Shadow of the Hegemon (The Shadow Series)
Shadow of the Hegemon (The Shadow Series) book cover

Shadow of the Hegemon (The Shadow Series)

Hardcover – January 1, 2001

by
Price
$9.00
Format
Hardcover
Pages
365
Publisher
Tor Books
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0312876517
Dimensions
6.4 x 1.19 x 9.64 inches
Weight
1.3 pounds

Description

Orson Scott Card finally explores what happened on earth after the war with the Buggers in the sixth book of his Ender series, Shadow of the Hegemon . This novel is the continuation of the story of Bean, which began with Ender's Shadow , a parallel novel to Card's Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Ender's Game . While Ender heads off to a faraway planet, Bean and the other brilliant children who helped Ender save the earth from alien invaders have become war heroes and have finally been sent home to live with their parents. While the children try to fit back in with the family and friends they haven't known for nearly a decade, someone's worried about their safety. Peter Wiggins, Ender's brother, has foreseen that the talented children are in danger of being killed or kidnapped. His fears are quickly realized, and only Bean manages to escape. Bean knows he must save the others and protect humanity from a new evil that has arisen, an evil from his past. But just as he played second to Ender during the Bugger war, Bean must again step into the shadow of another, the one who will be Hegemon. In Shadow of the Hegemon , Card can't help but fall back into old patterns. But while the theme is the same as in previous books--brilliant, tragic children with the fate of the human race resting on their shoulders-- Shadow of the Hegemon does a wonderful job of continuing Bean's tale against a backdrop of the politics and intrigue of a fragile earth. While the novel is accessible, new readers to the series would be wise to begin with Ender's Game or Ender's Shadow . --Kathie Huddleston From Publishers Weekly This fine follow-up to Ender's Shadow features that novel's hero, Bean (now a young man), wrestling with Card's trademark: superbly real moral and ethical dilemmas. In a world between wars, filled with ambitious countries jockeying to carve up their neighbors, the children of Battle School are the strongest asset a nation can possess. The greatest of the children, "Ender" Wiggin, has gone off to colonize a new world. The second best, Bean, is hunted by a young psychopathic genius, Achilles, who schemes to conquer Earth with the aid of Ender's soldiers. Peter, Ender's brother, who was too ruthless to make it to Battle School, also works to rule the planet, but through more peaceful, political means. Bean must decide if becoming Peter's shadow and guiding him to become Hegemon will help defeat Achilles, and if one boy's megalomania will make a better world than another's. Children playing at war as if it were a game recalls Card's most famous work, Ender's Game, which won both a Hugo and a Nebula award. The complexity and serious treatment of the book's young protagonists will attract many sophisticated YA readers, while Card's impeccable prose, fast pacing and political intrigue will appeal to adult fans of spy novels, thrillers and science fiction. (Jan. 2) Forecast: Card is immensely popular; this is one of his best novels. Like Ender's Game, it will soar on genre lists and should flirt with, and perhaps woo, regular lists. Tor will ensure this through a $300,000 ad/promo campaign including a nine-city author tour. Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. From School Library Journal Adult/High School-No wonder smart kids love the Ender saga so much: Card's young heroes are not just consistently smarter than adults, they are Masters of the Universe. This sequel to Ender's Shadow (Tor, 1999) finds the wars over, with Ender in self-imposed exile off-planet. The remaining students of Battle School, now young teens, are trying to adjust to their civilian status when they are suddenly abducted-all except Bean, who escapes and goes into hiding with Sister Carlotta, the nun who raised him. Concluding that the mastermind behind the kidnapping is none other than Achilles, a homicidal megalomaniac from his past, Bean forms an uneasy alliance with Peter Wiggin, the most respected political mind in the world. With the help of coded messages from Bean's old friend Petra (now Achilles's prisoner), Bean and Peter close in on the villain, changing the paths of world powers on their way. Fans of the series will continue to overlook the implausibility of whole countries being turned over to teenagers who