Not my favourite book in the Enderverse. Admittedly, I read this having never picked up the preceding 3 books on the Shadow series, but I've read Ender's Game to Children of the Mind. Having not read the three preceding books didn't actually seem like much of a setback.

This book isn't particularly exciting. Mostly geopolitical conversations and scheming. As others have pointed out, Card's treatment of the two primary female characters isn't great. Nor is his portrayal of Muslims.

Who the hell decides to randomly re-read book 4 in a series that they haven't touched in YEARS? Umm. . . me? I guess?

I first read these books a really long time ago. Ender's Game had been one my favorite sci-fi books ever back in the day (I will never forget how I felt when I read the "twist" at the end of that book. It was one of those moments that literally put goosebumps on my arms. SO GOOD.)

I ended up reading most of the Enderverse books and liking them. I remembered that this was my least favorite of the series, but not why. I think I just thought it was the most boring one? I remembered there was a lot of politics in this one. I wondered if I'd be able to pick this back up with my older, more patient (and more mature? lol) self and be able to appreciate this more and look back at this series as a whole as an old favorite?

Um, NO. Jesus, no. This was so bad.

And no, my big criticism isn't that it's so unrealistic that teenagers are able to control and lead countries. I mean, we're all here at this point cuz we loved Ender's Shadow/Ender's Game, right? The book that had alien buggers in space? Sooo, I mean. . . I don't think "realism" is one of standards that I really need to hold the rest of these books up to lol.

I actually LOVE that part of the whole thing. Following the members of Ender's jeesh, these genius kids who have had elite training and lived through a nightmare together, going back to regular life on Earth. How Battle School was a veritable melting pot, but leaving and going back home meant testing your former loyalties and friendships cuz "home" was a country that wanted to use you to wage war against each other. It was fun and it was cool.

What I didn't like was how Card completely shits on all the female characters here. Doodoo, all over them. It stinks and it's bullshit.

If you've read enough of his books, you know this author can get preachy. His personal beliefs bleed into the pages every once in awhile, and the fact that he did this to all his female characters kinda gives me an indication as to how this dude must really feel about women in general.

Overly emotional. Irrational. Crazy.

That's what he turned his 2 main female characters into. Wtf?

Look, I have always loved Petra. You remember the first scene we get from her in Ender's Game, right?

n   "Petra Arkanian. The only girl in Salamander Army. With more balls than anybody else in the room." n  

How do you go from that badassery to this emotional baby-obsessed mess?? Card ends up destroying her character and using her for the sole purpose of being a mouthpiece for his condescension and utter disdain for anyone who doesn't think that making babies is the end all and be all of everything, and if you don't do that with your body then you might as well just go die or live in a cave somewhere cuz you don't matter in life.

And don't get me started on Virlomi.

Virlomi's the only female character at this point who is actively on the world stage with the boys. She got there by being smart, and strategic, and kickass. Just like the other Battle School guys.

And Card decides to turn her into a crazy person. Not only that, he decides to suddenly make her become stupid (the latter being the bigger offense in my opinion).

It's such bullshit the way he makes a point of having all his female characters fail at the things that the male characters ultimately end up succeeding in.

Not only that, he makes us actively dislike them (hey, he does the same thing in the other Ender books with Novinha and Quara). He makes sure to let us see them being completely fucking irrational and controlled by their emotions.

He doesn't do that with the male characters.

Again, it's bullshit.

And I won't even comment on how Card portrays Islam here.

This was a shitty book. The "fun" stuff can only get you so far. I wish I hadn't picked this book up again. It was definitely better being left in my memories as "the dull one in the series" rather than what it is now.

This was an exciting read with the crisis for Bean/Julien becoming more and more central to the story as well as his relationship with Petra and the fate of the other embryos with Anton's Key modified. Beyond that, we are faced with Ender's Jeesh running several major countries and getting into wars and imbroglios. I was a little put off by all the bad behavior demonstrated primarily by the Arab and Indian nations with America just an aloof non-participant. There was a sense, in my own perception of the book, of an implied superiority of white cultures (since after all those are who dominate the book's characters and survivors). Nonetheless, it made for good and exciting reading more or less from cover to cover.

