Good tale, weird narration changes

I enjoyed the book, however I was thrown off by the random change of narrator for some words throughout the story.

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not sure about all the actors

loved the book, story work well as an audio book. Would have prefered a single voice actors. Disliked the actors who did Peter and Petra's story lines.
Something seems to have been edited in to the peter story line. There was a change in volume and voice every time hegemon or hegemeny was mentioned. Was there a pronunciation issue?
Finally, in Enders Shadow Achilles is pronounced different, why the switch in this production?

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1 person found this helpful

A great story of war and strategy

For those who read Enders Game and wished it explored the strategy part of the battle game, this will fill that need. Set on earth but still with that battle school feel.

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Excellent Audio rendition of an excellent book

First the Audio - this is a top-notch production, well voiced, with multiple readers, each giving a different voice to the primary characters. In fact, it is closer to a performance than a reading. A set of closing comments by Scott Card mention that his novels are meant to be read aloud. You can understand why as this makes for a truly gripping listen.

The story is also excellent. It centres primarily about Bean and Petra as they struggle to prevent Achilles from making a play for world domination in the political chaos following the conclusion of the Formic wars. Several Battle school graduates play important roles and it is quite suspenseful, the lives of the characters, not to mention global domination, hang in the balance. The plot also offers some interesting views on how nations may jockey with each other for global dominance. Card refers to this book as a book about 'the great game', and while you may not agree that some of the scenarios he spins are plausible, I found them to be so. In fact, I found some of the geopolitical subplots a somewhat scary prediction on the next 50 years.

I had not read Ender's Shadow in a while (the previous book dealing with the character of Bean) and I did not remember most of it. I do not think it is necessary to have read it to enjoy this book. I do however recommend reading (or re-reading) Ender's Game before this one, as it increases the understanding of the background and increases the emotional investment in the main characters. There is an excellent audio version of Ender's Game on Audible.

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9 people found this helpful

5 stars, some performance issues

Good book over all ,some problems with the performances with voice changing to say the word hegemon and then reverting back to original voice.

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One of the best books in the entire Ender series.

This book is full of memorable quotes and inspiring stories. With the backdrop of a looming world war, the book is a political thriller.

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Excellent sequel

One of my favourites. If you enjoyed Ender's Shadow then I suggest continuing Bean's journey back on earth.

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excellent book & cast

loved it. every book OSC writes makes me think; he's a brilliant author and I love the Shadow series more than the Ended series (which I really didn't think was possible). bravo.

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jittery voice? great story

changed voice every time the word hegemon was mentioned, could have been a cool affect but just took me out off the action completely.
other than that if you've gotten this far into Orson Scott card's books then this wont disappoint

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Satisfactory continuation of the Shadow Series

The Ender's Shadow books, although very enjoyable, are not up to the standards of the Enders series. They match them in the quality of the narration and the depth of story, but they always feel like they are the poor cousin. Also, the intellect of the character Bean does to some degree detract from the achievements and wonder of Ender and Peter Wiggin. The Ender series left a very strong mental impression of the greatness of Ender and the hegemonic but sadistic nature of Peter. Both were amazing characters in the first series, but as I read the Shadow books, I start to get the impression that Bean was turning the real cogs of power in the background. Also, the character of Peter has gone quite weak and whiney when confronted by Bean. I think OSC has tweaked their characters to fit the new series' storyline.

Nevertheless, this is a very enjoyable book and I fully intend to complete the series. Excellently narrated.

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