proclaim to know it all, but might be a bit disappointed in Peter as the good-guy candidate for ruler of the world. Achilles, a sort of evil James Bond, is the more interesting of the two, but that is typical of the moral dilemmas Card suggests to his readers. With two books still to come about Bean, it would be wise to stock up on all Card's books; enthusiasts may want to revisit the earlier stories while waiting for the next installment. Jan Tarasovic, West Springfield High School, Fairfax County, VA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From Booklist The sequel to Ender's Shadow (1999) continues the exploits of Bean, Ender's strategist and friend, juxtaposing them with the deadly challenges faced by 14-year-old Petra Arkanian, another member of Ender's team. Now that the war against the buggers is over, the Battle School's graduates have returned home, and someone is kidnapping them. Could the psychopathic Achilles be behind it? Events in this novel parallel those in the first part of Speaker for the Dead (1986), the immediate sequel to Ender's Game (1985). Peter Wiggin, Ender's brother, aspires to become the Hegemon and set the world to rights, and he has sent Ender, with his sister, Valentine, into hiding off planet. The characterizations are first class, and the fast-paced action features one hair-raising episode after another, as Achilles proves to be the brains behind the international turmoil in which China gobbles up India and the rest of Asia while Russia swallows the European nations. The international posturing rings very true, as do Achilles' power-grabbing machinations, and Bean's scheming, too, as he reluctantly supports Peter while struggling to bring Achilles down and rescue Petra from Achilles' deadly clutches. At book's end, the hostilities haven't been resolved, which opens the door for another sequel. Shadow of the Hegemon is so nicely integrated into the rest of the Ender canon that readers will be completely enthralled and left anxiously awaiting the next installment. Sally Estes Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved “The characterizations are first class, and the fast-paced action features one hair-raising episode after another.... Shadow of the Hegemon is so nicely integrated into the rest of the Ender canon that readers will be completely enthralled.” ― Booklist “Shadow of the Hegemon is an ideal book with which to start your science fiction year.” ― Rocky Mountain News Orson Scott Card is best known for his science fiction novel Ender's Game and it's many sequels that expand the Ender Universe into the far future and the near past. Those books are organized into the Ender Quintet, the five books that chronicle the life of Ender Wiggin; the Shadow Series, that follows on the novel Ender's Shadow and are set on Earth; and the Formic Wars series, written with co-author Aaron Johnston, that tells of the terrible first contact between humans and the alien "Buggers". Card has been a working writer since the 1970s. Beginning with dozens of plays and musical comedies produced in the 1960s and 70s, Card's first published fiction appeared in 1977 -- the short story "Gert Fram" in the July issue of The Ensign , and the novelet version of "Ender's Game" in the August issue of Analog . The novel-length version of Ender's Game , published in 1984 and continuously in print since then, became the basis of the 2013 film, starring Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Hailee Steinfeld, Viola Davis, and Abigail Breslin. Card was born in Washington state, and grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He served a mission for the LDS Church in Brazil in the early 1970s. Besides his writing, he runs occasional writers' workshops and directs plays. He frequently teaches writing and literature courses at Southern Virginia University. He is the author many sf and fantasy novels, including the American frontier fantasy series "The Tales of Alvin Maker" (beginning with Seventh Son ), There are also stand-alone science fiction and fantasy novels like Pastwatch and Hart's Hope . He has collaborated with his daughter Emily Card on a manga series, Laddertop. He has also written contemporary thrillers like Empire and historical novels like the monumental Saints and the religious novels Sarah and Rachel and Leah . Card's recent work includes the Mithermages books ( Lost Gate , Gate Thief ), contemporary magical fantasy for readers both young and old. Card lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Kristine Allen Card, He and Kristine are the parents of five children and several grandchildren. Read more

