Shadow Of The Hegemon: Book 2 of The Shadow Saga

This book is great for those who enjoy both political fiction and suspensE novels, and even had a very wide range of readers, from young high schoolers to adults who just enjoy a good read. It has some pretty funny parts, is easily understood, if you know political history at least, and I believe that for many predominately logical thinkers, it is not too hard to delve in to this book.

This was my least favorite Orson Scott Card book to date, by far. I've read all the Ender's Series, the Shadow series up to the end of Shadow Puppets, and the Empire series.

I could barely finish this book; it grated me. If it were a movie, only 40 minutes of 4 hours was any good. The only reason I finished it was b/c it's essential to understand the next book in the series.

-Finished on 2012-08-27 (116,804 words in 7 days; 16,686 wpd).

I have always loved the Ender series and the Shadow series, and have re-read all the books in each many times. This book takes such an interesting look at the lives of the other Battle School graduates that it makes me feel like I am reading about a universe in which real events happened. Absolutely wonderful.

Shadow of the Hegemon continues the Ender Saga in a most satisfying way. As a parallel to the original, it casts an intriguing new light on the main figures and creates new angels of view. And it is damned well-written!

Shadow of the Hegemon continues the Ender Saga in a most satisfying way. As a parallel to the original, it casts an intriguing new light on the main figures and creates new angels of view. And it is damned well-written!

This book is definitely different from Ender's Shadow and the other Ender books, but in a good way. Card makes political maneuvering and military mobilization suspenseful and intriguing. Definitely worth a read.

These stories actually help me feel more than any other books have. They have taught me lessons that I can use in my day to day life. From them I have learned how to lead n follow all in the same act. Thank you Orson

With the defeat of the Formics (buggers), there is a power vacuum on Earth and the Battle Schoolers become red hot commodities for world powers. Kidnappings and murder thrust Petra and Bean into a struggle to save lives and defeat the emergent Achilles. That’s no spoiler as it happens very early. The strength of Card’s writing contrives a tense struggle with strong characters that will please most readers. His treatment of history is interesting, even if his geopolitics shows some new world bias or worse. Yet if there is any suspension of belief, the scenarios that Card creates will do more good than harm in stimulating readers’ interest in the exotic realms of south east Asia. The reader is left to (cynically) wonder if Card tends to be less charitable in his portrayal of nations away from his English readership but, then again, his work has been translated extensively. These small points aside, Shadow of the Hegemon is a tense and powerful novel with historic themes, insights and ironies conveyed through interesting characters.

In chronological order, this is the third book in the Ender series (if you put Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, and A War of Gifts all in the first slot, since they all take place at around the same time period at the beginning of the events in the books. Ender in Exile would be Book #2.)

I didn't like it quite as much as Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, or Speaker For the Dead, but I did like it very much. The reason I didn't like it as much was that this book is focused less on psychology (although there is still some of that) and culture; and more on political maneuvering and military actions. But like all of the books in the series, it is still highly intricate, intelligent, and subtle.

In Shadow of the Hegemon, the main action centers around Bean, Petra, Achilles, and Sister Carlotta. Peter Wiggins is also important, although usually as a writer of emails and articles rather than as an actual presence. The war against the Formics is over, and Ender has been exiled to space for his own protection, so he is absent from this novel. Now that they are no longer united against the alien species, the countries of the Earth are in a struggle for domination, with Peter and Achilles competing for individual domination.

As always in this series, the book's depth is its greatest strength: the extensive development of the characters (continued from the previous books) and the explorations of philosophy and spirituality (but never preachy or dogmatic.)

Having just read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, I noticed that in this series, there is an implicit assumption that it is the sheer genius of the kids (their super-high IQ's) that allow them to be so successful and powerful. According to Gladwell, this would not happen in real life, especially in the case of Bean and Achilles, who did not come from backgrounds that support success. And in fact, the author does have Bean ponder that it was the permanent repercussions of having to fight just to survive in his early life, that caused Bean (who had the highest IQ) to take second place to Ender as the leader in the Formic War. Just an interesting aside . . .

(365 pages)

Ender Wiggin and his sister, Valentine, have left Earth on the advice of their older brother, Peter. That's a good thing, because the other former Battle School "students" who were part of Ender's jeesh, who fought to victory against the insectoid alien Formics, are kidnapped shortly after this book opens. They are still children - the oldest are in their early teens - and that makes them even more valuable to the captors who want to use their tactical expertise in wars of nationalism. For that ancient scourge is rampant once again, now that Earth no longer needs to be united in order to fight the Formics.

Voluntarily working with those who have kidnapped Ender's jeesh is Achilles, an orphan recruited for Battle School by Sister Carlotta. Achilles didn't last long in Battle School because Bean, the most brilliant student of all, recognized him and got rid of him. For Bean was also an orphan on the streets of Rotterdam, and Carlotta also recruited Bean. What's different about Achilles is that he's a serial killer. And now the lives of Bean's dearest friends are in that mad young man's hands...including the life of Petra, the only girl in Ender's jeesh and the closest friend Bean has ever had.

