previous books leading up to this one you will find yourself completely lost. This is the story of Bean from what is left off in Ender's Shadow. The book tells the story of Peter Wiggin and Bean as they struggle against Achilles for the ultimate goal of world peace. Anything else that I could say would be a spoof. If you like the books previous in the series, you will like this one.
- Amazon Customer Review
• What's Next For Bean, Peter And Achilles
07 August, 2009
This sequel to Ender's Shadow was a lot of fun. It serves better at any rate as a sequel to Shadow than it does as a sequel to Ender's Game. Orson Scott Card does a great job in developing Bean further and he's very consistent with previous development. The novel is, of course, centered on Bean as he exploits his training and background from the International Fleet battle school as war breaks out on Earth.
Peter Wiggin, on the other hand, feels like a different person from the one described in Ender's Game. I think Card missed the greater opportunity here. The main character of the novel is already well-developed and we get to see him act in a dramatically different and exciting setting. Peter, on the other hand, is more thinly sketched. I wish he had been more fully and consistently developed. When he speaks or acts, it seems incredibly weak compared to his previous performance. His accomplishments are amazing, as we would expect from the character's prior setup, but he always accomplishes them offstage. It is simply stated that he has moved world governments in the background. I would have liked to see more of Peter, and particularly more of the Peter I know and fear. :-)
In addition to Bean, Achilles is also wonderfully developed. By contrast to Peter, he is developing into such a larger than life character that it stretches plausibility. That's easy to forgive though -- our heroes need a villain to fight. I can't wait for the next installment to watch the battle continue.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Flawed But Worthwhile For Fans Of Ender's Shadow
16 November, 2009
Continuation of the Ender saga, occurs just after the events of Ender's Shadow.
Novel is somewhat worthwhile for three reasons.
Mainly, Ender's Shadow was such a good book that it's inherently interesting to find out what happened to Bean, not to mention Achilles. There is a lot of action involving these two, so it should satisfy curiousity as to their fates.
Second, the Ender universe is probably the last refuge of the meritocratic vision at one time popularized by Asimov, Heinlein, and other authors from the last century. The notions that people on "the net" as Card terms it are going to be swayed by reasoned arguments or that nations will fight over gaining access to bright kids with high test scores, is laughable but endearing. (Parodied in xkcd #635). Meritocratic ideals have long fled the real world, but it's still pleasantly nostalgic to read about this alternate reality where they matter, since they're virtually extinct from modern fiction as well.
Finally, the byzantine political machinations are somewhat interesting, and in particular Achilles' plans are notable.
The novel is nowhere near as strong as Game or Shadow, however. The writing is overly simplistic; the style of the prose is insipid and boring. There is much, much too much dialogue, most of it monotonous. Sometimes characters launch into ridiculous, lengthy and dull speeches for no clear reason, indeed even when there's obviously not time for that. There's one particularly cloying speech by Sister Carlotta where she suddenly describes her whole philosophy of life for pages and pages. The characters, except for Achilles, are drawn on the sappy and uninteresting side as well. Some of the plot developments - the attempts at Bean - are either cliched or not realistic. Bean himself doesn't really do much that clever here.
Overall, there is just a lot of "filler" in the novel, long pointless conversations, and I found myself skimming or speed-reading near the end. Nevertheless, despite its flaws, fans of the Ender saga may find it worth reading.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Find Time To Read The Book
01 June, 2009
Most reviews I've read on this page address the book itself, not the audiobook. Not a mention of recording quality, production, or any aspects of the recording. Card mentions repeatedly at the end that audiobook is his preferred way to present his works, but if this is the best they come up with I disagree. FIND THE TIME TO READ THE BOOK. To me these little things in the recordings progressively became more annoying: the recording sounds very tinny, and for some reason "the hegemon" is recorded out of context?; continued mispronunciation of the antagonist throughout the book; and cheesy, poorly thought out musical "interludes" that become more invasive and jarring. Buy the used book and enjoy this great book for a fraction of the cost of this audiobook.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Good Story, But Audio Strangeness And Music Are Annoying
05 July, 2009
This is a good continuations of Ender's Shadow, but not quite at the same level as Ender's Shadow. A major annoyance throughout is every time one of the voice actors says the word "Hegemon" it is dubbed over with some other person's voice saying the word, which kills the flow of the story. The dubbed voice is not even close to whichever voice actor is speaking. At first I believed that it was momentary glitch in the media. until it repeated again, and again throughout the story. Also, someone should really have rethought the music to this as well.
In the above I have hit all of the bad points of the audio book that I notice. It is still well worth the money, a good story, and I don't regret buying it.
- Amazon Customer Review
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