Ender's Shadow
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Ender's Shadow
Buy Now for £16.99
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Narrated by:
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Scott Brick
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Gabrielle de Cuir
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full cast
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By:
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Orson Scott Card
About this listen
The novel that launched the bestselling Ender's Shadow series—available for the first time on audio
The human race is at War with the "Buggers," an insect-like alien race. As Earth prepares to defend itself from total destruction at the hands of an inscrutable enemy, all focus is on the development of military geniuses who can fight such a war, and win. The long distances of interstellar space have given hope to the defenders of Earth--they have time to train these future commanders up from childhood, forging them into an irresistible force in the high orbital facility called the Battle School. Andrew "Ender" Wiggin was not the only child in the Battle School; he was just the best of the best. In Ender's Shadow, Card tells the story of another of those precocious generals, the one they called Bean—the one who became Ender's right hand, part of his team, in the final battle against the Buggers. Bean's past was a battle just to survive. His success brought him to the attention of the Battle School's recruiters, those people scouring the planet for leaders, tacticians, and generals to save Earth from the threat of alien invasion. Bean was sent into orbit, to the Battle School. And there he met Ender....
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Critic reviews
- Alex Award Winner, 2000
"An exceptional work." (School Library Journal)
"An absorbing, near-flawless performance." (Kirkus)
"As always, everyone will be struck by the power of Card's children, always more and less than human, perfect yet struggling, tragic, yet hopeful, wondrous and strange." (Publishers Weekly)
Audio: The full cast recording, was more like "three cast parts". But it really worked: the dialogue between Graff and Sister Carlotta was excellent, in particular. I had a bit of a flub at the end, where the audio seemed to skip back half a chapter, but then it carried on without any issues. Excellent narration.
A "parallax" novel of Ender's Game
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Bean's character comes across too similar to Ender's especially when he enters Battle School. The main differences are that Ender is empathetic and has leadership skills, whereas Bean is more intelligent but finds it difficult to relate to others - these differences don't come across with enough impact, certainly not in how the characters think or (largely) act. Many of the key themes and challenges that both characters face are very similar; coping with being judged by their size and age, their need to survive at any cost, their battle against the teachers and facing a tormentor from their youth who haunts them throughout their time in battle school. The way they deal with these issues feels too similar, the outcomes are often the same, the thought process of the characters: way too similar. When you hear Bean's story it almost feels like a rehash of Ender's - not a story about a distinctly different character. The closeness of the narrative makes it feel like Ender's outlook and the challenges he faces are less unique and less special. Ender's eventual "triumph" in the war feels less of a feat - because it feels like Bean could have done it had he been a little bit older with better social skills.
The other major flaw is Bean's and Ender's relationship - the relationship feels very different in this book - and only so much can be attributed to a different view point. Some of the dialogue between Bean and Ender is atrociously retrofitted - Bean who comes across as naive in comparison to Ender in Ender's game, is actually revealed to have far more information of the inner workings of the school. So when they talk to each other what was once a sincere conversation in Ender's game, we discover - in Ender's Shadow - was the result of Bean being sarcastic or tongue tied "Can't he tell I'm being sarcastic?", "Does he think I don't know that?". I found that very annoying - in Ender's game Bean is one of the few people who Ender actually confides in - and these special moments are somewhat spoilt by the revelation that where Bean appears earnest and sincere - he's actually being told things he knows already or is acting flippant and sarcastic. If Bean's personality was slightly different in Ender's Shadow we could have had an alternative interesting and plausible viewpoint on their conversations, but Bean's personality (in Ender's Shadow) is just incompatible with those conversations. It doesn't work.
With all that said, I would still recommend this book - I really enjoyed revisiting Battle School and parts of Bean's storyline are very interesting.
Detracts (slightly) from Ender's Game
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Deeper insight to Enders game
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What did you like best about this story?
Going back through the story of Ender's Game from another perspective gave a huge amount of depth to the original story as well.Any additional comments?
The fact that this covers the same time line as the book Ender's Game doesn't make the book any less enjoyable due to any 'spoilers' if you've already read Ender's Game.I found i was a little disappointed at the end of the 4th book in the Ender's Game series Children of the Mind. Because of this i was hesitant to try this book. I'm really glad i did though as i found this book to be one of my favourite books since discovering audible.
Exilent return to form
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What made the experience of listening to Ender's Shadow the most enjoyable?
I read Ender's Game, then read through all of the books with Ender's character. It was so refreshing to go back to the beginning, but have the story told by a new character. Ender's Shadow fills in all the gaps you never new were there. Bean is a very interesting character and the books that carry on after this are just as entertaining as Ender's books.Who was your favorite character and why?
Bean. Bean actually trumps Ender in this book, in my opinion.What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?
The narrators are consistent throughout the entire Ender-verse catalogue.Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Yes, Bean's story is very deep.Any additional comments?
All the books in Ender and Bean's respective series are works in their own right. While some are based on intelligent children learning to fight, others are very philosophical and less action packed. All of the books are thought provoking. While this book is fun and action packed. Don't expect the series to be entirely the same.Read Ender's Game? Read this too!
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