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

Incredible story, distracting audio edits

Loved the story, couldn't stop listening, but hated the interruptions and dubbs through out the audio. Worth it - but hope its not in the next audio book...

Good story; terrible production & editing

I'm surprised to say how negative I feel toward this audio book, because I've liked the others in this series. However, this one is full of errors and weird cutouts. Apparently, there was some issues with saying the title of the book, because almost every time the word hegemon is said, it's edited in with one character's voice regardless of who is speaking. That's just strange, but worse is the fact that the main villain's name is mispronounced throughout the book. One of the few times is said correctly is when the narrator is explaining that it's the "French pronunciation". Characters who in the last book met him and said the name correctly, say it wrong in this book.

Very frustrating! I enjoy the cast of readers, but wish someone had thought to tell them how to say the antagonist's name.

The audio is not great

The audio quality was shoddy but the story was great as always. You'll get used to the quality after a while and then it's definitely worth it.

I love this series.

What did you love best about Shadow of the Hegemon?

I loved Enders Game. I was so glad I could continue the series. It was nice to get a different view of Peter.

What other book might you compare Shadow of the Hegemon to and why?

Shadow of the Giant was really good too. I loved the depth we get of all the characters.

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

It was a good solid story. I enjoy Orson Scott Card a lot. I think Shadow of the Giant was my next favorite after Enders Game.

Better than Ender’s story

I initially thought that this is just another perspective of the same story. And it was exactly that, but my god this side of the story is so much more rich and thought provoking and makes you appreciate how much thought and passion Orson Scott Card has for the characters of his books.

Great story, spotty audio editing

Fantastic and engaging story. I can't wait to "read" the next book in the series.

That said this audiobook had moments of very poor sound editing. The music at the end of the chapters was fine and didn't bug me like some other reviewers but there were many times that a word or phrase had been spliced in to make a correction but it had a different volume and timbre of voice almost like it was a different person than the narrator you'd just been listening too. Very weird to listen to and not something I've experienced in other audiobooks from Audible or books in the Ender series.

Fantastic continuation

Assuming you've read Scott Card's other books earlier in this series, Shadow of the Hegemon picks up where Ender's Shadow left off. The story is wonderful and well told, and the same cast of characters and voice actors keep us engrossed. The only caveat is that, from sequences with blown-out sound, to frequent mispronouncings of "Hegemon" and the character Achilles's name (sometimes left in, sometimes re-dubbed so obviously it makes you cringe), this audiobook has serious production issues. Overall though, this book is definitely great sci-fi that hits very close to home. Recommended!

Enjoyable

I enjoyed hearing this part of the story of how earth got from the end of the Formic Wars to lasting hegemony. One annoyance throughout the book was that they seem to have not pointed out how Achilles name is pronounced in the French way to most of the readers, and I found the inconsistency distracting for a while

good, but less refined than expected

Good book, but splicing in a correction nearly every time someone says "hegemon" is offputting.

Mean Bean!

What did you like best about this story?

The story was great, interesting, difficult to put down and was well worth the price of admission.

It was nice to get to meet a post Ender's Game Peter and see him when he's not a near homicidal psychopath.

And I really enjoy getting to continue Bean's story. While I loved Ender's Game and will gladly declare it being one of my favorite books of all time, I think I like the character of Bean more. Or at the very least, I find him more interesting.

Would you listen to another book narrated by the narrators?

I would but only because they narrate the rest of the books and I'm already on the sequel.

I don't really know how I feel about the style in general but alternating voices in some chapters is off putting.

Beyond that some of the narrators were a bit annoying. One sounded like he was constantly about to cry. The Nun and Petra's narrator had this way of talking where you think she's just sad and/or depressed.

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

I almost did.

Any additional comments?

This book seemed to be plagued with technical issues that could be off putting. At one point you hearing a long section off audio you've done listened too.

Some pronunciation corrections are very obvious and also rather jarring to listen to, taking you out of the groove of the story.

And it seems the readers had a hard time agreeing on how to say one of the character's names. Even in the same sentence, switching back and forth between pronunciations several times.