Ender's Shadow

Ender’s Shadow is spin off from the original Ender’s Game written by Orson Scott Card. Ender’s Shadow not as well loved as the original book, it’s still a good book in it’s own right. This is science fiction novel taking place at the same time as Ender’s Game, focusing on Bean’s ascension from living on the streets of Rotterdam, scrounging/scavenging for food and supplies to making his way up to a facility where they select and train the best potential Commanders. The theme of this book is the fight against authority.

This book is about Bean, an orphaned child no older than two years at the time is forced to live on the mean streets of Rotterdam where the older kids and bigger kids(bullies) terrorize the smaller and younger kids for all their resources. Eventually finding his way up to the Battle School, a training facility where the finest children in the world are sent to be tested, selected, and trained to one day become Commanders and officers of the International Fleet. In the hope that one day one of these Commanders will finally defeat the formics commonly known as the buggers, an alien species that has attacked humanity twice in the past and came close to destroying the entirety of the human species.

I loved this book because Bean an underrated side character from Ender’s Game who finally gets the spotlight he deserves. In the original book he’s portrayed as a smart kid who happens to befriend Ender and become his right hand man. In Ender’s Shadow he’s not only intelligent but he is the most intelligent kid at the facility even beating Ender by a large margin and this book give more deep insight into his thoughts, actions, and background. This book was mainly intended for young adults, I think a lot of other people would like book but I would recommend reading Ender’s Game first because Ender’s Shadow gives the feeling of adding in chapters to the first one that we’re missed.

Book Review by Chris L.P.