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Ender's Shadow  By  cover art

Ender's Shadow

By: Orson Scott Card
Narrated by: Scott Brick, Gabrielle de Cuir, full cast
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Publisher's summary

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....

Browse more titles in the Ender Wiggin series.
©1999 Orson Scott Card (P)2005 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC

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)

What listeners say about Ender's Shadow

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10,925
  • 4 Stars
    2,149
  • 3 Stars
    375
  • 2 Stars
    74
  • 1 Stars
    49
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
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    8,855
  • 4 Stars
    1,483
  • 3 Stars
    262
  • 2 Stars
    34
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    31
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    8,929
  • 4 Stars
    1,397
  • 3 Stars
    277
  • 2 Stars
    59
  • 1 Stars
    41

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great book, not so great recording

The story was great and performances were equally as great. However the recording didn't always line up with the time stamps. Certain chapters and parts start at incorrect times

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great book

Xenocide was getting too wordy and being over philosophic. This was a good book to follow it up. could've done more but well see how future books go.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Narration

The narrators make this book phenomenal! The book in its own right was great but not as good (imo) as Ender’s Game. Both great books and you’ll be sorry if you don’t add both to your library!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

an awesome listen

the time flew by ad I got sucked in to this intricate and well told story.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

As good as ender's game

recommend to anyone who likes to read Orson Scott Card's original ender novel. It isn't a sequel, more like a very interesting buddy novel that tells a wholly fresh and unique story parallel to one you already know

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Another Enders Game

If you liked Ender's Game but are thinking, "this will just be a boring knock-off" you are wrong. This is from a different perspective and remains entertaining and insightful. The story is almost as good as EG and the voice acting is better.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

story

great Addition to a great story. I always wondered what happened to the children. after the battle.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

wonderful

I absolutely adore this book. The performance is a little shaky, but is still awesome.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Just as good as the original Ender’s Game

Some parts are a little far fetched and coincidental, but that’s why we read fiction. I rank this book 4th best novel in the Ender Universe, after Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
  • JS
  • 10-14-21

Good, but the storyline became repetitive

I know this is part of the Ender series, but I found Bean's obsession and constant prattling about Ender excessive as an overall plot device.

Other than that, the audio version itself is excellent.

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