The League War is over (was I the only one thrown by missing everything that happened between Ender's victory over the Buggers and the beginning of this book?) and Battle School is no more. There is no more need for the strategic genius of the warrior children. So they, minus Ender, of course, are sent back to Earth. They are kidnapped poste haste, all save Bean, who 'escapes', but his fate would have been death. As soon as the attempt on his life happens we know we'll be seeing Achilles soon. Petra, the tough chic of Ender's jeesh, is the only one of the genius kids smart enough to get a code out to Bean. He appeals to Peter Wiggin to help, but Peter is motivated by the desire to become Hegemon and leader of the world, so he helps where he can when it suits him. Bean has to save Petra (he conveniently takes that as his purpose for living) before Achilles can take over the world via political manipulations in southeast Asia.

The political strategy seen through the lens of personal motivations was brilliant. That being said, in a world that is 150 years in the future, supposedly, I'm surprised that all the countries seem to have their same socio-economic standing, borders, and relationships alive today.

I'll always be a sucker for Bean and Sister Carlotta's banter. Achilles is one of the most perfect villain characters I've ever read. You can't help but identify with parts of his personality, but he really just is a psychotic killer to the core.

Peter Wiggin. His character shifts drastically from the evil genius he promises to be in Ender's Game and now we feel sorry for the poor kid who really lived in Ender's Shadow. Card pulls it off for this story really well, as I like Peter now, but in trying to connect Game and Hegemon, it's difficult to reconcile the two. Also did not like the Wiggins parents. They become more religious nut cases than anything else. Of course they're smart, to have such brilliant children, but therein lies the gaping hole--their intelligence is never a factor in the books. We're supposed to buy their religious fervor as an excuse for why they never became brilliant leaders themselves with jobs that matter. Also, all of Ender's jeesh are kidnapped (except Bean), but the only one we really see in captivity is Petra. Toward the end we get a glimpse of Virlomi, another Indian Battle School child a little older than Ender & Co, and Suriawong comes into play a bit, but over all I missed seeing the personalities under Achille's thumb.

Meh. I was actually rather ambivalent. Not Card's best, though it has its moments.

As always, sad for the kids.

Card does fall back to his old tricks--brilliant, tragic children who end up with the fate of humanity on their shoulders, but he once again pulls off the tension and the character interplay. His children are witty and calculating to the last.

Some of the characters that readers know and love as they were in Game morph into something else. Peter Wiggin becomes the "why me", when all I wanted was for him to remain as we saw him in the first book. Bean is still the survivalist we know and love, with the deaths of the two women he's cared for both dying under Achilles's hands, but he, too, despite his best efforts, grows emotionally. (Not to mentional physically, as we discover what he really is).

Some readers may be turned off by a sci-fi series that morphs into barely futuristic political stratego. It, like Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow is a quick read that does not get bogged down in the religion and philosophy that the Speaker series do.

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Created Jul 06, 2007 at 10:12am • Submit your own review...