Review by Booklist Review
The sequel to Ender's Shadow (1999) continues the exploits of Bean, Ender's strategist and friend, juxtaposing them with the deadly challenges faced by 14-year-old Petra Arkanian, another member of Ender's team. Now that the war against the buggers is over, the Battle School's graduates have returned home, and someone is kidnapping them. Could the psychopathic Achilles be behind it? Events in this novel parallel those in the first part of Speaker for the Dead (1986), the immediate sequel to Ender's Game (1985). Peter Wiggin, Ender's brother, aspires to become the Hegemon and set the world to rights, and he has sent Ender, with his sister, Valentine, into hiding off planet. The characterizations are first class, and the fast-paced action features one hair-raising episode after another, as Achilles proves to be the brains behind the international turmoil in which China gobbles up India and the rest of Asia while Russia swallows the European nations. The international posturing rings very true, as do Achilles' power-grabbing machinations, and Bean's scheming, too, as he reluctantly supports Peter while struggling to bring Achilles down and rescue Petra from Achilles' deadly clutches. At book's end, the hostilities haven't been resolved, which opens the door for another sequel. Shadow of the Hegemon is so nicely integrated into the rest of the Ender canon that readers will be completely enthralled and left anxiously awaiting the next installment. --Sally Estes
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This fine follow-up to Ender's Shadow features that novel's hero, Bean (now a young man), wrestling with Card's trademark: superbly real moral and ethical dilemmas. In a world between wars, filled with ambitious countries jockeying to carve up their neighbors, the children of Battle School are the strongest asset a nation can possess. The greatest of the children, "Ender" Wiggin, has gone off to colonize a new world. The second best, Bean, is hunted by a young psychopathic genius, Achilles, who schemes to conquer Earth with the aid of Ender's soldiers. Peter, Ender's brother, who was too ruthless to make it to Battle School, also works to rule the planet, but through more peaceful, political means. Bean must decide if becoming Peter's shadow and guiding him to become Hegemon will help defeat Achilles, and if one boy's megalomania will make a better world than another's. Children playing at war as if it were a game recalls Card's most famous work, Ender's Game, which won both a Hugo and a Nebula award. The complexity and serious treatment of the book's young protagonists will attract many sophisticated YA readers, while Card's impeccable prose, fast pacing and political intrigue will appeal to adult fans of spy novels, thrillers and science fiction. (Jan. 2) Forecast: Card is immensely popular; this is one of his best novels. Like Ender's Game, it will soar on genre lists and should flirt with, and perhaps woo, regular lists. Tor will ensure this through a $300,000 ad/promo campaign including a nine-city author tour. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
After the defeat of the Hive Queen by Ender Wiggin and the other children of Battle School, the young soldiers return home in time to take part in yet another warDof ideas and politics, of power and treachery. The sequel to Ender's Shadow (LJ 9/15/99) continues the tale of Bean, formerly Ender's second-in-command and now an important tactician and aide to Peter Wiggin, a political philosopher and the future Hegemon. The author's graceful storytelling and engaging cast of youthful characters add an extra dimension to an already gripping story of children caught up in world-shaking events. Recommended for sf collections. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Adult/High School-No wonder smart kids love the Ender saga so much: Card's young heroes are not just consistently smarter than adults, they are Masters of the Universe. This sequel to Ender's Shadow (Tor, 1999) finds the wars over, with Ender in self-imposed exile off-planet. The remaining students of Battle School, now young teens, are trying to adjust to their civilian status when they are suddenly abducted-all except Bean, who escapes and goes into hiding with Sister Carlotta, the nun who raised him. Concluding that the mastermind behind the kidnapping is none other than Achilles, a homicidal megalomaniac from his past, Bean forms an uneasy alliance with Peter Wiggin, the most respected political mind in the world. With the help of coded messages from Bean's old friend Petra (now Achilles's prisoner), Bean and Peter close in on the villain, changing the paths of world powers on their way. Fans of the series will continue to overlook the implausibility of whole countries being turned over to teenagers who proclaim to know it all, but might be a bit disappointed in Peter as the good-guy candidate for ruler of the world. Achilles, a sort of evil James Bond, is the more interesting of the two, but that is typical of the moral dilemmas Card suggests to his readers. With two books still to come about Bean, it would be wise to stock up on all Card's books; enthusiasts may want to revisit the earlier stories while waiting for the next installment.-Jan Tarasovic, West Springfield High School, Fairfax County, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Still in the universe of Cards enormously popular 1984 child-warrior yarn, Enders Game, heres a sequel to Enders Shadow (1999), which explored the roots of the antipathy between Ender Wiggin and his even more capable lieutenant, Bean. Now a struggle for world domination is shaping up. The protagonists will be: Bean himself; Peter, Enders older brother, already famed as the respected essayist and advisor Locke; and Achilles, Beans old adversary, a psychotic killer who murdered Beans childhood friend Poke, and whom Bean arranged to have booted out of Battle School. Peter manages to whisk his sister Valentine and Ender off on a colony starship. But Achilles kidnaps all the Battle School graduates save Bean, whom he tries to assassinate. Petra, a strategist almost as good as Ender and Bean, becomes in effect Achilles slave. Bean joins Sister Carlotta, the nun who befriended him in the bad old street-survivor days. Achilles, meanwhile, pulls strings in Russia, India, Chinathe US is a client state, and Europe enfeebled. Rather than allow Achilles to achieve his aims, Bean knows that he must help Peter become Hegemon. But their egos clash, and Beans freedom of action is restricted by the need to rescue Petra. Can he and Peter put aside their differences and cooperate? Even if they do, can they stop the insensate Achilles? Much less gripping, and much more talky, than the splendid Shadow. Doubtless the series will continue, but this seams pretty well mined out.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by School Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
