Shadows in Flight

By: Orson Scott Card

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Emily Janice Card, Scott Brick, Orson Scott Card, Kirby Heyborne

Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

Ender's Shadow explores the stars in this all-new novel...

At the end of Shadow of the Giant, Bean flees to the stars with three of his children—the three who share the engineered genes that gave him both hyper-intelligence and a short, cruel physical life. The time dilation granted by the speed of their travel gives Earth's scientists generations to seek a cure, to no avail. In time, they are forgotten—a fading ansible signal speaking of events lost to Earth's history. But the Delphikis are about to make a discovery that will let them save themselves, and perhaps all of humanity in days to come.

For there in space before them lies a derelict Formic colony ship. Aboard it, they will find both death and wonders—the life support that is failing on their own ship, room to grow, and labs in which to explore their own genetic anomaly and the mysterious disease that killed the ship's colony.

Shadows in Flight is the fifth novel in Orson Scott Card's Shadow Series.

©2011 Orson Scott Card (P)2012 Macmillan Audio

A short but fulfilling end to an amazing series.

The narration was always on point, the different narrator's brought always a distinct presence to the limited number of characters. I will be looking for other project of the same production without a doubt.
The feeling of wanting more still prevails, but I can respect this stepping out point.
Will be buying the physical books of this series, just to have a reminder of how amazing the shadow series was.

Fabulous

The story is amazing the reading crew is fantastic and the author is a genius

Satisfying story continuation with questionable performance

As a diehard fan of the Enderverse (have read them all...several times), it took me several attempts at listening over a period of many years before I found this book palatable to listen to. These are my evaluative observations:
1) The storyline makes sense in relation to the previous and concurrent books.
2) Character development is also rational. Each character is odd, including Bean, but considering the environment they have been relegated to, it makes sense why they would turn out this way.
3) The story feels more like a psychological/psychosocial exploration than an adventure-based or relationship-based story, not that those elements are not there. However, the tone of the story has this quality to it.
4) I can not tell whether the reason for #3 is because of the performance of the reader. His characterizations are quite off-putting, to me. The way he reads Bean, for example, makes me believe that Bean’s person has altered vastly since the previous stories. Did Card write him that way, or is the reader interpreting something that was not present in Card’s motivations? Likewise, the children are so robotic and cold. There, I can at least reason out the appropriateness of the decision to cast them that way, but I still find it off-putting.

Great Build Up, and then Just Ends

I have loved all the Ender and Shadow series book so far. I'm reading (listening) to them in chronological order and I have thoroughly enjoying them. When I came up to this story, I was very excited to see what happened to Bean and his three children after they entered the spaceship. I think that this story allowed us to see exactly that. We got to meet his children, all grown up and brilliant and immature. The performance by all the readers is amazing and had me engulfed in the story.

As the story progressed, I loved every minute of it: the relationship between Bean and his children, the relationships between each of the children, the power struggle between the two boys, and the exploration of the ship. When the end neared, I could not sense it, which I am usually able to do. Then it ended and I was left hanging, waiting for the second half of the book to begin.

As Card explained in the author's note, this was an experiment of a half-novel to see if there was a market for such a length. Honestly, I think that this was not long enough to stand on its own as a book, especially when one compares it to the lengths of his other Ender and Shadow novels. I would declare this experiment a failure. It was too short. This could have worked if this was the first book in a series or a stand-alone book. However, to introduce a half-novel in the middle of a series of full length novels was not the smartest of ideas.

Excellent addition to the "Enderverse"

Would you listen to Shadows in Flight again? Why?

Yes, it is chock full of nuances, information and mysteries that I love about this series.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Shadows in Flight?

The discovery of the mystery ship, and the processes Bean and the kids go through to determine what they should do.

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

The narrators are the same as previous Shadow and Ender books, and I love that they have kept it consistent over the years. I also love that the author has personal involvement in the production of the audiobooks.
Seperate voices for each character helps distinguish each point of view (since they are often so different) is great, the personality each voice lends to the characters is important, and a great decision made by the producers.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The end, I wont spoil it, but I shed a couple tears.