Features & Highlights

  • The War is over, won by Ender Wiggin and his team of brilliant child-warriors. The enemy is destroyed, the human race is saved. Ender himself refuses to return to the planet, but his crew has gone home to their families, scattered across the globe. The battle school is no more.
  • But with the external threat gone, the Earth has become a battlefield once more. The children of the Battle School are more than heroes; they are potential weapons that can bring power to the countries that control them. One by one, all of Ender's Dragon Army are kidnapped. Only Bean escapes; and he turns for help to Ender's brother Peter.
  • Peter Wiggin, Ender's older brother, has already been manipulating the politics of Earth from behind the scenes. With Bean's help, he will eventually rule the world.
  • Shadow of the Hegemon
  • is the second novel in Orson Scott Card's Shadow Series

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(1.2K)
★★★★
25%
(499)
★★★
15%
(299)
★★
7%
(140)
★
-7%
(-140)

Most Helpful Reviews

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The Next Great Political SF Novel?

Orson Scott Card says in the afterword to "Shadow of the Hegemon" that this book is as different from "Ender's Shadow" as "Speaker for the Dead" was from "Ender's Game". He's right. Where "Speaker for the Dead" turned and looked at the universe 3000 years hence and examined, in great detail, religion and life, "Shadow of the Hegemon" turns and looks at political interplay and fear in this world 150 years from now.
What made "Shadow of the Hegemon" stand out for me was the political aspect of the novel. Orson Scott Card has done a better job of painting national politics and intrigue across a worldwide scale better than any science fiction or fantasy writer I've seen since George R.R. Martin's "A Game of Thrones". The scope that he uses is very impressive as he takes the political action of the novel across most of the Asian continent and shows situations that are, on the whole, relatively plausible.
Card's work in blending national policy with personal motivation is very impressive. However, there are a few small areas I quibble with. I think that the world community he paints one hundred and fifty years hence is a little tainted by personal bitterness, both to the US and China. Whether he meant it to or not, it does, to me, detract a bit from both the plausibilty of the book and the overall quality of the writing. Likewise, while I am not a student of South and Southeast Asia, I question his wisdom in using just once source apiece - as he states in the afterword - when creating his India and Thailand circa 2150. This fact appears rather obvious when reading characters' discussions of these two countries. Card trys very hard to make the countries he creates plausible extrapolations of today's countries, and they suffer for these two reasons.
Nonetheless, the novel is still a wonderful read. Card takes a couple of classic premises for novels and blends them into a story that, if it occaisonally lacks for original plot twists, one that shows how well he grasps both individual struggle and national interplay.
On the individual side of the novel, Bean, Peter and Petra all take on additional depth in this novel and all three become characters that I am eager to read more about in the remaining two novels in Card's "Shadow" series. As adolescents and teenagers, they are as believable as they were as children in "Ender's Game" and "Ender's Shadow". As people, they develop more depth to their character - especially Peter - and move in directions that are, if predictable, certainly arrived at unpredictably.
In retrospect, what definitely stands out for me in this book, are the political machinations. I'm sure that will be what primarily stands out one, five, or ten years from now. Anyone with an interest in political struggle should read this book, as well as any Orson Scott Card fan who wants to see him successfully tackle new areas of writing. While I do have minor reservations about the world as he creates it, I have none about the way his characters move it and move through it.
73 people found this helpful
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Disappointing and tedious

Ender's Game is a classic; Ender's Shadow is remarkably good; this book I found disappointing. It picks up where Ender's Shadow left off: the war against the aliens has been won, which means that all of the domestic tensions set aside for that battle have re-emerged in full force, and the brilliant children who won the war for Earth become prizes in those battles.
Again we focus on Bean with more emphasis on Peter Wiggin, Ender's brother. Early on, it's a gripping read as many of the child generals are kidnapped and attempts are made on Bean's life.
Later on, though, the book bogs down in pages and pages of talk about how to deal with the politics, which I found tedious. I also found limits to my suspension of disbelief with the continued dominance of the children over the adults in military and political strategy. One sees that in young adult fiction and can accept it, but I don't see very many young adults finding this book very interesting.
As I said, it's rather a disappointment and not at all up to the level of its predecessors.
38 people found this helpful
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Satisfying

How do I review this book? Do I review it on the basis of the craftmanship of the storytelling? In that case, five stars without question. Do I review it on the basis of the fact that I stayed up five hours past my normal bedtime to finish it because I was so involved in the story? Again, five stars without question. You'll notice, though, that I gave it four stars. Without giving too much away, here is why:
1) In reading the scene with Bean and Ender's mother, there was a point at which I no longer heard Ender's mother, but heard Orson Scott Card. Normally, he does not do this... I think that his passion for that particular belief was so strong that it overwhelmed the character. I may be wrong, of course, but that is how I percieved it.
2) As another reviewer has mentioned, the plot relies heavily on the notion that a nation would follow Achilles in a situation where it is highly unbelievable that that nation would do so.
3) There is a major continuity flaw in the book with the other ones. When Peter reveals to the world that he was Locke and Valentine was Demosthenes, it breaks the confidentiality that Demosthenes appears to enjoy in the Speaker for the Dead trilogy. That could be explained by Jane cleaning up the references as she does later, but unless I misremember there is a point where Ender and Valentine are travelling, Valentine is writing as the "unknown" Demosthenes, and Jane had not yet been introduced.
If you have read and enjoyed the earlier books, of course you should read this one regardless of the minor flaws. If you haven't read Ender's Game, though, do not read this one yet. Go, now, and buy that book. You will not regret it.
38 people found this helpful
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Contrived plot, unrealistic characters, unworthy of Card