Politics bore me, even when they are part of a future universe lovingly created by a master storyteller. This book's plot revolves around politics. I enjoyed it thoroughly nevertheless, because its characters never take a back seat to its plot. Peter Wiggin, who in his 'Net identity of the mysterious "Locke" can sway opinions and influence events all over the world. Carlotta, the nun who takes the risk of loving someone else's child as if he were her own. The Wiggin parents, whose religions (yes, that word definitely must be plural) put them at odds with the world in which they must live their lives and rear their children. Petra, who failed Ender during the final battle and can't forgive herself. And Bean himself, this tale's hero, a pint-sized military genius who never had a chance to be a child - not even before Battle School, to which children went at 5 or 6 years old because only a child's unfettered creativity could hope to defeat the Formics...these characters are unforgettable.

Fun even for a reader who hasn't been exposed to the rest of the "Enderverse" books!

"Shadow of the Hegemon", like its predecessor, "Ender's Shadow" is not really a continuation of the Ender saga. Card very nicely wrote that story across four excellent novels. These stories are about Bean, the smallest and most intelligent of all the kids Ender trained with at the Battle School. The fact that they all contain the word "shadow" implies that Bean belongs in the periphery, when in fact he deserves a spotlight just as much as Ender, or does he? This is where one main source of dissatisfaction may lie.
One of the huge differences between Ender and Bean is that Bean does not for one moment doubt his brilliance or ability. This grows tiresome after two novels. In "Hegemon" he is not alone either. Peter, Bean, and Achilles all believe that they have the patent on always being right. There is a constant interplay between them trying to one-up each other's ability to be right. With no other motive, this is extremely tedious, plus it seems insufficient that a human being would not know doubt. Ender as a character was interesting partly because he struggled painfully to do the right thing and overcome his guilt and doubt. Bean proclaims to care only for his own survival, until the end when he is overcome with shame. By the final chapter of this book, Bean has come to terms with truths about himself and the people he has grown to love. In a final scene he tells Petra that he is "not human". Until this chapter, those words are believable. In my eyes, Bean becomes fully human in the closing section of this book.
Although a lot of this novel reads more like an animated game of RISK, its conclusion sets up the two sequels to examine Bean's fate and the recreation of the Hegemony under Peter Wiggin. Who knows, there may even be romance budding..."Hegemon" on its own is not terribly impressive, but it opens the way for two exciting novels to come. It's time for Bean to step out of the Shadow, but please Mr. Card, no more shadow titles.

Cards books on the Battle School genius's are all pretty good. I particularly liked Enders Game and this book, Shadow of the Hegemon.
While I could never believe the premise that the worlds most powerful leaders would listen to children, regardless of the childs brilliance, Card still makes a plausible story of it all - and takes the reader on a fun journey into brilliance and madness while he is at it. Bean is the brightest of them all and this book takes you deeper into the thought process of the wonderkid at work - this time not in war but in Politics.
I have only two complaints with the book; Peter Wiggen and Childhood Influence. This book seems to have softened the personality of Peter Wiggen, Enders older brother whom we met in Ender's Game - he seems much nicer and compassionate than he should be - I don't have the same sense of forboding I had before with Peter. Secondly, the realitive ease with which these kids get the ear of world leaders, particularly our main antagonist Achilles. Not only do they get the ears of all of these adults but they are easilly able to manipulate them via petty flattery and the petting of egos.
Despite these weaknesses the story is good and has a great flow to it. I read the book in two afternoon sittings during my recent vacation and don't feel the time was wasted. The book is good entertainment while also delivering some social commentary about our not too distant future.
However, more than the book itself, I enjoyed the afterword by Card giving some insight into the books that shaped his views of world politics and what makes the events that happen happen.
The book can be read as a stand alone volume but I would recommend at least reading Enders Game and Enders Shadow before hand so that you have a solid basis with which to "believe" in the extrodinary children depicted.

Maybe I'm just the biggest Ender sentimentalist out there, but I loved this book for every reason that I loved "Ender's Game," "Speaker for the Dead," and "Ender's Shadow": It's fantastic in every way, outlining its characters with the kind of precision and mastery that I could only hope to accomplish in all my days as an author and, one day, a screenwriter. "Shadow of the Hegemon" picks up one year after "Ender's Shadow" left off and moves on for another two or three years throughout the course of the book. The plot is quite ingeniously conceived and executed, and it finally answered a lot of the questions I had been asking myself ever since I finished "Ender's Game" for the first time, the main one being: How did Peter Wiggin become Hegemon? This book answers the main question of how it happened, but it left off in a spot that left me with a new question: How in the name of God and sonny Jesus are Bean and Peter going to pull of this imminent victory that they are prophesized to achieve, as is foretold by the last three "Ender" books? I was content to not have the answers. On the other hand, I can barely handle this feeling in my stomach that I call anticipation. Anticipation for the final two installments in Bean's saga, which is every bit as gripping and well thought out as Ender's. I just hope Card doesn't take a wrong turn after "Hegemon" like he did after "Speaker." I mean, don't get me wrong, I still loved "Xenocide" and "Children of the Mind," but they seriously lack in the kind of pace and brilliance that are evident in "Game," "Speaker," "Shadow," and here in "Hegemon." Nevertheless, despite any doubts I might be harboring, I do not presume that Mr. Card will let me down. I have every confidence in him. But in the meantime, I'm eagerly awaiting the fifth installment of Harry Potter. Godspeed, Orson.