Ender's Shadow (The Shadow Saga Book 1) (urspr publ 1999; utgåvan 2002)

Ender's Shadow is such a good book. When I started it, I was expecting to read about a shadow. I was expecting the same story that I read in Ender's Game but from a different perspective. That was actually there, but there was so much more besides. There is a set of characters from outside of Ender's Game. And there is a new depth added to characters we met in Ender's Game. Bean's character is very complex from the beginning of this book until the end. And we get to see him grow and mature along the way.

And I must admit that I got rather choked up at the ending. I just finished 10 minutes ago, so maybe I'm still a little high on the ending. But I expect that I'll still consider this a very good book a few days from now after it has all soaked in a little more.

I saw it in several places where the author and even other reviewers pointed out that each of these two books (Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow) stands on its own. They say you can read either one or both. And while they said that it did not matter which you read first, I would recommend that you read Ender's Game first. That's just one man's opinion, but when you are all done, I think you will agree.

To Orson Scott Card I must say "Well Done!". ( )

This book is excellent. It's the kind of book that makes you annoyed with all the past ratings you have given to books as you need to downgrade them all to make room for it at the top.

Should have 6 stars, it was excellent.

I did read this straight after reading Enders Game so that might have contributed to it being so good. Really interesting to see another side to the same story.

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I am convinced that Orson Scott Card is a genius.

Ender's Shadow is in many ways very much like Ender's Game. Not only do they center on the same story, but they are told in similar ways. Both focus almost exclusively on a central character, who is an exceptional child that you grow to love. Bean is a super-hero in intellect - perfect memory, unparallelled intuition, learns anything with no effort.

The only difference between the two stories is its perspective. Bean is smart, and Card indulges his readers by delving deeply into Bean's psyche (which is why it's a bit longer than Ender's Game and Speaker). If you liked Ender's Game, you will like Ender's Shadow. Its a compelling story of imagination, courage, and adventure. Fun, smart book. Recommended.

My only complaints were the slight contradictions between Ender's Game and Shadow - for example, how difficult it seemed to get into command school in Ender's Game, while it seemed to easy in Ender's Shadow. Eh.
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I enjoyed this book better than Ender's Game, of which this is the sequel. There was so much more depth to this book and more background information about the Battle School. It was good to see it in the perspective of Bean instead of Ender. Even though I knew what was coming, it still didn't lack some suspense as there were a few new situations we weren't aware of in Ender's Game. I am looking forward to reading more in this series.

It was a bit too wordy in places, with not enough action. Small item to quibble about, though. ( )

Great alternate perspective of an already great story!!! ( )