Fino's Enderverse Reviews in internal chronological order (I think):
n  n - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
n  n - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
n  n - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
n  n - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
n  n - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
n  n - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
n  n - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
n  n - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
n  n - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
n  n - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
n  n - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

După dispariția lui Ahile, ambiția foștilor membrii ai armatei lui Ender amenință să înghită și să sfâșie Pământul în lupte fără sfârșit. Cu un rol mai mult simbolic și fără o putere reală, Peter Wiggin, Hegemonul Pământului, încearcă să-și exploateze puțina influență politică pentru a pune bazele Alianței Popoarelor Libere și a unifica întreaga planetă sub un singur conducător, evitând astfel războiul.

Pe celălalt plan, Bean își împarte puținul timp rămas între Petra, căutarea embrionilor pierduți și consolidarea puterii lui Peter. Folosindu-se de prestigiul, instruirea și extraordinarele sale capacități intelectuale, el reușește să încline balanța în favoarea Alianței Popoarelor Libere, căreia încep să i le alăture din ce în ce mai multe națiuni.

Conștient de evoluția implacabilă a bolii sale, Bean acceptă oferta Colonelului Graff de a pleca în spațiu o dată ce Peter va avea controlul Pământului, luându-i cu el pe cei trei copii ce i-au moștenit anomalia genetică și sperând că relativitatea călătoriei le va oferi suficient timp cercetătorilor pentru descoperirea unui tratament. Încercând să le ofere șansa unei vieți normale, Bean îi lasă pe cei cinci copii normali pe Pământ, împreună cu Petra.

Cu toate că are lipsurile ei (de exemplu, mi s-a părut prea puțin credibilă evoluția lui Virlomi ca personaj, e greu de împăcat chibzuința, altruismul și inteligența ei din volumul precedent cu imaginea zeiței fanatice și egocentriste care nu ezită să sacrifice sute de mii de vieți pentru glorie), n  Umbra Uriașuluin are farmecul ei - tensiunea care se acumulează treptat, mișcările politice care se aseamănă unui joc de șah, Peter Wiggin care se străduiește să mențină pacea lumii, Flota Internațională care visează să împrăștie Omenirea printre stele - toate se împletesc și conturează un deznodământ acceptabil al întregii aventuri (PS: știu că mai exista un volum al seriei, dar prefer să păstrez în minte acest final, cu Bean călătorind printre stele

От дребосък до гигант, засенчващ дори Ендър: http://knigolandia.info/book-review/s...

Когато през 2012 г. изчетох всички издадени на български книги от серията за Ендър, си обещах да намеря и останалите неиздавани и да си ги прочета в оригинал, толкова бях зашеметен от поредицата, всяка от книгите в която има собствен чар и стойност. Но животът си течеше, нови книги се сипеха непрестанно и така и не се заех сериозно с това ми намерение. Докато преди известно време съвсем случайно в една книжарница в куп книги втора ръка не открих “Shadow of the Giant”, която е точно следващата неиздадена след трите от линията за Бийн – “Сянката на Ендър”, “Сянката на Хегемона” и “Сянката на марионетките”. При това не просто следващата, а завършващата тази серия. Купих си я веднага, разбира се, но чак сега, отпускно, намерих време за нея.

http://knigolandia.info/book-review/s...

OSC could have just cut the entire series down into 2 books and the story would have been the same. Waste of time reading.

Spoilers from here on out.

I'm giving it two stars only because I kinda liked the ending with Peter and Petra even though the whole ending to Petra and Beans relationship was stupid (I didn't care much for their relationship anyways). Again OSC takes 500 pages to get to the point. I hate the religious crap that he shoves down our throats the entire time. And I really hate how Virlomi turned into a crazy religious idiot. It's like instead of character development throughout the series, it's character de-development(?I can't think of the right word) if that makes any sense. The only character that grew was Peter. Peter developing a new world is the only story I care about yet it takes a back seat to Bean and Petra's family issues. They keep saying Bean is gunna die but he never. fuckin. dies. Kill him and his weirdo babies off and let the god damn story move on!

Eh. It was ok. Not his crown masterpiece.
Lots of war games, strategy. You get to find out what happens to Bean and Petra and the rest of Ender's Jeesh as all the nations of Earth use the wonder kids to try to tear each other apart. Interesting insight on Islam (from, um, a Mormon?). You get to see Peter be Not Such a Bad Guy After All.

My problems with it are:
- not much exciting new conceptual stuff like the Speaker for the Dead books. It feels like the whole book is denouement. Or filler.
- I suppose it's possible that super-smart super-analytical kids would think and talk about their relationships in flat strategic terms, but really? I guess I'm missing a certain emotional sophistication and nuance.

