Shadow of the Giant centers once again on Peter Wiggin, Bean, Petra and the rest of the battle school students after the formic war. There is more political intrigue as nations race to establish supremacy by both war and diplomacy. Peter's vision of a world without nations is finally established. We are further drawn in to the effort to find "Petra and Bean's" babies which were implanted in random women around the globe.

A decent, but not great, conclusion to the series. I would state that, much like the main path of the ender series, the shadow series had its best books first. Still, if you have made it this far, the book is worth reading to conclude the events which establish the order of earth after the war...

Obviously I'm in a minority here, but I really did love this novel. Bean has grown on me as a characte since his early days in Rotterdam (although he does still irritate me), and while there is entirely too much talk of babies... and simply talk in general (there really felt like there was less action and suspense in this one even though they were clearly at war in this one... yes, I know, I know.) it was still a nice wrap-up of sorts. There did need to be a lot more of Peter and his parents though. Did love the tying in of the other series (Beyond Ender's Game: Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind at the very end of this one.

A good ending to Ender’s Shadow series.. similar to the ending of the Ender’s Game series the finale ties everything up into a nice bow except a few loose ends to continue the saga. What a thrilling final story, too!! I think this book really captured the true geopolitical essence that Orson Scott Card was going for in some of his earlier books, and the details of war and strategy spliced in were exciting and kept the story moving at a fast pace. I’m glad with how Ender was tied back into the book at the very end, as Speaker for the Dead, as well. I picked this book up to start getting back into reading again as the semester dies down, and it did the trick!!

This final installment of the Shadow series does indeed deliver all that was promised - Peter the Hegemon unites the nations of Earth under a single government - as foretold in the final pages of Ender's Game. Earth politics may not sound like a fascinating subject for a science fiction novel and, let me assure you, it's not. Much of the story is delivered via dialogue between the main characters which may sound interesting to fans of George V Higgins and Elmore Leonard. Unfortunately, Higgins or Leonard did not write this book, and Card has no gift for dialogue. The chatty exchanges are so dull it's like reading a collection of Christmas letters from someone you've met only briefly. The Shadow series has flashes of interesting moments but after reading all four volumes you'll likely wish they had been boiled down into a single book.

If you read the Shadow series, just don't read this book. Stop at book three or stop half way through. I LOVED this series, I was so into it, but when I got to the ending it killed me - ripped my insides out. It was that bad....gut wrenching. I couldn't believe that he ended it that way, it was TOO horrible. If you don't like unhappy endings- and trust, this was the be all end all of bad endings, then DO NOT read this book. I'm still trying to forget about it.

I think this is the second best book in the "Shadow Series," but it is strange. The pacing finally felt right for the "Ender Universe." The dialogue was ok.

Considering when this book was published (2005), it was written in a post-9/11 USA, and potentially during the run-up to the US invasion of Iraq in 2004 when anti-Muslim sentiment in USA was perhaps at an all-time high. While the novel is set hundreds of years in the future, the projections of Card onto Islam and other religions sometimes sting. He had very profound explorations of understanding "the other" when it came to alien races in "Ender's Game" and "Speaker for the Dead," but this gets inevitably more dicey when you bring it back to earth and have to handle real cultures, peoples, religions, and nations. It doesn't always miss, but it also doesn't always land. I wonder what people will think in another 10 or 15 years.

Great ending! Although slow at some points, it was nice to get so much character development and answers to the greater series outcomes. I love the original concepts this universe has. Great complex characters.

Oh my, how wonderfully beautiful were these books written! Just finished this one and now can say I’ve read both the Ender Saga and Shadow Saga. And it makes my heart so happy and sad at the same time. Sad because it left me want more. Happy to have found out what the story was and to have fully appreciated such a beautiful way of creating images with words.

Mejor que la anterior entrega, bien trabajada, emocionante, trepidante en ocasiones y con unos grandes personajes. Me sigue pareciendo una gran saga.

Orson Scott Card did a pretty good job with the 4th installment of the Shadow Series. It wasn't the best book written by him, but I'm glad he finishes with Ender and Peter. That is where Ender's Game started, so it was a good circle.

Peter becomes a likable character, which is a complete turnaround from the first book.

I really felt bad for Bean. Losing basically everything in the end just to survive.

Orson Scott Card left the door open for another book. It would be interesting to see what happens to Bean in the long run, 3 of his nine children. It'll be interesting to see in the next book what happens with Bean's missing child. You can guarantee there will be another installment to the series.

Very beautiful and moving book.

I’ll be sad when I finish the full series!