Any additional comments?

This is a short novel, according to Card, he felt he had to tell this story before telling another story (coming soon I presume) and the length is just right. If you have listened to and enjoyed previous Shadow or Ender stories, you will love this one, and I think it is as good as the best of these series. Even though it is shorter than most novels of Cards, I did not feel cheated or that the length was not worth my purchase, I might suggest just paying the purchase price, rather than your monthly credit, if you want to maximize your value.
I love the fact that Orson Scott Card has little "commentaries" at the end of his books, its like getting a short "Bonus feature" like you get on DVD's. I wish more authors did this (I think Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter did this as well). This bonus adds even more value to my purchase, thank you Mr. Card!

Definitely a novelette

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

I would recommend this to all who have been waiting for a "conclusion" to Bean's story.

What did you like best about this story?

It was an interesting concept. I do not want to ruin the plot for anyone. It had me wanting to listen continuously.

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

This is on par with all other books produced by Blackstone Audio. I haven't heard one of their narrators I did not like.

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

Definitely... and with this book length I could.

Any additional comments?

I wish it was a full novel.

A Sentinental Man

Any additional comments?

It is obvious that Orson Scott Card loves his characters, and what is not to love and respect about Bean? He grew up as a feral child and without his own abilities and the love of a few he would have died as an infant. While I loved Enders Game and the subsequent books in that series Enders Shadow was equal in the quality of story telling and the quality of the characters. Bean, Petra, Peter, and the others of Ender's tribe that are portrayed in the Shadow series are complex and interesting people. There is not always a happy ending,
no spoiler here with this book by the way. Ender has his struggles as does Bean, but this is life. I liked this book, it continued the story, a little short for sure. I love nothing more than a good 20 hour audible listen ! and I have bought enough of Card's books to realize that he is as prolific as they get. I think it is a combination of his obvious bottomless well of story's to tell mixed with some business. lets not forget Orson Scott Card's forerunners like Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein and the like cranked out some short books and some of dubious quality to pay the mortgage. So I took this as it was, a nice continuation of the Bean saga with interesting characters, a good solid story that lives in and expands the Ender universe. I will certainly buy the next book in this series which will apparently connect the two threads, that of the Ender's Game story line and the Ender's Shadow..

Could have been so much more

Would you listen to Shadows in Flight again? Why?

Possibly because I am a huge fan of the whole Enderverse and even though this seems uncomplete to me it is stll apart of that.

Any additional comments?

I went in thinking this would be an answer or completion of Bean's and Petra's story but was left with even more questions at the end then when I had started with, different question now but more. I don't know if there will be a sequel to this but if so, I think it should have been part of this book. The ending for me was too abrupt.

Having said that.... The performance was excellent and true to form for the series and was enjoyable just the same.

I thought I already loved Bean!

I have loved Bean's story from the start, and I was thrilled when Ender's Shadow started the Shadow series. I had felt left hanging for years at the end of Shadow of the Giant, when Bean and three of the kids took off for deep space. Petra and Peter got some wrap up but not Bean.

Here it is. Other reviewers have complained about the three kids comunication style. As a mother of three I felt that Mr. Card captured real sibling "stuff" that was authentic and believable. Of course it is anoying to listen to at times. That was part of the point.

With the shorter format Mr. Card used for this story there was not as much oportunity to be in Bean's head as he dealt with his briliant trio, but his love for them still came through loud and clear. It was absolutely clear the lengths he was willing to put himself through to stay alive long enough to know his kids would be okay. Yes, I was a sobbing mess at the end. I think that just demonstrates how well writen a story it was.

you CAN read this 2nd!

I was afraid that I made a mistake trying to read this immediately after Ender's Game, without reading any of the other books first, but was very pleased to find that I had all the essential background I needed to follow along and enjoy this book.

I wasn't as caught up in this book as I was Ender's Game, as I *was* able to put it down and read other books and do other life tasks without chomping at the bit to pick it up again, but I still very much enjoyed the story and performance. The author's end note was "icing on the cake" and helped ne recover fron the emotional ending, as well.