I think the most interesting thing about this book is what it sets up to happen in the next book ...

[SPOILERS FOLLOW]

He left it wide open for a new series about an Achilles re-mix, the genetic offspring of Bean, with Beans brilliant-but-fatal condition, but raised by a woman who thinks Achilles is a poor misunderstood brilliant leader. She doesn't know it's Bean's kid or that it has that condition, and she's teaching him the "real truth about Achilles". She takes him off to a colony world, which means he'll be time-delayed just like Bean's other wonder-kids which he takes into space with him. Which means someone might care enough to try to figure out Bean's problem if they have to deal with another Bean-but-evil. However, Bean is not ambitious, so would Bean's kid be? Hmm. Bean's kid would also not have Bean's military training. And raised by a crazy lady on a colony world. Hmm. But either way, the next series will surely be about all the little Beans running around being crazy-brilliant and trying to out-maneuver each other, using the colony worlds as their playground. Perhaps using space travel as a way to delay the effects of their disease.

The other interesting part of the book was this idea that Volescu was planning to release a genetic virus that would make every new kid have Bean's disease. So it would change the course of human evolution and create a new species of super-humans, who would die at age 20. But that was dropped, it wasn't the case, he was just bluffing. But that would be an interesting book.

Question: Why don't they set up a lab in Bean's ship that he goes off in with his uber-smart babies? Wouldn't they be the best ones to try to find a cure? They've got motivation and they are smarter than Valescu. Hmmm.

This absolutely made up for Shadow Puppets.

This is Peter's story. And Bean's. And Petra's. And Alai's. And Virlomi's. And Han Tzu's. And even Vlad's and Suri's. And you know what? OSC has finally spoken for them. And I know them, and care for them. And it isn't even about Ender anymore. In my review of Shadow Puppets, I declared that the jeesh members were only interesting to us in that they were related still to Ender. In a way, in Shadow of the Giant, it was another Wiggin that they revolved around- these characters did serve to reflect Peter and build his story, but they each also took on their own distinct character and value. Again I say, OSC finally spoke their stories. And, most importantly, he finally gave us Peter the Hegemon. A Wiggin as worthy of admiration as Ender.

A very satisfying end to this companion series.

I first read Ender's Game and the Ender's Shadow series when I was a teenager. This weekend I reread the Shadow series, and I think the ability to compare my teen impressions with the understanding of a fully-functioning adult's interpretation has helped me understand why this book in particular makes me doubt the value of this series.

First off, I really do enjoy the plot of these books. The strategy is interesting, as is the analysis of nationalistic ambition and the gaming-out of how nations would use the Battle School children. But the themes that were handled somewhat light-handedly in the first books through Sister Carlotta go into overdrive by the middle of book three, and reading these as an adult I'm much, MUCH more aware of how odd and insistent some of the themes are.

As everyone knows by now, OSC's religious beliefs are strongly woven into most of his works. His central theme goes as follows: conventional marriage is everything, continuation of your genes in the form of children coming in at second place only by a hair. As I'm reading, I'm coming across things like a gay elderly man marrying a widow and fathering children with her, and also the concept that once you marry someone, even if you don't like them in a few years, you stick with them. There is a VERY heavy note implying that no matter what you do in the world, only the things done in the context of family have any meaning. Card has spread this doctrine to pretty much all of his characters, to the point that it's very disorienting to hear supposedly different people think and speak the words of what is clearly a single mind.

The other thing that has hampered my enjoyment of this series is Theresa Wiggin. Now I'm going to pull her out as the prime example, though again the traits attributed to her have splintered out and are now showing up in all the characters. Theresa is, in my opinion, poisonous. She and her husband inexplicably lied to their one remaining son his entire childhood, and then when they finally told him they knew what he was doing, she morphed into a needling, vicious adversary. Given that her whole being is apparently wrapped up in an all-consuming but frustrated desire to follow Mormon doctrine and have as many children as possible (for which she willingly gave up a career of any worth, and for which she was willing to impoverish the rest of her family), I have no idea why having chosen her path she would be as malicious and hurtful and cruel to Peter. John Paul is written in a milder voice, though he's followed the same path - but Theresa is just a terrible person. Bean appears to like her, though I have no idea why. She mocks and belittles her son, often for character flaws that one would think are the result of feeling alone his entire life. But the books never seem to explore what the hell is wrong with this woman, and instead she's just allowed to hover around her son like a toxic stench. It does not help that Petra seems to take up this mantle, to some degree.

