About this title: This highly anticipated sequel to SHADOW OF THE HEGEMON from master science fiction writer Orson Scott Card picks up after Ender Wiggin's victory over the Formics. Any peace and unity in the world that resulted from that war has ended. Nations are preparing to regain old territories, and wish to control the loyalties of the children from the ...
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Description: Good. Dust Cover Missing. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Fine. Almost in new condition. Book shows only very slight signs of use. Cover and binding are undamaged and pages show minimal use. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Former Library book. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
The "Shadow" series (Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, and Shadow of the Giant) follows Bean, one of Ender's lieutenants in the famous "game." Where "Ender's Shadow' is an actual parallel novel to "Game," the rest of the Shadow series takes place immediately after the defeat of the Buggers. (Readers of Ender's own series will recall that he and his sister leave earth and spend the next several hundred years popping around at near light speed.) I've read all four books in the last month or so, and frankly they've all run together and I cannot write an individual review. The plot ostensibly follows Peter Wiggin's attempt to become Earth's "Hegemon" in fact as well as title, but in fact he is always a relatively minor character (and refreshingly rather less of a monster than he was in "Game") compared to Bean and a few other members of Ender's "jeesh," including Petra, Alai, and Han Tzu, plus a few other Battle Schoolers. These characters, now in their late teens or early twenties (a few years younger for Bean) find themselves - some intentionally, some unintentionally - up to their elbows in world politics. "Hegemon" and "Puppets" also star Achilles (that's "uh-SHEEL," not "a-KILL-ees"), Bean's nemesis from the streets of Rotterdam. Bean himself mostly wants to find a way to not die - either by asassination from Achilles or his genetic disorder - but finds he has to take a far more active roll in world events than he desires. He also falls in love, but I'll reveal no more. :) As in nearly all of Card's sci-fi and fantasy, the world is full of obscenely, impossibly, and even (in one case) inhumanly smart children. Even so, it tugs at the bounds of believability that even given the setup from "Game" that these children (between 12 and 16 years old after the war) are given so much power. It tugs even more that Achilles, convicted murder and *not* a graduate of Battle School (he spent only days there), could himself become so trusted by three major world powers. (It also strains the bounds of believability that he could be as smart as he is, given that he spent even more years than Bean starving on the streets.) These facts however are central to the plot and so we must accept them. Once we have, the series - which is as always far more about psychology and character relationships than gritty, believable action or politics - is quite enjoyable. Bean, who shares few characteristics w/ Ender aside from impossible genius, is nevertheless a compelling and likable character who develops believably and satisfyingly throughout the series. While none of the Ender or Shadow series ever recaptured the lightning in a bottle that was Ender's Game, they're still all worth reading."
I wasn't too keen on some things about it, though: " With this and the previous book, Peter Wiggin somehow seems to be labeled as being less intelligent than both Ender and his sister, while in Ender's Game, he and his sister were both labeled as being exactly equal to Ender in intelligence (though they had character 'flaws' that kept them out of battle school); now they make it sound like Peter not only had character flaws, which they don't express in this series, but that he's actually significantly less intelligent-and I'm not talking about his being down on himself. " Bean's decisions at the end just seem a little fatalistic, like he's surrendering for no apparent reason, and not like things he, or anyone, would actually do-but then I guess he was trying to do the unexpected (but that it actually works-well, I'm not sure what to say about that). I'm glad that Achilles died in the end, though: that, at least, should mean he won't be the focus of the next book. That he didn't seem to anticipate the potential help of the Thai kid and his guards seemed a little surprising, though. " Bean doesn't really seem to have many reasons to like Petra, let alone marry her. Their