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)

Great Follow Up Story!

This book is written such that you DO NOT have to read Ender's Game first, which was a very interested twist.

I would still suggest Ender's Game first, however.

After being disappointed with the Speaker of the Dead trilogy, this book was a refreshing and pleasant surprise.

If you can suspend disbelief and buy into brilliant 6-12 year olds battling a threatening alien species on behalf of all of earth (and I did), this is and Ender's Game are must reads!

Fascinating

I listened to this book right after finishing Ender's Game. It is the same events told through the eyes of a side character, Bean. Even though it is somewhat of a retelling, this does not AT ALL negatively affect the listening experience. One would think that listening to the same thing over again would be laborious, but Orson Scott Card manages to make it all the more fascinating, somehow. It was really interesting to see how different perspectives greatly affect personal experiences. Bean is a lovable character in a strange way, he has interesting faults and challenges, he feels like a very real character even though he is a genius. Please, if you enjoyed Ender's Game, give this story a listen. You will not regret it!

Also it is worth mentioning that, like Ender's Game, the narration is superb. Like Card himself said, this is the best story telling experience.

better than speaker for the dead.

This is as good as the original. instead of reading speaker for the dead, and following Enders story line, read this much better "sequel" instead. I lost all interest in this universe after speaker for the dead, but this story rekindled my interest. A better story arc, and a better character to follow after the end of Enders game, if you want more of this story universe read this book instead.

Great book

I have read every book in this series/world several times and love all of them. But this one is one of my favorites, maybe even the best. Would recommend to everyone.

Loved as much as Ender’s Game

Really really enjoyed this book, just as much as Ender’s game.
May dive into the other books... we will see

Bean is Awesome!

Truly Bean is one astounding bit of fiction. He has a complexity and depth that Card brings to life with breathtaking humanity.

Great but now I must reread Ender’s Game

It was great to hear a different side of Ender’s Game told and beautiful to see Bean’s transformation from street urchin to commander, and I’m sure he will only grow from here (pun not intended!). It saddens me to learn how mad and detached Bean was the whole time, you wouldn’t have guessed seeing his character in Ender’s Game. But I suppose I’ll have to give Ender’s Game another listen and keep an ear out for Bean.

Great book, the voices were a bit much.

Having read the Ender's Game series I fully expected to love this book, as well, and it met expectations. Great story! The voices and the cheesy music between chapters were kind of obnoxious, though. Some of the voices weren't bad, but some were terrible-- tons of vocal fry, fake accents, and over-dramatic reading. Still worth the listen, but I definitely would have preferred a single narrator just reading the book in a normal way.

Great book!

Read it first many years ago and loved it! Listened to now and loved it even more. It brings you into the story I think better than a movie because it fills in all the gaps.

Just as good as the original Ender’s Game

Some parts are a little far fetched and coincidental, but that’s why we read fiction. I rank this book 4th best novel in the Ender Universe, after Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind.