Shadow of the Hegemon

By: Orson Scott Card

Narrated by: David Birney, Scott Brick, Gabrielle de Cuir

Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

Ender's Game told the story of the boy "Ender" Wiggin and his hard-won victory over an alien race that would have destroyed the Earth and all of humanity. But Ender was not the only child in the Battle School. He was just the best of the best. In Ender's Shadow, Orson Scott Card told the story of another of those precocious generals, the one they called Bean - the one who became Ender's right hand, his strategist, and his friend.

And now Card continues Bean's story, and finally tells a tale long awaited by millions of fans. At last we learn what happened on Earth after the destruction of the Hive Queen's worlds, after humanity no longer had a single enemy to unify the warring nations. This is the story of how Bean turned away from his first friend, Ender, and became the tactical genius who won the Earth for Ender's brother, Peter, who became the Hegemon.

Please note: This 2001 recording represents the technology of the time when it was produced. This is currently the best available source audio from the publisher.

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©2000 Orson Scott Card

poor recording ☹️

many cases of voice overs to correct mistakes in the reading or script. Actors pronouncing the name of Achilles incorrectly even when it's supposed to be the character himself speaking.

Sound bytes throughout

Love the story and the narration however, throughout the entire book whenever the words “the hegemon” are used, it is very clearly a different recording “dubbed” in. Its kinda annoying

great story great actors poor editing

the voice actors were great but you could tell they went back and edited over some things with a different voice actor and it was very jarring when it happened. also there's startling strange music in between each chapter which I'm not a fan of. but the story is amazing the actors are great better editing next time

Great book, questionable production choices?

I enjoyed the book. I always have liked Scott Card’s writing. This book is different than Speaker, Xenocide and Children of the Mind. Less depth in the internal struggles and moral questions those books tackle - but it’s meant to be different. It moves along the story about what happened on earth after the Formic war and does so skillfully. The voice actors are the same as the previous books and as always did a stellar job. However, there are several over-dubs of the word “Hegemon” in the audio book that were so poorly done I winced each time I heard them. Overall, I enjoyed it.

Wonderful book, quirky issues with audio narration

Great book, highly recommend series, but in this audiobook many instances of phrases including the word "hegemon" are obviously edited and a different voice/different recording quality are ever so briefly spliced in. Distracting and annoying

the way he meant it to be heard

great story! Bean is definitely a favorite. love love love love love love love love

Great Story Bad audio book

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

the story is great. if you liked the series up to this point you will like this one as well.

How could the performance have been better?

the BAD audio starts about 1/2 into the book. Specifically the word Hegemon. its quite funny but i find myself lost after getting distracted by the horrible splice of the word Hegemon multiple time. The music at the end of the chapter remind me of 70's porn music or some sort of old workplace safety video. The "sweet jams" add nothing to the story in anyway but provide a decent laugh at the end of each chapter.

Any additional comments?

still worth the buy

Listen Here

You won't be disappointed by the story or voice acting. You will be saddened by the sound quality, and absolutely appalled at the transition music. But wait, there's more: sound edits that sound...words fail me here...picture buying a book, finding words and phrases--such as "hegemon"--blackened out, and the proper text inserted at the bottom of the page on a pink sticky note. And who is the blasted fool that thought two people carrying on a conversation would sound better if one, only one, sounded as if he were speaking out of a well? Amazon--keep this book available, but you, Mr. Card, his agent, the voice actors, the original producers all deserve better post-post production. So do we. People, buy it anyway, but get indignant.

Story vs. production.

The story, as stated by others, is phenomenal. It is much more cerebral and political than Shadow, but context is provided throughout so a reader is not lost. The music is not good, but the weird upbeat music is only used between chapters and is not a distraction. The strange one is the dub of characters stating "Hegemon." We say it as
He-j-emon while i think the undub, which slips through is He-g-emon. It is inexplicable but it DOES NOT ruin the experience of the book.
There was some discussion of Achille's name in other posts. There is a rationale for it. Bean and characters who knew him before call him A-Sheel. Petra, who is another narrator, calls him Achilles. There is a story reason for the difference and not a production reason.
All in all this is a very good book, with some questionable production decisions that don't detract from the story so much.

I love this book.

The music was terrible. At times the reading was choppy. Overall Not bad. love the story!