I first read Ender's Game, the short story, about 15 years ago. It was a masterpiece. The tight story grabbed me with the descriptions of battle school. I felt Ender's stress during combat school, and was as confused as he was about Mazer's motivations. When the suprise ending hit, I was genuinely startled, and immediately reread the entire story. I loved Ender's Game.
Shadow of the Hegemon is the opposite in almost every way.
The plot, briefly, is that the Formic War is over. The graduates of battle school are a highly prized commodity by the petty nations of Earth. Achilles, the cartoonish supervillian child from Ender's Shadow, is hatching a plan to kidnap the battle school grads and thus take over the world. Only Bean, cartoonish supergenius that he is, has any chance of stopping Achilles. He seeks an unlikely ally in Peter Wiggin, Ender's older and vindictive older brother.
The first problem is that the reader can't truly sypathize with any of the characters. Bean has the best chance, but the unbelieveable intelligence that alienates him from other characters alienates him from us, too. Peter has already been established as a cold and violent person, and no amount of backpeddling can get us to forget that. The other characters are worse still--in fact, when one of Bean's friends dies, I wasn't saddened so much as I was relieved that I wouldn't have to read any more strained dialogue between the two.
The second problem: Robert Burns once wrote "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry," but Card apparently thinks this cannot apply to graduates of battle school. The children can come up with a ridiculous plan, one which requires every participant to behave according to a preposterous script, and the plan will succeed every time. I can accept that the children are military geniuses, but I need for the genius to be believable. The characters appear smart only because Card has them never fail.
The last major problem is that the war is not directly described so much as it is relayed to us by dialogue between characters. Card uses this as a way to have the characters spout philosophy regarding war and their role in it. This could be interesting, but in this book, it's just preachy.
I wasn't sure if I should give this book three stars (which I consider the lowest book I'd recommend) or two. But in the last week, I reread two of Card's short stories, "Unaccompanies Sonata" and "A Thousand Deaths". These short stories are works of art. Card can do great things, but Shadow of the Hegemon is below him, so I cannot recommend it.
29 people found this helpful
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Card does it again!

When I picked this book up, frankly, I was worried. Several months ago, I read Ender's Game, and loved it. Not long after that, I devoured Ender's Shadow with gusto, becoming ridiculously enamored of the main character, Bean. But... how could this book, Shadow of the Hegemon, possibly live up to the high standard of the earlier novels?
Well...it did! Card weaves a thick, suspensful plot about the political intrigue on Earth after the Formic Wars. We learn more about each character, their personalies, their secrets, their motives. Sort of an insight of why they do what they do. Petra and Peter in particular become far more in focus than in Card's other books. The storyline was surprisingly good, and not at all predictable.
Do I recommend this book? Of course. But first, read Ender's Shadow, which is equally good (if not slightly better). Card's a great writer for people who don't like SF books, and those that know they do. Don't worry. You won't be disapointed.
29 people found this helpful
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Precocious Pests Pursue Peace....

Well, Orson Scott Card is back again with another saga of the world run by pre-adolescents. His first book in the series, "Enders Game" was believable because Ender & his siblings were so superior to everyone around them that they could be viewed as aberrations. The next three, "Speaker for the Dead", "Xenocide" & "Children of the Mind" dealt primarily with adults so the genius kid wasn't an issue. Then came "Ender's Shadow" which told the story of Bean, a member of Ender's "jeesh" in Battle-School. The brilliance displayed by the infant Bean was less than believable but accounted for by Bean's back-story (which I won't give away if you haven't read it yet). Now though we are presented with not only Bean, Ender, Peter & Valentine as pre-pubescent saviors of humanity, we also get at least 10 other children manuevering politicians & armies. Mr. Card has lost me here.
The villain of both "Shadows" books is Achilles whom Bean has known since his days as a street kid in Rotterdam. Achilles is presented to the reader as an older street kid who originally was handicapped by a bad leg, & has developed a nasty sort of underhanded cunning to compensate. While the fact that Rotterdams mean streets could produce 2 children equally brilliant in strategic thinking is difficult enough to accept (especially when malnourishment & lack of education is taken into account), Achilles has somehow picked up a knowledge of classical literature along the way! The author completely lost this reader at that point.
The adults in "Shadow of the Hegemon" exist only to achieve objectives for the children who command them, or else they give them moral lectures. Orson Scott Card's Mormonism becomes particularly obtrusive during the latter. At one point Mrs. Wiggins lectures Bean & the reader on the joys of children (& lots of them!) for a number of pages. Later, the reader will probably be laughing over the mental image of a small 11 year-old personally commanding a platoon of adults. The scene where Achilles brokers peace between Pakistan & India is even more mind-blowing if not quite as funny to picture.
Still, "Shadow of the Hegemon" gets 4 stars due to it's suspenseful writing, fast pace & execution. I just hope Mr. Card is not burning himself out; each of his recent books seems successsively weaker than it's predecessor.
25 people found this helpful
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Ho-hum

How can I break this to you gently... "Shadow of the Hegemon" lacks the raw conviction and the powerful equalizer of "Ender's Game" and its parallel novel. It is essentially a sequel to "Ender's Shadow", detailing the events that happened after Battle School was disbanded, the Formic War won, and the children sent home to rest on their laurels. It isn't even about Peter - he is dealt with in two chapters throughout the book - once when Bean meets him face to face, and at the very end, when he auspiciously rises to the lofty position of Hegemon.
What "Shadow of the Hegemon" actually deals with is Achilles' struggle for world domination, and Bean's campaign to stop him. Unfortunately, since neither any longer relies on pure wits, but rather falls back on extensive connections and the military prowess of armies, the book simply ends up being a cheap political thriller. Few new characters are introduced, and the recurrent ones hardly have changed since the preceding pair of parallel novels. In addition, for a novel that takes place all over the globe, there is barely any sensation of change. The quality of characterization certainly fell since the previous book - I was at a loss to distinguish the characters one from another; they are all mere conveyances for whatever piece of philosophy Card is trying to put in. Even the resolution is quaint: though Peter assumes his post (no thanks to Bean), the Hegemon hardly has any discretion at all - it will take a sequel to show how Peter changes from a figurehead to a virtual emperor. Even the dastadly villain - Achilles - isn't dealt with with any measure of finality at the novel's end.
Without a doubt, this is the worst entry in Ender's long-running saga so far.
16 people found this helpful
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Has-Bean

I'm afraid after 'Ender's Shadow', this is another descent in quality for the overall Ender series. Besides the inflation (or reflation) of Bean, this tale of war in South-East Asia is pretty stale stuff.
It is strange that a science-fiction author who had us riveted at his tale of interstellar war, becomes so trite when trying to adapt to the confines of one small planet. There is no sense of place or culture among the characters and scenes (ranging from Greece to Russia, South Carolina, India and Thailand), merely stuff that sounds as it it was ripped from history books and travelogues. Card's Afterword suggests he is now trying to write 'future history'. If so, that is a disappointing turn for someone who wrote one of the best science fiction books of the last 20 years.
As well as the overall writing, Bean just fails to hold the attention as Ender did. Ender lived as a tragic figure, scared child and xenocide in one. Bean, despite his problems, does not attract the same sympathy. For example, Bean's comic remark at the start of Ender's last battle against the Buggers is now 'Bean's analysis' that showed Ender how to win the battle. Sure, so Democritus invented Quantum Mechanics, and Malthus should be credited with Evolution.
The novel's main lack is a 'Maguffin' - the expression used by Alfed Hitchcock for the device on which he hung his plots. Card has had some brilliant Maguffins - Earth been saved by child video-gamers, Battle School, Buggers etc. 'Hegemon's' Maguffin is just a tame recycling of what went before in the Ender series - genius kids at war. If you read science fiction to be enthralled by imaginative plots and plot devices, then this book is not for you.
11 people found this helpful
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Excellent

Once again, I wasn't disappointed by this sequel to Ender's Game / Ender's Shadow. Card returns to what he does best - blending worldwide military and political strategy with character studies. For anyone who's read the previous Ender books, this will be hard to put down. I'll try not to reveal too much detail, but the story concerns the group of child military geniuses from Battle School and what happens to them after the bugger war when they return to Earth. (Ender and Valentine don't appear in the book at all.) However, most fans have long awaited more details about Peter, what he did on Earth, and how he rose to power. Other primary characters from previous books are Bean (main character from Ender's Shadow), along with Petra Arkanian and others.
The author has an amazing knowledge of military strategy. More amazing, though, are the riveting dialogues between his characters! (He writes such intelligent and witty characters. I often wish I was half as smart!) Lest the talk of global strategy make this book sound dry, let me assure you that it's not. I had to discipline myself not to finish it too soon. :) Highly recommended.
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For the most part, unimpressive

This book -- what can I say? It seems like the more of OSC's books I read, the less impressed I am with him as an author. This book strengthened that impression. For one thing, every single one of his characters sounds exactly the same. For another thing, I can honestly say that I didn't care about a single character in this book. I didn't really realize this until one Bean's friends died, at which point my main emotion was annoyance. It was a stupid and easily avoidable death.
Also, I don't know for whom this book was targeted. Original fans (except the diehards who think Card can do no wrong) are going to be annoyed, but newcomers will probably be confused. It is dry and tedious at times, with bleak overtones and a nifty little romantic angle that seems thrown in just for the heck of it. With that said, the book gets its two stars because of the insights it provides regarding the Wiggin parents. I reread those scenes (and only those scenes) at least twice because they were very, very good. So, definitely check it out of the library, buy it used if you want, borrow it from a friend. But, I would not recommend buying it new.
10 people found this helpful

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