personalities definitely don't seem the types I would think would gravitate toward one another, but hey, stuff like that can happen, even if it grates on my nerves a little in a book. I guess it's because I can relate to Bean's personality in a lot of ways, but I can't seem to relate to how he likes Petra (since she's not the type I would likely go for, since she seems to try to insult everyone she's around with everything she says, even if it is meant for humor or playful banter much of the time; plus, she tries to be competitive with people whether or not they themselves care about being competitive, and that, I think, is manipulative, and, unfair-there are a lot of people like her, and I'm not saying they're evil or anything, but they're not the sorts I would seek out, personally). " Bean seems to have some traits of the upper middle class (not the things I relate to), pertaining to his attitudes toward formal education in his manner of thinking and some of the things he cares about, which I don't think match his upbringing at all. I've noticed this in every book, so far, although they are subtle things (perhaps even arguable for those of varied experience), and the author probably shouldn't be blamed, since it probably wasn't apparent to him. " They make it sound like every kid from battle school is now magically a great tactician, while in Ender's Game, tactics didn't seem to be everyone's cup of tea (though they were still supposed to be pretty smart), even near the end. In fact, in Ender's Game, few seemed to do anything that wasn't traditional in the way of tactics-now it's like they've all learned to think outside the box to a much higher degree (unless their boxes have just expanded so much that it doesn't matter). It's nice to see this side of things, although the lack of explanation as to how it came about troubles me somewhat. " Bean doesn't seem to be any smarter in this book than he was in Ender's Shadow (and according to things characters said, he should be getting smarter all the time)-although it's good that the author addresses that Bean is wondering something like this himself (so we can suppose maybe there's a pending explanation in the next book). Maybe the problem is that the author is just having trouble making him any smarter and still having the book seem at all realistic. I think he was trying to give his characters more weaknesses in this book than in previous ones (a stylistic thing to please people who like that).
There's a lot of political intrigue in this book, just as with the previous one.
It's interesting, and you learn things important to the characters found in other books. I preferred the previous books (especially Ender's Shadow), but this book has it's good qualities."
"This only earned 3 stars because of my attachment to these characters, it was definitely more "ok" than "liked." I don't know what it is about Card, but he can't seem to write about adults. His kids are brilliant, but as they grow up they become boring, frustrating and unbelievable characters.
Shadow Puppets follows Bean and Petra in their last pursuit of various goals - the perpetuation or elimination of Bean's "species", taking down Achilles, and sorting out the new world order. While I enjoyed Shadow of the Hegemon, this book didn't do much more than tie up some loose ends. I thought it was a pretty unneccessary sequel, but read it because I can't let a series die before the author's conclusion."
""'You fight dirty.' 'I fight like a girl.'" ~Bean and Petra p. 12
"She looked at him thoughtfully. 'You know, now that you're tall, we could probably travel as man and wife.' Bean sighed. 'I'm not going to marry you.' 'Just as camouflage.'" ~Petra and Bean p. 12
Assassination: "Involuntary high officer force reduction." p. 16
"An elderly couple passed by. The man looked disapproving, as if he thought these foolish young people should find a more private place for their kissing and hugging. But the old woman, her white hair held severely by a head scarf, gave him a wink, as if to say, Good for you, young fellow, young girls should be kissed thoroughly and often." p. 46
"Or the Communists. Snick off the heads of any blades of grass that rise higher than the rest of the lawn." ~Peter p. 75
"The female of the species is more deadly than the male, as they say." ~John Paul Wiggin p. 84
"Ignorance is not tragedy, merely an opportunity. But to know and refuse to know what you know, that is foolishness." ~Anton p. 91
