The Last Shadow

I did not like this book as much as previous Ender tales. Bean's grandchildren form the nucleus of the characters in this book and they are wildly inadequate for the job--they are condescending too intelligent for 9-year-olds. The reader must consider them adults and ignore the assumed age. The plot never ends...it just keeps going and going with no resolution of the promise. I skipped a two-hour segment in the middle and I don't think that i missed anything. Sad conclusion to one of the world's greatest sci-fi series.

Yawn. If you're interested in the artificial emotional growth of Bean's grandchildren and how badly Cincinnatus stayed wrong, well you'll be assaulted with over evolved avians and arbitrarily, stupidly belligerent humans where, really, no humans should be. It completes both the Ender and the Bean storylines and, well, I wish he hadn't bothered.

Nice tying up of the Ender/Bean series. I listened to the audiobook, which I hear from the author's note at the end is his preferred way for a reader to experience his books. The multiple narrators caused me some confusion, but not enough to dampen my enthusiasm for the book. I have enjoyed all of the Ender/Bean series. My favorite being Speaker for the Dead. I was fascinated to find out that it was the book he originally got the contract for and then felt he had to make Ender's Game into a novel in order to provide the background. This book introduced decendents of Ender and Bean as they try to solve the puzzle of the descolada virus. A great story as are all of Mr Card's books. I look forward to reading more. Thank you to NetGalley show more and MacMillan Audio for sharing this book with me in exchange for my honest review. show less

Full disclosure: I am a huge fan of the Enderverse, with [b:Ender's Game|375802|Ender's Game (Ender's Saga, #1)|Orson Scott Card|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1408303130l/375802._SY75_.jpg|2422333] sitting on my top 10 shelf. The Enderverse is basically divided into two parts: Ender’s Saga which of course follows Ender’s life … and the Shadow Series which follows the lives of his supporting cast. However, the style of the books after Ender’s Game was markedly different, taking a more thought provoking or philosophical approach that I found interesting, but not all that exciting. Generally the Shadow Series was a return the the original style of that first book, retelling the same story show more from a different perspective and I really enjoyed them. The Last Shadow is much more like [b:Speaker for the Dead|7967|Speaker for the Dead (Ender's Saga, #2)|Orson Scott Card|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1295660894l/7967._SY75_.jpg|2327777] and [b:Xenocide|8648|Xenocide (Ender's Saga, #3)|Orson Scott Card|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386924577l/8648._SY75_.jpg|1150594] … and I highly recommend that you read through at least that far before reading this book, which actually picks up sometime after [b:Children of the Mind|31360|Children of the Mind (Ender's Saga, #4)|Orson Scott Card|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1390362338l/31360._SY75_.jpg|1959402] and tones down the weirdness a little.

Ender is Dead … Long Live Ender.

Basic Premise
… you got an apocalyptic virus with a team trying to save humanity
… you got crazy genius kids (vaguely connected to Ender) straight from the Big Bang Theory that can help figure out who dunnit
… you got space travel with time dilation (so 1000s of years in the future) with super secret blink tech to give you a “first contact” situation without the centuries of waiting.
… despite all the bickering, all the kool kids are way civilized and rarely challenged much … it was amusing in a Calvin and Hobbes sort of way.

Even with all of that silliness … I really enjoyed the book … reading it in just under two days, so it does pull you along nicely. Parts can come across as a tad preachy, but not too bad or over the top … and it does get you thinking about “things.” I would say it is not his best work, but it was better than Children of the Mind, so in that respect I am rounding up to four (4) stars.

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#TheLastShadow #NetGalley show less

Orson Scott Card’s The Last Shadow concludes the main thread of his Enderverse stories, linking the stories that began with 1986’s Ender’s Game and ran through Children of the Mind in 1996 with those that begin with Ender’s Shadow in 1999 and continued through Shadows in Flight in 2012. Card has one final novel planned, The Queens, that will conclude the story of Second Formic War.

In this book, the computer intelligence Jane (now housed in a cloned body of Val) uses her ability to travel instantaneously to bring the children and grandchildren of Bean – who have been traveling at relativistic speeds for the equivalent of thousands of years to those outside their ship – to Lusitania, home of the pequeninos and the Hive Queen. show more The planet narrowly avoided destruction by the Starways Congress after finding a cure for the seemingly sentient descolada virus. Bean’s grandchildren, Sprout and Thulium, assist Val, Peter (a duplicate body of Peter Wiggin hosting the aiúa of Ender), and Si Wang-mu with investigating the planet they suspect to be the origin point of the descolada. They must use what they’ve learned of sentient life from humanity’s interactions with the Formics and pequeninos to engage with the lifeforms they find there, preventing the mistakes of the past while resolving the final mystery to their own satisfaction.

Card’s chronologically final Enderverse novel is a satisfying conclusion, wrapping things up in a manner that honors what came before in the series without feeling the need to explain every single thing as other franchises have done in prequels and conclusions. Long-time fans will find what they seek here while new readers can enjoy experiencing how it all fits together without the delay of publishing. show less

Just completed what I suspect will be the last official novel in the Enderverse written by Orson Scott Card himself. I started this journey back in 1985 when the first book, Ender's Game first came out. I have read all the rest which includes the Ender's Shadow series over the years. This last book came out in 2021 so it took awhile for it to come out of my TBR pile.

If you have read all the previous Ender/Shadow books and overall enjoyed them then you certainly need to read this one. It essentially merges the two story lines and draw it all into a mostly satisfactory conclusion. I say mostly because for some there is one question that may not be answered fully enough for them.

OSC books are widely know for their narrative style show more particularly with inner dialog being extremely important to the enjoying the overall story. Not all the books in the series are like this and this one is not either. Much of the story is revealed by character interactions and dialog which for some is a great thing.

Is this the greatest book in the overall series? No, I do not think so. My rating is has a aspect of nostalgia and respect for the series tied to it hence the 5 stars. Without that then the book would be a solid 4 stars. show less

Bean's (Julian Delphiki) grandchildren are brought to the planet Lusitania by Jane to research the origin of the descolada virus while his children are sent to retrieve their spouses from whom they kidnapped their children many years ago. Thulium, Brussels (Sprout), and Delft (Blue) along with Peter Wiggins (the second) and his wife seem to be the primary characters. The author says he tried to tie up loose ends in the Ender saga. It seemed a bit contrived to me although all the characters are dealt with so they could lead productive lives.