4.0 stars. And so we arrive at the finale to the wonderful Shadow series on the heals of the tumultuous events of the previous three books, Ender's Shadow,Shadow of the Hegemon andShadow Puppets. For those that have not read the previous installments, there will be some spoilers below as the plot summary alludes to events that have occurred in the previous books. However, I will avoid spoilers for this book and will try and be as general as possible in the synopsis. This book concludes short

2.5 stars. Oh, jeesh, where do I even begin? Okay, well I love Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. No one really annoyed me in those two books. I can't speak to the remainder of Ender's series because I got so bored listening to Speaker for the Dead that I set is aside for a bit. I've finished off Bean's series with this one and phew, thank goodness it is over because I don't think I could've read/listened to another one. Why do I keep doing it? Good question. Answer: Because I do enjoy OSC's writi...

March 2010Previously: Shadow PuppetsOh, the suspense is killing me. Bean is dying! He’ll be dead soon! His body won’t stop growing, his heart will give out, and he’ll die!Eventually. Maybe. Any day now. Whatever.I haven’t been impressed with the Shadow Series. Ender’s Shadow was interesting, I suppose, if you really wanted to know what happened behind the scenes of Ender’s Game, but that was about it. Bean was slightly interesting, when he was still a tiny child genius one-upping all the stupid

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 f...

Things this books taught me:Even if you save a planet by fighting an intergalactic war before you hit puberty, your life will be meaningless unless you have biological children. Also, the Islamic region exists only to take over the entire world and is more evil than the other people who want to take over the entire world, even though everyone else is also killing and fighting people because they think their way is better.Things I wanted to learn in this book:How Peter Wiggins was able to take ov...

This is the fourth of the Shadow books, and in it, Card picks up the question of what happens to a lot of young people who have never known anything but war, as Ender's Jeesh and other key Battle School graduates take their places among the heads of state. It's thoughtfully done, if not carried to great personal depths in every case; so much happens in this story that a lot of the political maneuvers simply have to be summed up, and some of the important character development happens in just one...

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 su...

Adam C. Zern offers his thoughts . . . "When I completed Shadow Puppets I was as hesitant as I’ve ever been to continue reading the Shadow series, which is an extension of the Ender series. I felt the book was extremely weak in both story and character. It made me feel as if Orson Scott Card was wandering helplessly in the desert of his own imagination and never finding an oasis of meaningful creativity. Happily, Shadow of the Giant, the 4th book in the Shadow series, is a solid return to the ch...

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. Going to have to reiterate my wish that these four books had been combined, heavily pruned, and polished a little, I'm afraid... I concur with this review on most points... the endless geopolitical stuff got very tired early on in this book, and while it was good to see a little more on Alai and Virlomi (I really liked her story), the whole point of this set of things is Peter's rise, and the constant bogging-down of what could have been a really interesting, succinct examination

Wonderful!This is the fourth book in the Ender’s Shadow series – and once again, is a book that can be read as a standalone novel.This book in many ways continues the story of Ender’s older brother, Peter, attempting to (and getting closer to success) unite the world in peace – with Bean’s and Petra’s help of course. For me, this is also a much more personal story of Bean and Petra.While the world politics continues in the background, Bean and Petra have found love, and – more amazing still – ha...

I couldn't be happier with how this series ended.I feel like this book was just OSC showing off. It was as if he were attempting to write a book to show other authors how to develop characters. OSC took characters that the reader previously held in high regard and easily made them a villain as well as took previously, unlikeable characters and turned them to into charismatic heroes. It was a real treat to see these kids grow up and find out what happens to every story line.While I don't want to

This was an almost completely satisfying conclusion for the Shadow series. I just wish that girl, Randi, would have gotten smacked around a bit.But I really enjoyed that this addition to the series had more of the war games than the last. Shadow of the Hegemon and Shadow of the Giant are my favourites of the Shadow series for that reason. I also enjoyed having some sort of conclusion for all of the other characters, such as Alai. Especially Peter. I really enjoyed his character. Being a very dif...

I am SO done with the series of sermons about biological determinism that these books have become. I will probably just keep going in the hope that’s I eventually like another as much as the first few. Peter is still good in this one, but only really in the last fifth of the book. And that’s the only good thing I can say. Card is of course great at writing political machinations, but that’s not enough for me to ignore everything like the heterosexism and pretty blatant Islamophobia.

Wraps up so many things from so many other books, and so beautifully done. The moment I learned what volescu was doing I couldn't stop reading and it didn't let up. I didn't know if I was going to read shadows in flight after this but now I have no choice. Loved all the character development. Just overall great book.

Orson Scott Card concludes his shadow series brilliantly in this novel, which details the search for Bean and Petra’s missing children and the onset of world peace under the Hegemon’s rule. Card takes us into the heart of Ender’s jeesh and the ambition that drives them. At the same time, he makes Peter somewhat more likeable as his true motives emerge.The novel begins with a Chinese coup led by “Hot Soup,” resulting in him being crowned Emperor. Three key jeesh members now lead countries in rath...

"You have to tame the horse before you can let it have its head." ~Mazor Rackham p. 50"'Who are you writing to?''Whom. You foreigners are wrecking the English language.''I'm not speaking English. I'm speaking Common. There's no 'whom' in Common.'"~Mrs. Wiggin and Bean p. 104"'Why do you always drink that stuff?' asked John PaulPeter looked surprised. 'Guarana? it's my duty as an American to never drink Coke or Pepsi in a country that has an indigenous soft drink. Besides which, I like it.''It's

Shadow of the Giant was much better than Shadow Puppets, but still not close to the first two books of the series. The basic plot of the last three books has been Battle School grads treating the world as their own personal game of Risk, which is so cool. But for whatever reason, some of the subplots just aren’t drawing me in as much, and some of the characters are getting really annoying. The Bean and Petra relationship felt kind of forced a few books ago, but just as I was starting to get used...

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

The ending of this book was actually very sweet, and (view spoiler)[I am here for Petra and Peter as a couple, which I wanted for a while and definitely understand in a way I never understood Bean and Petra (hide spoiler)]. But overall, this part of the story still lacked the really compelling plot that I wanted. It was a very long conclusion. And the fact that (view spoiler)[there's some random woman out in space with a genetically altered baby whose real identity she doesn't know and who is go...

Fantastic just fantastic. I miss the characters already ;((( but still I feel they will be forever in my heart.

I did not enjoy this book.

A fun ending to my Ender bender.

Here I am, yet again, drinking up page after page of vague, over-generalized international conflict talk like it is the sweetest ambrosia.Card writes this series specifically for me, honestly. There is a part where Peter Wiggin and Graff talk about "if Russia does this, then China will do that" "if India does that, I will do this" in massively nonspecific and omniscient terms for a whole entire chapter. I love it. Talk to me about ten all-powerful genius kids playing war games with the whole wor...

It's hard to write a review for a book like Shadow of the Giant, because it's really just the last chapter of a much larger story. I give 5 stars on this review not only because Giant was a great book by itself, but it also ends the series with the greatness it deserves.Here is the order you should read the Ender books by Orson Scott Card:1) Ender's Game2) Ender's Shadow (The same story as Ender's Game, but from Bean's pov.)3) Shadow of the Hegemon4) Shadow Puppets5) Shadow of the GiantYou might...

I read a lot of the negative reviews for Shadow of the Giant because about halfway through I kept thinking, "Am I the only one that thinks this is pretty much garbage?" Card built his Ender empire both through Ender Wiggin and Bean/Julian Delficki, but in my opinion starting with Shadow of the Hegemon slowly flushes his universe and characters down the toilet. I was really impressed with Ender's Game even though I got tired of hearing, "Fart knockers" all the time. Ender's Shadow is the book tha...

I've enjoyed Bean's story, even more than Ender's, but there are a couple of things that have been nagging me throughout this entire series. Bean is supposed to be the most intelligent human being alive. I can't help but feel that Card can't even come close to properly portraying the smartest man alive.First of all, it's ridiculous that Bean should spend any brainpower at all thinking about religion and God. Countless studies show a clear inclination towards atheism in people with high IQs. This...

I think that, once again, Orson Scott Card has delivered an incredible book to continue the story that started with an undersized street urchin. Bean is trying to help Ender's brother Peter unite the world under one government. The problem is that his rapidly growing body doesn't have much time before his heart is no longer to bear the strain of gravity on Earth; and there is still much work that needs to be done before this happens. I chose to read this book because I couldn't get enough of Be

This book finishes off the three part story of events unfolding on Earth immediately after Ender and his jeesh destroyed the “Buggers.” The Battle-Schoolers came back to Earth and chaos ensued. Yet again, I found the political and military wranglings and intrigues very interesting. The side plot of Bean and Petra seemed a bit forced and the dramatic swings of character attitudes and emotions just didn’t seem altogether realistic to me. Character development isn’t Card’s strong suit. The story r...

I don't even know why I'm leaving a review; if you're already reading the series, you HAVE to read this one, too -- and if you're not reading the series yet, you MUST read Ender's Game first, so at no point will this review reach anyone who is trying to decide whether or not to read this book.However, if you've already read the novel, then a few things may come to mind. first, the way Anton, the only openly gay character in the novel, decides to act in order to be a "good person". Second, the re...

I thought Peter was portrayed negatively in the beginning of the book and then positively in the 2nd half (extremely positively at the end). After having the revelation about his parents in a prior book, he seems to be back to his old ways of discounting them.The thing about Bean and Petra with Bean leaving seemed like a re-run of an argument that they had in the last book, but Petra never said "We already decided this!" That seemed wrong.Virlomi is definitely a case study in believing your own