Women in general do not come off well in this series. It's not good when the two main female characters in your book are fixated on children and bitchiness and tend to make shouty, emotion-filled scenes. Theresa's arc is completely befuddling, for a woman who claims deep devotion to religion she certainly doesn't seem to do much. Petra's storyline devolves into a single-minded drive towards motherhood (at 18? 19?) that I didn't find very convincing then ends as a mother of 10(!!!) who basically gets left off the history books despite being pivotal at every post-invasion stage of human life on Earth. Virlomi was probably the most interesting arc, to me, though again she ended up focusing on her sexuality and ability to have children in a way that felt forced when put in context with all of the OTHER characters pushing "have lots of babies young, that's the meaning of life" messaging.

And lastly... there is the oddest undertone of sexual humiliation in a lot of the exchanges between the character in this book. Not only the Battle School kids - but the civilians. The Wiggins, Petra and Bean have in many instances said bitter, terrible things to each other that hinge on a completely inappropriate sexualizing reference that would have any person in my circle turn to the person saying it and telling them to shut the hell up. It is immensely difficult for me to retain any respect for these characters when they're sniping at each other about the thrill of seeing someone naked because you miss changing their diapers, or implying there's something sexual about breastfeeding an infant. No one in the books seem to understand how over-the-top inappropriate this is, and that's worrying. I considered that this might have something to do with emotionally stunted children becoming adults, but that's not it either - the adults are sometimes the origin of this 'banter'. And as adults, there's something deeply wrong with someone in your group making these sort of sexual asides, and all of the characters do it. Again, this sounds like one voice being filtered through many characters, and it is really weird to think that this sort of speech is typical for OSC.

So I'd have to say on rereading, as a functional adult in the world, I have a very different takeaway from these books. The fetishization of childbearing does not align with the way I know the world works, and the way the characters interact is more nasty than it is clever. The dissonant moments that feel like author ventriloquism are all religious or sexually crude, and that made for an uncomfortable read.

Ender's Game is one that I would reread again in future, but extended exposure to this universe is feeling more like brainwashing than enjoyment. There's a good plot in here but the religious propaganda isn't worth it, for me.

This series suffers from the same drawback as all unplanned sequels: how to follow characters that are supposedly interesting enough to merit their own quartet, but were peripheral in the original one. I don't think Card has created a character as resonant as Ender here, and the preachiness of the original quartet is only magnified here (ugh, if I had to hear Petra and Bean talking about "having babies" again...aren't they like 15 or something, weird). But, these reads are quicker--more about realpolitik and the machinations of the human race, rather than the ethical considerations of multi-species interaction. Overall a series that I enjoyed reading, but probably will not revisit anytime soon.

*4.5
I'm quite impressed and delighted to see the development in Peter. I very much liked Graff and Rackham for their love for the Battle School children. I'm not sure if I agree with Bean's decision. The ending was a bit unexpected though (Petra with Peter!). Indubitably, another sophisticated and enjoyable work by Card. Hopefully some of the loose ends will be tied up in the last installment. E.g. Virlomi and Suriyawong, the ninth child, etc.

Quotes:
1. "So what I'm going through isn't something so different. How many women became widows in the war? How many mothers have buried babies that they hardly had time to hold? I'm just part of the same sentimental comedy as everyone else, the sad parts always followed by laughter, the laughter always by tears" (355).

2. "Peter saw what she wrote about Graff and Rackham and about the kids in Ender's Jeesh—including Petra—and even though he knew part of her insight came from having Ender right there with her in Shakespeare colony, the real source of the book's excellence was her own keen self-questioning. She did not find 'themes' and impose them on the history. Things happened, and they were connected to each other, but when a motive was unknowable, she didn't pretend to know it. Yet she understood human beings" (361).
Hm. History [text]books, sometimes, impose "themes" on history. Maybe. To be discussed.

3. "How often had he heard Petra quote what Ender said about that? She—or Bean, or somebody—had written it down. 'I think it's impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves'" (362).
Is this true? Understanding everything about someone already seems quite impossible, making this statement somewhat infeasible to be proven...

He’s consistent. Bean makes me cry every time.