Ender's Shadow

By Orson Scott Card

            Ender’s Shadow is a companion novel to Ender’s Game which is told from the perspective of one of the other students in Battle school.  I had a tough time deciding which book I wanted to read after Ender’s Game, and after some contemplation I went with Ender’s Shadow.  (There are over 7 books in the series, covering the period of time before the bugger war, during ender’s time as a launchie, and many books in the aftermath). 

            The main character is Bean, a tough little orphan from the streets of Rotterdam.  Among the orphans living on the street, some of the bullies are forming “families” to curry favor at the soup kitchens.  This idea was thought up by Bean, and his family is being run by Achilles.  Achilles is a tough cripple with a big chip on his shoulder.  He is wary of Bean, and makes it obvious that he will do whatever it takes to be in charge.  Bean plays dumb to avoid the eye of Achilles, but ends up being noticed by Sister Carlotta.  Sister Carlotta is working for the IF, and she has been testing orphans for years to see if they have what it takes to be placed in battle school.  Bean’s talents are noticed immediately, despite his best efforts to hide his intellect, and he soon finds himself in battle school.  Bean’s aptitude puts him in contention with Ender for Commander.  Similar to Ender, he is rigorously challenged and also excels in his studies.  Bean also pushes back against the IF, and does a lot more spying to discover the inner workings of battle school.  Bean finds himself in Ender’s army and becomes a very reliable teammate, in and outside of battles.  In addition to Enders storyline, Bean and Sister Carlotta are actively searching for where Bean came from and the mystery of his intelligence.

            I’m very glad that I decided to read this book in the order that I did.  Since all the activities of Ender’s Game were fresh in my mind, it was great to read the same story from a different perspective.  The reader gets a behind the scenes view of the competition between Bean and Ender, and how the Commander’s in battle school struggled with the decision of who is the best.  Some of the events from Ender’s Game are also reexamined, which gives us a more in depth view of what was going on.  By the end of the book, Bean was definitely a memorable and well developed character.  I would definitely check this book out if you enjoyed Ender’s Game.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Bunsen Burners

Up Next: Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card