Review: Shadow of the Giant -- Orson Scott Card

\(JPG\) On his good days
Orson Scott Card is one of the best science fiction authors out there -
interesting thoughtful stories and realistic characters with believable
motives and flaws. Even on his bad days his work is better than most of the
science fiction out there.

Ender’s Game has to be one of the classic science fiction works and I was very
happy to see OSC write more books in the same universe. After Ender’s Game OSC
wrote 3 more books following Ender Wiggan after the Bugger War when he is no
longer remembered as a hero but instead the man responsible for the death of
an entire species (this is not entirely fair since Ender was unaware at the
time that he was doing anything more than participating in a strategy game).

The Shadow Saga follows on from Ender’s Game but does not feature Ender at
all, instead OSC explores what happens to some of the other major characters,
particularly “Bean” the boy genius instrumental in Ender’s victory over the
buggers. I have to say that I prefer the books that feature Ender as some
parts of the Shadow series do drag a little and do tend to harp on about the
amazing tactical skills of the Battle School graduates (Book 3: Shadow Puppets
was one of the least impressive IMO).

OSC has set himself a challenge since he has to describe the campaigns fought
by military geniuses while not (presumably) being one himself.

This book wraps up most of the loose ends but not all which makes me wonder if
there are more books on the way even though this book appears to be the last
in the Shadow saga.

Worth reading if you enjoyed the Ender books.

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