Ender's Shadow

By: Orson Scott Card

Narrated by: Scott Brick, Gabrielle de Cuir, full cast

Length: 15 hrs and 42 mins

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)

Outstanding retelling of a great story!

It is very rare to have a story retold from the point of view of a different character in that story and even more rare to have it done successfully. This book put a whole new perspective on Bean for me and made me wonder just how much I missed with regards to him in Ender's Game. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it.

A follow up story better than the original?

How do you make a successful follow up to a true classic story? Easy, a) make it a concurrent story line and b) really let the character blossom.

If you are a fan of Ender's game DO NOT miss this one. OSC really out did himself with this. And if you are an OSG fan you know well this is hard to do.

Great insight into a character from Ender's Game

A great story that is hard to get through at first but drags you in as it goes. if you liked Ender's Game but wanted to see the world from a different perspective, you should love this book.

A terrific follow up

This was a great book to listen to thanks to the author who transported me and others to another time , place , reality .

Excellent story, Odd recording elements

Any additional comments?

Ender's Shadow is one of my favorite books, and the audio books are overall excellent so far. In this recording, however, there are some jarring elements that tended to boost me out of the story. Not deal-breakers, but if there was a different recording version I would definitely want to exchange.

In several places in the reading, the word Hegemon, hegemony, etc are cut in with an alternate voice. Perhaps the original narrators had a pronunciation issue? Also there are some unexpected and inexplicable changes in narrator.

Also there's a personally unpleasant music interlude between sections, which are odd, dissonant in some cases, and sound like old old video game music - I think it might be "midi" if anyone remembers that.

Bean, from Rotterdam to the stars

Would you consider the audio edition of Ender's Shadow to be better than the print version?

Actually yes, this book wouldn't lend itself to a solo reader and fortunately it didn't. With a full cast including the author how can can you miss? It's very good.

What did you like best about this story?

Beans humanity inspite of his difficulties

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

Simply that it was a full cast.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes it was

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed this more then Enders Game.

Almost better than Ender's Game

Be sure that you have read Enders's Game before you read this. This book was delicious. I enjoyed every minute of it. Must read.

Just Great!

Would you listen to Ender's Shadow again? Why?

I've already listened to this book twice and will listen to it again.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Ender's Shadow?

The whole story is great.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I loved the different readers.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

I'm not sure how this could be a movie

Any additional comments?

I have told my family and friends about this book. I have listen to " Ender's Game" after Enders Shadow and I enjoyed the Enders Shadow series better. I think the author became a better writer.

Great!

This was a great book. I loved Ender's Game and this was just as good.

A must have if you love Ender's Game

If you could sum up Ender's Shadow in three words, what would they be?

A new perspective

Who was your favorite character and why?

Bean

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Many different voices and a ability to close your eyes and imagine

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It brought back the same feelings i first had when i first read enders game