have been scared to read this for years. there was nothing to fear

This is a great story as it centers on Bean, and what he is becoming. Peter Wiggin is a necessary part of the story as it is so involved with world politics, and Peter is becoming the world's leader. I loved the development and problems caused by Achilles, the anti-hero. I also enjoyed the feelings that grew in Petra. It is terrible, however to come to see the tragedy that is Bean.

So far this has been the least interesting of the Ender stories I've read. I actually had expected to learn more about Peter, but instead, it delves deeper into Bean.

I began reading Orson Scott Card’s Ender series when I was in middle school and was never able to read too far into it once I hit about halfway through this book. I didn’t understand why until this year I decided to start it again! This book would have definitely been difficult for me to understand as a 12 or 13 year old, as it has a lot of strategical, logistical, and militaristic views that were not present in the very first book. However, I really appreciated the way that he brought It about in this book, now reading it again as an adult, as it was all very cohesive and easier to understand than I thought as a youth. I have loved re-reading this series and I think that this book would be very good for those older readers who have more understanding of the world policies and practices than for a young person.

This book is terrible. It felt more like a Tom Clancy techno military thriller more than a SF book.

Genial continuación de La Sombra de Ender que, en mi opinión, la supera por mucho. Un tira y afloja geoestratégico fabuloso en el que no falta la evolución de los personajes, haciéndolos muy reales y ayudando al lector a empatizar con ellos.

This had me crying on the BUS.

I love these characters and political strategy sm <3333

A very good sequel to Ender's Shadow, although a much different book. Although this book may have lacked the thematic depth of its predecessor, the attention to detail of the military and political machinations was extremely well done. All while presenting a great deal of character depth and development, with a tremendous scope of world building. I was impressed with Card's remarkable knowledge of military history, especially his using parallels to past events to shape the action in the text. Shadow of the Hegemon was nearly perfectly plotted and was a compelling read from start to finish. 4.5/5

I enjoyed Shadow of the Hegemon but not nearly as much as Ender's Shadow, the first in the Shadow series.

I don't know, and I had this same problem after finishing Speaker for the Dead (Book 2 in the main Ender series), but I just feel like this series is getting beat to death. I'm not the only one right? As good as these sequels are, I still think Ender's Game (with possible addition of Ender's Shadow) should have been left that way, on its own, no sequels. I know, now I'm beating a dead horse.

I still have to admit this is a good book. It's well done as always, and Bean is a great character. In Shadow of the Hegemon, we learn more about Petra Arkanian and Peter Wiggin and guess who's back, Achilles (pronounced in the French way - Asheel).

I know Achilles has only been the "bad guy" for two books, but I was already getting tired of him to be honest. His motivations for his evil are explained, but I'm tired of it and ready to move on to another threat.

Now that the alien threat is over, earth once again turns to its old ways - countries are back at each other and the best military minds in the world, the battleschool kids, are the prime currency.

Other than great plotting and highly believable characters, Hegemon delves into some deep topics from time to time that I found quite interesting to ponder; notions such as, What is living without children? and, What does it really mean to live? Card makes some good arguments about our duty to the future.

One last thing regarding the audiobook - it's extremely well done, if you're into that sort of thing. The typical voice actors come back (like Stefan Rudnicki and Scott Brick) for another Ender installment and they're superb as always.

Why Read the Enders Shadow Series?

So far it's been a great series, on the same level as the original series (at least as much as I've read - to Speaker). The characters are extremely well drawn and easy to care about especially since they're so intelligent - you just feel smarter yourself. I'm looking forward to Shadow Puppets.

4 out of 5 Stars

Shadow of the Hegemon is Card’s attempt at making the great game of nations maneuvering on the world stage intimately personal with the use of his beloved battle school children.

Unfortunately, once we get further and further into the political machinations of the book, we get further and further from caring about these characters. They seem to lose their characterizations which were so tediously crafted in his previous works, and it becomes more obvious that Card is just living out his fantasies of playing “Risk...but this time it’s real” with names we all know.

I enjoyed the first half and looked forward to getting into Peter Wiggin in-depth, but this also fell flat.

Card seems to have the my-first-best-selling-novel-in-the-series-was-just-a-set-up-for-this-even-BETTER-novel-that-only-really-SMART-people-will-enjoy-but-it’s-actually -just-incredibly-tedious-and-boring disease.

I won’t be continuing with the Shadow or Ender series after this one.

2.5/5 rat shits.

I am sure that were I given an opportunity to converse with author Orson Scott Card regarding the vast empires, rulers/kings, and military leaders that the world has seen rise and fall, from Alexander the Great to the great Caesars, from Charlemagne to Charles V, from Napoleon to Hitler and Stalin and Churchill and Roosevelt, we’d have an engaging time. I’m boring that way (in fact that that’s how I once caught the attention of a former, handsome--yet equally boring--boyfriend, with a long conversation about Napoleon and the Roman Empire). But an enlightening dialogue is not the same as reading this mind-numbing book by Card; it’s the most tedious of sequels to a brilliant spin-off of a modern-classic science-fiction novel.

"Shadow of the Hegemon" is filled with awful characterization, soporific pacing, and annoying futuristic slang. It was such a miserable experience and I’m not sure why this happened. It’s like there are two Orson Scott Cards who write: one who creates masterpieces like “Ender’s Game” and “The Worthing Saga,” and the other who writes awful military-fantasy dreck like the Empire series or this dull crap.

I will not go over the plot points; anyone interested in them can view my notes for my details.

I wish I could come up with a more erudite way of putting this... but simplicity has a beauty of sorts, does it not?:

"Shadow of the Hegemon" sucks!

1/2 star

Kids can be mean… oh well, a game of RISK anyone?