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....

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©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)

Names pronounced incorrectly.

Many of the characters are pronounced oddly. Took me out of the book several times.

size does not always matter

I realy did enjoy this one, if done right would make a great film, agree with the author don't let the producer dictate the script. kept me wanting more, I also liked the story readers, well blanced and made it a good listen.
get this one, I think you'll like it

4.5 if that was an option

Loved it. Probably would have loved it even more if I hadn't read Ender's game. not because it took anything away, but then I would not have had that nagging back and forth in my mind of already knowing one side. Bean is now a very dynamic and interesting character for me, but I would like to see where he goes from here. his arch. maybe that will be in the next book. I'll find out.

Great alternate timeline read!

This book was a great "grass is always greener" read to accompany Ender's Game. I highly recommend the Shadow Series.

great perspective

was hesitant given it was based on the same events as enders game, but it was a completely different and awesome story!

The Best Rendition

Ender’s Game has been one of my favorite books and book series of all time and Bean’s Quartet adds so much more to the characters we love. The story is smart yet emotional and curious. The performances are spot on, although not a full radio drama, with the multiple voices aiding in the story telling from different perspectives.

The twists are fulfilling, even the ones you see coming from Ender’s Game. Bean is a lovable and personally relatable character for anyone who has ever been the person behind the scenes.

As good as ender's game

recommend to anyone who likes to read Orson Scott Card's original ender novel. It isn't a sequel, more like a very interesting buddy novel that tells a wholly fresh and unique story parallel to one you already know

Excellent Narration

The narrators make this book phenomenal! The book in its own right was great but not as good (imo) as Ender’s Game. Both great books and you’ll be sorry if you don’t add both to your library!

Out of all of the Enderverse

This is my favorite story. I cry happy tears at the end, every single time.

Highly Recommend

Loved Bean's story. Reveals a lot of things that were going on in the original that either Ender or the reader didn't know. Works fine as a standalone but even better if you've read Ender's Game already.