Customer Reviews
The author abondoned his storyline 
2008-07-16
I am amazed at all the positive feedback about this book. In Enders Game Card repeatly justifies the rigorous isolation and abondonment of Ender to achieve the type of commander needed to lead the final battle. But then in Enders Shadow Bean is able to replace Ender as commander without any of the trama that Ender was forced to endure. Bean is smart, clever and clearheaded "always" whereas Ender looks hesitant and overwrought, with Bean looking over his shoulder, he's been given the authority to decide if Ender is competent to lead or should he step in and take over command. Where does Bean get the experience to become Enders "supervisor?" I don't know but he is deemed fit enough with a couple months as a team leader to be fleet commander.
I think that Card has over time decided to "dumb down" Ender so that there can be remarks like "Bean is better than Ender." Enders Game was an emotional rollercoaster of deception, but Enders Shadow showed the greatest deception of Ender was by the author himself.
I just hope that Sherwood Smith doesn't deny Inda the way Card did Ender.
Bean Better Than Ender??? Possibly 
2008-07-01
While this book is consistent with the Ender is God view, Bean is a separate and uniquely intriguing character. His childhood is about as far from fairy tale as one can get and still be a child-safe book. He's got a brain unparalleled in the known world, which must have been a daunting task for the author to describe well, but somehow Orson Scott Card succeeds.
I would recommend reading Ender's Game first, but you could potentially read this book as a stand alone novel and it would still be fine. The author has a lovely way of presenting things, even if the bad guys are as cheap a sci-fi trick as buggers.
Amazing story. It's all you would like to know in a parallel book. 2008-05-31
Orson Scott Card was brilliant in 1985, when he wrote his flawless book Ender's Game, and 14 years later, after finishing his Ender's Saga, he thought of the perfect creation to keep the fans going with his story. Ender's Shadow is a perfect book which fills the gaps and answers the question that Ender's Game leaves us.
It tells the story of Bean (perfectly called Ender's Shadow), from his birth to his return back to earth, after fighting the war against the formics with Ender as his commander. The book goes through his whole Battle School experience, as isteresting as Ender's.
This is a must-read book.
H. Durnan's Book Review 2008-04-10
Every kid dreams about going into space. In Orson Scott Card's novel, Ender's Shadow, this dream becomes reality for a boy called Bean. A street urchin in the city of Rotterdam, he has always had to fight for is own survival. So when he passes the International Fleet's intelligence tests with flying colors, going to Battleschool in space allows him to concentrate on studies rather than survival, though this is only the beginning of his fantastical adventures. Bean meets Ender, a boy who is destined for greatness. With Ender as his commander, Bean learns about the exciting "game" played at Battleschool, and his aptitude leads him to further thrilling events.
Ender's Shadow is a great read for most middle schoolers and adults. Bean's intelligent insights are provocatively complex, yet simply expressed and easy for younger readers to understand. The plot is bizarre and new, but the futuristic element makes it believable, and the fact that Ender's Shadow contains only a slightly different story from Card's previous novel, Ender's Game, but in a different perspective, will draw fans of Ender's Game to this book. Readers will recognize some of the dialogue from the other book, but will be pleased with new exchanges between Bean and Ender as we see how Bean views his commander. Fans of science fiction (and most other books) will devour this glorious retelling of Ender's Game from a fresh new perspective.
An AMAZING Ender-series Book 2008-02-22
Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card is a FANTASTIC book, because of its vivid details, the places I saw, and the different perspective on the world it showed me. This book is an absolute 5 out of 5 stars because of its uniqueness and it's the perfect paralled novel to Ender's Game. This Science Fiction book is all about Bean, the tiny boy who survived the ruthless streets and the cunning Battle School, who allied with perfect Ender and battled evil Achilles. Anyone who likes science fiction or has read the other Ender books will love this book. This book captured my attention and never let go.
Not worth reading 2008-02-09
Welcome to Battleschool.
Growing up is never easy. But try living on the mean streets as a child begging for food and fighting like a dog with ruthless gangs of starving kids who wouldn't hesitate to pound your skull into pulp for a scrap of apple. If Bean has learned anything on the streets, it's how to survive. And not with fists. He is way too small for that. But with brains.
