Ender's Shadow
by Orson Scott Card · first published 1999
64% recommend28% neutral8% critical
Why HN recommends it
Retells Ender's Game in parallel from Bean's point of view, adding depth on the Battle School and the book's ideas. Quick to read, stands alone, and suits fans of Ender's Game; some prefer it to the original.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
This is Bean's installment of Orson Scott Card's Ender's saga. It is a great character building book for those who have read Ender's Game and want to know more about Bean and his background. Here is the description from the back of the book: Welcome to Battleschool. Growing up is never easy. But try living on the mean streets as a child begging for food and fighting like a dog with ruthless gangs of starving kids who wouldn't hesitate to pound your skull into pulp for a scrap of apple. If Bean has learned anything on the streets, it's how to survive. And not with fists. He is w
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…already decided that you want to read more of the series. However, there is also a different set of sequels, and the first of them is the first book I would recommend to anyone who wanted to read more: Ender's Shadow. (Like Ender's Game, it won both a Hugo award and a Nebula award.) It takes place during the same time as Ender's Game, but from the perspective of one of the secondary characters. This second series…
on “Neon Genesis Evangelion (2019)” ↗…enjoyed The Peripheral - it's a fun read. Enders Game and Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card are fantastic, but the remaining books suffer from diminishing returns (with the possible exception of Ender's Shadow). There are a lot of books in the series, but basically, the series finishes wherever you get bored reading it. Anything by China Mieville is well worth your time. Oh, I also really enjoyed Elizabeth…
on “What are your favourite sci-fi books?” ↗…book, with almost no reservations. It's not very long, and a very stimulating read. If you enjoy that one, and want to read more, then I'd recommend reading either one or both of the immediate sequels (Ender's Shadow and Speaker for the Dead). Iff you read either of those, and enjoyed it, and want to read more, then (and only then) should you concern yourself with the trails of sequels.
on “Neon Genesis Evangelion (2019)” ↗You should read Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card. Perfect companion piece to Ender's Game (not sure if you know much about it, but it is focused on Bean). I also recently finished the first book in the Foundation Series and need…
on “Ask HN: What are you reading right now?” ↗* As much of an asshole as Orson Scott Card turned out to be, both Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow are great works of fiction which have the added bonus of showing you what creative thinking is like and why children are so good at it. * Anything by Larry Niven and/or Jerry Pournelle. * K.J. Parker…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books (both fiction and non-fiction)?” ↗I will add Ender's Shadow, by the same author. It is a parallel novel -- the same story retold from the perspective of a different character (Bean). They are very well integrated: both books stand alone (I read Shadow first),…
on “Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?” ↗For me "The Godfather" by Mario Puzo, "Ender's Shadow" by Orson Scott Card and the Bhagvad Gita
on “Ask HN: What books do you want to read over again?” ↗…can be offputting but I enjoyed it. Also want to second some of the other recs in this thread. - Greg Egan's stuff - There is No Antimimetics Division by qntm - Sequels to Enders Game and the Ender's Shadow spinoffs by Orson Scott Card. - Dragon's Egg and its sequel by Robert L. Forward.
on “My favorite cult sci-fi and fantasy books you may not have heard of before” ↗I don’t know. I read Ender’s Shadow before Ender’s Game, and felt like Shadow was a much better book. It’s been a while, but as I recall it runs parallel to Ender’s Game and goes into much more depth regarding the difficulties and anguish…
on “Neon Genesis Evangelion (2019)” ↗Read Ender's Shadow as well. And probably the other main-line Ender stories. None are a difficult read - you'll breeze through them in a weekend.
on “The 'Unfilmable' Ender's Game’s 28 Years in Development Hell” ↗The best one is Speaker for the Dead. Also, Ender's Shadow attempts to address some of the flaws you mention. I don't think the book justifies pre-emptive war at all: The problem of a potential alien attack is relevant (in an ironic way) b/c many human political…
on “Ask HN: What are the books that changed the perspective of your life?” ↗He needs (and you (if you haven't) need) to read Ender's Shadow. Bean's POV offers lots of important clarification and insight to Card's interpretation of "love thy enemy." It's a much more interesting read but is just as enjoyable as Ender's Game, but don't read…
on “Ender's Game Review” ↗If you don't see anything wrong with Ender's Game, for your own sake, don't read anything of Card's past Speaker for the Dead. I loved Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow - but it gets harder to read them the more you're aware of Card's, uh, political stances. There's such thing as knowing an author too well. Namely, when it starts effecting your interpretation of his…
on “Has sci-fi run out of steam?” ↗I did quite like Ender's Shadow. The rest of the Shadow books weren't as bad as Children of the Mind, but they did seems to just follow a formula.
on “"Ender's Game" movie happening” ↗…John Brunner's "The Shockwave Rider". It was written in 1975 but is eerily prescient - at least I thought so when I read it in the 90's. Of course, I also recommend Gibson's books. And "Ender's Game"/"Ender's Shadow", even though they're not cyberpunk/cyber thrillers.
on “Ask HN: I loved Snow Crash and Daemon. What should I read next?” ↗