hashsw

I looked at this book for months and am so glad I finally got it. As an avid reader of both fiction and non fiction works about slavery and slave life, I must say this is one of my all time favorites. Great story, character development, and flow. The narrarator is dynamic. She really brings you into the story. When I finished it, I had my husband take a listen and he was also thrilled. This one will defintely be a keeper. I may actually get the physical copy.

When I first heard about this story, it was reported that Shadows in Flight would finally connect the Ender saga and the Shadow books, but as it turns out, it's only about Bean and his kids. OSC apparently wanted the story of this book to be only the first part of that connecting novel, but he realized this story deserves to be told on its own (and I agree). Apparently Shadows Alive will be the follow-up that this one would've been. Despite my initial disappointment, this was a good story and it did have some new info (as opposed to Ender in Exile, which while fascinating, didn't add anything relevant to the Enderverse IMO).

The best part of the story is that it tells the rest of the tragic yet triumphant story of Julian Delphiki, and finishes his legacy. If nothing else, that makes this story worth reading.

I have listened to the narrators before in other OSC books, and I am particularly fond of Stefan Rudnicki and Scott Brick. They could read the Encyclopedia Brittanica and I'd be riveted. I couldn't tell which young lady was doing most of the POVs from Carlotta, but I had moments that it seemed to me that she was a little too bouncy or reading a little too fast for the gravitas of the situation, but overall she and the other narrators were good as always.

Yes, but I don't want to put any spoilers. I will just say that if you're a Bean fan and find it a little hard to get to the punch line in this book, just make it through to the end... I actually cried, both from sorrow and joy...

In the case of Bean's kids, I find their relationship to be too much like the Wiggin sibs to be truly original, but OSC is such a good author that even when he redoes the same theme again and again (which is rather often if you read most of his writing), he still manages to bring something new to the table. This book is a little on the short side, and while at first I thought that was somewhat of a ripoff, I am now glad that OSC didn't drag this one out just to get more hours out of it. Bean's story is tragically short, but full of events that have galactic repercussions, just like this novel.

Although January is gloomy here in the midwest, I can always get a ray of sunshine with the much anticpated annual release from Kimberla Lawson Roby. The Curtis Black series gets better with every book. This is an awesome book and I have shared it with many coworkers who also love it. I cannot wait until the next installment.