Bean is a genius with a magician's ability to zero in on his enemy and exploit his weakness.
What better quality for a future general to lead the Earth in a final climactic battle against a hostile alien race, known as Buggers. At Battleschool Bean meets and befriends another future commander - Ender Wiggins - perhaps his only true rival.
Only one problem: for Bean and Ender, the future is now.
urhero95490 2008-01-28
A new opinion of what happened at battle school. The fresh point of view stops you from remembering that you already know the outcome. I can't believe I did the same story twice, and maybe liked it better the second time. If you liked ENDERS GAME you can't not like ENDER'S SHADOW. (It really doesn't matter which book is read first.)
Ender's Shawdow 
2008-01-07
I was very disappointed with this purchase and it's return. I purchased this book for my son for Christmas ~ he is an avid reader ~ however, my son then came home from school with a copy of Ender's Shawdow which he borrowed from the school library. My order was already in progress - and upon receipt I returned it for a refund ~ we frequently shop through Amazon ~ the disappointment came when I recieved a -0- refund ~ of which I made inquiry, and have not yet recieved a response.
Unexpected gem. 
2008-01-03
Ender's Shadow is a parallel novel set against Ender's Game, and chronicling the life and origins of Bean, Ender Wiggin's second in command.
Although the first portion of the book is well developed and Bean's survival on the streets is fascinating, what I enjoyed most about the book were the continual contrasts between Bean and Ender's characters, backgrounds, and motivations. While Ender was always easy to root for, Bean is a much harder character to like initially. Card takes his time drawing you in, slowly teaching Bean empathy as his original book taught Ender to be merciless.
It's true that Card obviously manipulated Bean's character a bit in order to pull this book off, but unlike other readers I don't find that this weakens the original source material at all. Card has matured significantly as a writer since penning Ender's Game, and this newer, more subtle companion proves it.
"It turned a little corner of my universe upside down" 2007-12-03
...says Petra in Ender's Shadow and I think it's also a fitting description to this book.
Sometime in the near future, Earth has been attacked by an alien race, Formics or "buggers". The International Fleet is monitoring and testing all of Earth's children to determine who will be its soldiers and commanders in the upcoming war.
Bean is an orphan living in Rotterdam when he is plucked out of the streets and taught by a nun, Sister Carlotta, who discovers his amazing intelligence and notifies the IF. He is sent to Battle School where students are trained like soldiers in the art of war. Being children, these exercises are called games. While there, he realizes that the only way for him to ever survive in his small body is to use his intelligence to gather as much information about the upcoming war as possible to make himself necessary in their plans, to make him impossible to ignore. However, it turns out that the "powers that be" already have someone they tagged as their savior, namely Ender Wiggen. Bean makes it his number one mission there at the school to learn all about Ender and what makes him such a powerful leader. Along the way, Bean learns to accept and even admire Ender, as well as play an integral part in Ender's final "game."
I read Ender's Game first, like almost everybody I think, and only came across Ender's Shadow much later. It honestly took me a couple of tries to get into Ender's Game but after the first couple of chapters I was hooked. I didn't think anything could match up the experience of that book but Ender's Shadow does a fantastic job of taking a minor character and making his story as engrossing as he does Ender's.
A lot of reviewers say that Bean isn't as engaging as Ender and that, in order to show how brilliant Bean is, Orson Scott Card had to put down Ender and show that he isn't as smart as we all thought.
Of course Bean isn't as engaging or as lovable as Ender! He was supposed to be such a polar opposite of Ender, that when even this cold, calculating child learns to love and admire Ender, it means even more. He isn't supposed to be Ender, he was an outsider looking in and wanting to BE Ender. He craved the power he held over others and Bean couldn't figure out why he didn't have it.
At first, I was also a little disappointed that OSC seemed to keep reminding us that Bean is smarter than Ender but after rereading it, I notice that even within this context, Bean makes pains to say that he is the result of genetic modification and Ender was born with the talents that matter.
Overall, I think this is a great companion book to Ender's Game. There are unexpected moments in here that will genuinely touch you, like Bean's thoughts after Ender's fight with Bonzo and after Ender is promoted to Command School.
Enjoy!
