I loved this book as much as Ender’s Game! Both books cover similar events, but from the eyes of two different characters. Ender’s Shadow is told from the perspective of Bean, Ender’s friend from Battle School, a genius kid who starts out on the streets of Rotterdam and works his way up out of the atmosphere and into Battle School. His story is very moving as deals with his limitless ingenuity compared to his peers, and yet he’s always just a shadow compared to Ender. This book has strong depictions of self sacrifice, camaraderie, and loyalty. Definitely recommend it as a must-read for any sci fi fan

I did not like this book at all

I was really rather disappointed in this book. On every page it felt like the worst kind of inflated fanfic. It's as if someone decided, "My favorite character in Ender's Game was Bean! I'm going to practice writing like Orson Scott Card and then write a whole novel about how Bean was the smartest one, and Bean was the mastermind and best hero and bravest and awesomest!"

Okay it's not quite that bad, but it's close.

So in Ender's Game we have Ender, a precocious child - well, not just a precocious child but The One, the smartest of all the smart kids that the government could snap up. He's smaller than everyone, younger, gets bullied, doesn't have any real connection to his parents. He faces a true threat from a bigger kid that sets out to hurt him and maybe kill him - but never fear, he overcomes the threat.

Therefore in Ender's Shadow we have Bean, a super-precocious child, smarter even than The One, the smartest ever. He's even smaller, even younger, gets even more bullied, doesn't even have parents at all, and faces a true threat from not only a bigger kid but a serial killer bigger kid who will gladly kill him and, oh, anyone else. Oh also this serial killer kid is super-smart too.

It's like Card was deliberately trying to strip everything out everything that made Ender's Game so good and repackage it in blazing "NEW!" "IMPROVED!" graphics. The worst part is that Card removes his sympathetic protagonist. Ender was somehow likable. You watched him suffer, you feel for him and his burden. Bean? He's too smart, he's cold, he's aloof, and he's going to come out a-ok because, well, in case you didn't catch the reference every few pages he's the smartest thing in the history of ever.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the Bean of Ender's Game. Tiny little guy, bit of chip on his shoulder, becomes a great right-hand man for Ender. That's perfect. Just enough flavor.

But with this book Card has gone back and examined every single scene (I think) in which Ender and Bean interact and given it some new deeper subtext, usually implying that Bean is smarter than Ender (WE GET IT ALREADY) and that he's set things up so that Ender can succeed.

Bean's analysis of the school and world situation forces the military leaders to push Ender through faster. It's because of Bean that Ender gets an army years before he should. Bean himself is approached to make the list of students that should be in Dragon Army. Poor Bean, the only thing he doesn't have is Ender's charisma otherwise he'd be the leader. In fact, at the end he's sitting there with the ability to take control of the whole thing because the military knows he's good enough to do it.

It gets repetitive and frustrating, that's all. I know Card thought he was playing an awesome trick, turning the original book inside out and shaking it and saying, "PUPPETMASTER BEAN WAS PULLING STRINGS THE WHOLE TIME!" and honestly that little flair would have worked well once - once - in this book. But to build a whole re-envisioning of the novel around it? Guh.

I also could not have cared less about Sister Carlotta and her "must find Bean's origin" backstory. The reader knows early on that he's genetically modified in some way to be the superintelligent creature he is, so ... yay? We finally get confirmation in a dull reveal wherein Card pulls back the cover and says, "SURPRISE! HE ALSO HAS .. dunh dunh DUNNNH ... A BROTHER! A TWIN BROTHER HE NEVER KNEW!" Who is, of course, not hypersmart and is supposed to, I don't know, represent the life Bean could have had as a normal kid?

I'll let you guess whether or not the two of them find this out by the end and become true brothers, sharing an emotional bond with Bean's true parents and living happily ever after in Greece. Hint: of course they do.

All in all it was a shambles, a wreck. I am not happy to have read this except that it gave me a reason to go type a frustrated and annoyed review.