"Listen to me, both of you. here is the meaning of life: for a man to find a woman, for a woman to find a man, the creature most unlike you, and then to make babies with her, with him, or to find them some other way, but then to raise them up, and watch them do the same thing, generation after generation, so that when you die you know you are permanently a part of the great web of life. That you are not a loose thread, snipped off." ~Anton p. 95
"Getting along with a woman is hard even for men who desire them. Or perhaps especially for them." ~Anton p.98
"'My boy, you are so noble!' Anton let go of him, laughing. 'Listen to yourself! So full of the romance of youth! You will save the world!' 'I didn't mock your dream," said Bean. 'But I'm not mocking you!' Cried Anton. 'I celebrate you! Because you are, in a way, a small way, my son. Or at least my nephew. And look at you! Living a life entirely for others!' 'I'm completely selfish!' Cried Bean in protest. 'Then sleep with this girl, you know she'll let you! Or marry her and then sleep with anybody else, father children or not, why should you care? Nothing that happens outside your body matters. Your children don't matter to you! You're completely selfish!'" ~Anton and Bean p. 99
"Come now Doctor. You take the eggs from her, and then I make my donation. That's how salmon do it. It's really quite natural. Though I'd like to skip the swim upstream, if I can." ~Bean p. 132
"Just because you trust someone's motives doesn't mean you can trust them to do it right." ~Petra p. 145
"'I'm not equipped with an internal camera. And I lack the pertinent nerves to be able to feel microscopically small fetuses implant and start to grow a placenta.' 'That's a very poor design. When I'm dead, I'll have a few words with God about that.'" ~Petra and Bean p. 170
"Her driver one of us. Very good choice of cab for her. Very bad choice for you." ~Indonesian Cabby p. 176
"He was answered by having water dashed in his face. Not a whole bucketful, but enough to soak his head and shoulders. 'Sorry I didn't have time to fill it. But when you started making crude sexual innuendos to my wife, I had to use whatever amount of water was at hand to shut you up before you said enough that I would have ot beat your bratty little face in.'" ~Paul John Wiggin p. 188
"'And you showed courage.' 'By running away from Ribeirao Preto before anyone so much as glared at me?' 'By getting out of bed.' 'Then my courage is nothing but borrowed courage.' 'Not borrowed, stored up. In us. Like a bank. We've seen your courage and we saved some for you when you temporarily ran out and needed some of it back.'" ~Theresa Wiggin and Peter p. 196
"Everybody knows women have to pee incessantly." ~Bean p. 201
"I've commanded soldiers in war, and I'm married, and I might very well be pregnant. When do I stop being just a girl?" ~Petra p. 209
"Really, at this point my best strategy for beefing up my reputation is probably to be assassinated in some colorful way." ~Peter p. 236
"He had to have thinking time. So of course he promptly fell asleep." p. 243
"'I suppose your evaluation of his intelligence is just right.' 'Such a Goldilocks line. Makes me feel so...ursine.' 'Why can't you just say 'bearlike?'' 'Because I know the word 'ursine,' and so do you, and it's fun to say.'" ~Theresa and John Paul Wiggin p. 282
"You're suffering from the problem that plagues all the top commanders in this age of rapid communications. In the old days, Alexander and Caesar were right there on the field of battle. They could watch, issue orders, deal with things. They were needed. But you're stuck here in Damascus because here is where all the communications come together. If your'e needed, you'll be needed here. So instead of ahving a thousand things to keep your mind busy, you have all this adrenaline flowing and nowhere for it to go.' 'I recommend pacing.' said Bean. 'Do you play handball?' asked Petra." ~Petra and Bean p. 306
"Even if an Indian ruled over Indians, it was not self-government, for the ruler governed the people, and the people governed the ruler. It was mutual government. That's the best that could be aspired to." ~Virlomi p. 320
"Or will he let me win, maybe even let me kill him, only the joke's on me because the embryos he gives me aren't ours, they're from the tragic mating of two really dumb people. Perhaps two journalists." ~Bean p. 346
"'Don't you realize that I know both of you better than anyone else in the world?' 'And no matter how well we think we know people, the fact is we're all strangers in the end.' 'Oh, Bea, tell me you don't believe that.' 'It's self-evident truth.'" ~Achilles and Bean p. 346
"'And inside the range of whoever you have waiting for me there.' 'Bean. Be realistic. You're dead whenever I want you dead.'" ~Bean and Achilles p. 356"
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