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)

The intro song

I thought that the book was really great--but the main point of this review is to ask about the song in the beginning. I don't know why, but it is stuck in my head and I'm wondering if anyone knows what it is.

Good story but seems a bit forced...

Where does Ender's Shadow rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Its good entertainment if you liked Enders Game.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The amount of detail and dept seems greater in Enders Game, giving it a bit of sequel flavor...

Any additional comments?

Do not read this without reading Enders Game. Without that as context there are to many loose ends...

A fantastic parallel to Enders Game.

Beautifully narrated from start to finish. Really loving the enderverse and will be continuing through the series.

The "sequel" you didn't know you wanted

Ender's Game is my favorite book. This book walks parallel to that book. It gives insight and depth to that story. That being said, I believe this book would still have been great had I never read Ender's Game. I'm very excited to dig into the next "Shadow" book.

The Enderverse is brilliant, & OSC for building it

This book was as interesting and as unique as Ender's Game. It boggles my mind that it is mostly the same story from a different FPV.

This book also makes the movie, Ender's Game more likeable and make more sense to me.

Whether you've read Ender's Game or not, read this! OSC was dead on - it stands completely on its own.

Freaking Loved it! Love the series!

Build up of emotions and just left all out on the floor! This was FANTASTIC!

Not really my favorite bean

I have read all of the Enders game books. Which got me excited for this take on the same story. The character development until he got to battle school was amazing. Had me completely excited. Why Orson decided to make Ender seem completely inept in this book is confusing. When you know just how rediculously brilliant Ender is and Bean being super smart as well. But I don't think this story does any thing to add to the Ender universe.

maybe than Enders Game

I may have enjoyed this more than Enders Game. The book covers a lot of ground but is interesting and uniquely it's own for a companion novel.

Excellent read!

I read Ender's Game a few years ago, and I wanted to get back into the series. I bought this book for my commutes, and I must say that there were times I wished my commutes were longer. The story was well read, and the story was really captivating.

good read,

enders game and this book go together well, that's basically all I wanted to say audiobook says I need to add up to 15 words so here's a little more than 15 words thanks adiable