Various notes:

1.) During Ender and Bean's confrontation in the hall it's obvious that Ender really doesn't know who this kid is, yet every other boy in the entire school knows who Brilliant Ol' Bean is and how he's The Next Ender Wiggin.
2.) Achilles at some point has some nonchalant internal monologue about how Bean's not running his army the way he should, it should be controlled like the buggers do with a queen in the middle orchestrating everything. Except, as far as I know, at that point in the series only the highest-ranking military officers knew about the queen bugger. Even Ender hadn't figured it out yet.
3.) In the confrontation with Achilles the crew records his statement. On what? What recording devices did they have? Card had just a few chapters before detailed exactly how little the students had access to and gave us this big long scene about what a pain in the ass it was for Bean to obtain some deadline.

I'm going to stop beating up on this book now. I've made my point - this is toadying revisionist b.s. that cuts apart and guts a good SF novel for what amounts to some weird fan service. By the end I was reading out of morbid curiosity and hoping that maybe ... just maybe ... something bad would happen to this kid that Card had ruined for me.

This was an enjoyable read, occasionally a bit too wordy but still enjoyable overall. As with Ender's Game I struggled with the idea that any of these children could possibly be six years old even with enhanced genes but I coped by imagining they were actually very advanced ten year olds. I also had to totally ignore the part about baby Bean and the toilet cistern. That stretched my bounds of incredulity beyond reason! Nevertheless the rest of it was a good story well told and I will read the rest of the series in due course.

A well written and original story -- even when you've already read Ender's Game.

@Longfellow recommended this book to me, saying he enjoyed it maybe even more than its famous predecessor. I began reading it expecting it would tell the exact same story we see play out for Ender, from a slightly different angle. (In essence, I expected it to offer much of the same story all over again, like reading a part of 1 Chronicles that was covered in 2 Kings.) But its plotline claims far more original ground.

I felt like the book took me on a roller coaster ride, first of drama then of informational reveals about the protagonist's backstory, then of plot and seeing the more direct parallels to Ender's Game play out. (The last act of the book follow's the Ender Wiggin story much more closely.) It was a good, satisfying ride, with some interesting character developments ... and a main character who firmly held my interest throughout the novel.

MPAA ratings:
PG-13 for violence (bordering on an R rating because of some specifics mentioned, but without so disturbing a tone as some mature content that's out there) and adult themes discussed, such as child prostitution
PG for language

At first I was ambivalent but then we hit battle school and I was sucked in. What can I say, I love Battle School!

Ugh. I have been dreading writing this review ever since I had finished the book. When we were told that we would be put in smaller groups and would be reading a science fiction book, I was not thrilled. In general, I do not like science fiction. I am more of a dystopian fan but even then it's not my favorite genre by any means. Ender's Shadow was not the book I would have chosen to read. But, I was outvoted. And I didn't really care. Ender's shadow started off odd, confusing, and slow. When we kept reading and the setting changed to battle school, we quickly realized that the beginning didn't have very much to do with the rest of the book. It wasn't totally irrelevant but it wasn't crucial either. The rest of the book was okay. Would I read it again? No. Would I recommend it? Probably not.

This companion book to Ender's Game follows Bean's story as he grows up a street urchin in Rotterdam and is finally selected for battle school. Every effort has been made not to contradict the earlier work, but things are very different from Bean's perspective. Depth is added to battle school and people are not necessarily who they seemed to Ender.
Excellent work. Bean is a fantastic character and it will be interesting to see how his trajectory differs from Ender's after the Bugger War.

10/10. Media de los 43 libros leídos del autor : 8/10

43 obras que me he leído de Card y media de 8/10. Tela. Creo que eso lo dice todo, y liarme a hacer alabanzas de este autor es superfluo.

Aquí comienza la Saga de Bean, el amigo de Ender en la escuela de batalla. Que tb era un genio pero quedó eclipsado por Ender.
Y eso mismo le ha pasado a esta saga paralela: que para mi gusto es más entretenida de leer y más adictiva que la de Ender, todo basado en personajes fantásticos con los que empatizas y no puedes parar de leer.
Los dos primeros se llevaron un 10 redondo. El tercero, un 9. Tela.

