Title: Shadow of the Giant

Author: Orson Scott Card

Series: Shadow #4

Genre: Science Fiction

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Overview: Bean, Ender Wiggins’ former right-hand man, has shed his reputation as the smallest student at Battle School. He has completed his military service for the Hegemon, acting as strategist and general in the terrible wars that followed Ender’s defeat of the alien empire that attacked Earth. Now he and his wife, Petra, yearn for a safe place to build a family – something he has never known. Yet no such place exists on Earth, a world riddled with Bean’s enemies from the past. Once again he must follow in Ender’s footsteps and look to the stars. –Goodreads

The Review:

What a great ending to this particular arc! Truth be told, I liked this series a lot more than I thought I would, especially considering it didn’t have many sci-fi elements. But this book benefitted from two things: I’m still riding the high from Ender’s Shadow – the profound character and story connections I carried away from loving it as much as I did. And I continue to find Card’s writing totally absorbing, even when the story travels miles away from what initially drew me to the series.

I also love how this tangent series added so much richness to the people who were only periphery characters in the first two books.

I don’t know why I always just assumed these continuation books would be boring and hard to follow compared to Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow. Sure, they’re not on the same pedestal, but they’ve been delights in their own right. I HAVE heard the by-publication continuations (I’m reading these chronologically) weren’t as good as the originals from the majority of people I’ve sourced (I’ll be reading those eventually), so perhaps I just unconsciously clumped these in with the hearsay for those. I’m truly surprised at how much I took away from this series and how highly I’d recommend the experience. I cannot wait to continue exploring more of this universe.

Recommendations: Haven’t read Ender’s Game yet? You’re missing out on an amazing story and one of the best sci-fis (and books) I’ve read. Read Ender’s Game but not Ender’s Shadow yet? You’re missing out on the absolute PHENOMINAL. These Shadow continuations are also worth your time.

Thank you to my Patrons: Dave, Katrin, Frank, Jen, Sonja, Staci, Kat, Betsy, Eliss, Mike, Elizabeth, Bee, Tracey, Dagmara, and Poochtee! <3

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