Dan Dean reviewed Ender's Shadow. by Orson Scott Card
Review of "Ender's Shadow." on 'Goodreads'
1 star
Garbage
mass market paperback, 480 pages
English language
Published Dec. 15, 2000 by Tor Books.
This is Bean's installment of Orson Scott Card's Ender's saga. It is a great character building book for those who have read Ender's Game and want to know more about Bean and his background.
Here is the description from the back of the book:
> 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 …
This is Bean's installment of Orson Scott Card's Ender's saga. It is a great character building book for those who have read Ender's Game and want to know more about Bean and his background.
Here is the description from the back of the book:
> 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.
Garbage
Bean was probably my favorite character from Ender's Game other than Ender himself. I was shocked while reading this book to take in the events from Bean's perspective. Really had to go back and reread Ender's Game with all the new information, gave an entirely different twist.
Bean comes across as far more of an anti-hero here than he does in Ender's telling of it.
Still just as good as the first time I read it
So far this was my least favorite of the series. Retelling the "same" story from another character is an interesting idea but somehow fell flat overall.