This book is Ender's Game from Bean's perspective. I am really glad I read this after just finishing Ender's Game as it was such a great read and answered a lot of questions I had after reading Ender's Game. Bean is such a terrific character by the end of this book I must admit to having a few tears in my eye's. The story starts with Bean at age 4 more than half staved living on the streets the reasons he has learned to keep him self alive are the same ones that will see him fly through battle school and become one of the most brilliant minds that are behind winning the war with the Buggers.

I found it fascinating how Card used this as a parallel to Enders Games. He was able to take my favorite character from Enders Game and tell the same story from a much different and more interesting perspective. This novel follows Bean from early childhood up through the ranks within battle school and command school. I would suggest reading this book AFTER you have read Enders Game.

With all honesty, I don’t know what to say right after I finished this book. The book never failed to impress me as it failed my first impression. Yes—my first impression. The fact that I didn’t read yet the Ender’s Game series made me hesitate in pursuing reading the Ender’s Shadow. Credit to Orson Scott for initializing the reason why should I read the book through his well written foreword. Another thing, I’m not deep into novels which set above the earth—or in other words, the outer space. Glad that the book has stricken me--not the setting but the story line and the main the protagonist of the book.

Bean is a gifted child. Or is he even a human to be referred a child? When Bean crawled from danger when he was almost one year old, he knew then that he was no ordinary kid. He looks 2-year old kid but the real is he’s 4 years old, yet he thinks at least 10-year old bully. He gets himself a family but soon finds out it wasn’t a good idea because it tends him to escape from the murderer of the person who gave him life—Poke.

Through Sister Carlotta and through Bean’s intelligence, he made it to be a launchie in a Battle School where everyone is trained to be commander of the fleet. No matter how smart he is when all his teachers doubt his ability, he still has to prove something. And the worst of all despite the fact that everyone knows he’s the one who has the highest score in every field, yet it is as though inevitable to be a shadow of another excellent student named Ender.

Proven and tested. This book is a butt-stapler. Once you get hold of this book, you’ll never try to put it down. One reason of why the book a page-turner one is how interesting the main character is. Have you watched Baby’s Day Out movie? If yes, imagine that this book is a way how we’ll know the main protagonist’s—the baby--perspective. Bean himself is a strong catch up that bounds the reader not to miss even a single word of the book.

I admire the personality of Bean that it made me relate myself to him. If you think because I’m smart as him, then you’re stupid like meowing dog. Bean’s intelligence is exceptional that even the readers won’t even guess what had he planned, much less the other characters of the book. His mind is unpredictable, yet prompt. The personality that we shared is how not to snap back when the bullies are up for humiliation and fun. Thus, the only way to cease it is to gain respect and honor.

If I have the list of likable child characters, I now say that Bean is at the top of them as what his ratings did in this book. His way of defeating an enemy is not by killing him/her but by letting the authority to do it without dirt in his hands. His means of winning a battle is not by competing to others, instead sharing of knowledge for unity. Bean is not character of bravery but an image of tactics, intelligence and maturity. That’s the Kid. That’s Bean. That’s my favorite character.

I love the premise of the book. All along reading the book, as if I was with his journey, I realized that all he needed was love and appreciation. However it wasn’t dig deeply in this book, but as you get yourself into the character, you’ll notice the missing piece of his life that though he was scared to have, he was definitely in need of it. I also love how this book ended, even this book is meant for a series, the ending was justifiable break indeed.

I find the book perfect for my taste. From the very first page of the book up to the end is amazement to me. I once said that this book never failed to impress me and I will not hesitate to repeat it all over again. I didn’t pick the wrong book, though I never yet tried reading the Ender’s Game. And because of that, since this book has given also much credit for Ender Wiggin, it’s an exact timing of reading the more precise happened in the battle through reading Ender’s Game.

When 2011 started, I decided to have a basis in giving the books ratings. And apparently, this book passed far beyond my standards. So great that at least, for this month, I have read a much deserved book to have my five stars.

I haven’t suggested yet any books from my previous reviews. And now I dare break it by recommending this to everybody else especially to those who haven’t read yet the Ender’s Game and also to everyone who loves YA sci-fi books. Some of the sci-fi or dystopia books now are no good than a talking mud, but believe me; this book will hunt your obsession and will cause an impact on every cell of your brain.