Title: Shadows in Flight

Author: Orson Scott Card

Series: The Shadows #5

Genre: Science Fiction

Rating: 3/5 stars

The Overview: PREVIOUS BOOK SPOILERS At the end of Shadow of the Giant, Bean flees to the stars with three of his children–the three who share the engineered genes that gave him both hyper-intelligence and a short, cruel physical life. The time dilation granted by the speed of their travel gives Earth’s scientists generations to seek a cure, to no avail. In time, they are forgotten–a fading ansible signal speaking of events lost to Earth’s history. But the Delphikis are about to make a discovery that will let them save themselves, and perhaps all of humanity in days to come. For there in space before them lies a derelict Formic colony ship. Aboard it, they will find both death and wonders–the life support that is failing on their own ship, room to grow, and labs in which to explore their own genetic anomaly and the mysterious disease that killed the ship’s colony. –Goodreads

The Review:

Shadows in Flight is a novella that’s worth reading for the sake of tying up loose ends, but didn’t really deliver a whole lot with the plot.

I’m totally into this series at the moment, liking it oodles more than I originally thought I would. And because of that, I’m willing to read ALL THE THINGS following an ultimate chronological reading order. Ender’s Shadow knocked my socks off, and ever since I find myself especially excited to pick up anything with “shadow” in the title. Even so, I wish this book had brought a slightly more robust plot. It felt more like a setup book, giving the reader a little more perspective on the overall series conflict before the dive into the next book (chronologically), Speaker for the Dead. I’m certain I know more about what the MC will face in that book because of some insights here. And I definitely understand the aliens a bit more.

It also felt like a setup for the characters in this book. Establishing their personalities and rivalries. I am definitely interested to see how they integrate into the narrative going forward. Given that these are younger kids, there was a bit more discussion about reproduction than I thought appropriate or strictly necessary given such a small overall page count (they were earnest discussions, also, which made it even more weird), but that was my only real complaint.

And that ending, though…

Yeah, after writing this out, I do think I’d recommend it for fans of the series. But for some reason it felt a little thin until the last 25% for reasons I just can’t pinpoint… still good though.

Thank you to my Patrons: Dave, Katrin, Frank, Jen, Karen, Sonja, Staci, Kat, Betsy, Eliss, Mike, Elizabeth, Bee, Poochtee, Kinsey, Alysa, Derek, Kelly, Grace, Carmen, and Leticia! <3

Other books you might like: