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, VACopyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
After all the child prodigies of the world return to their homelands from "Battle School" (where they are taught every aspect of strategic warfare, a madman kidnaps these "national resources" to achieve world domination. David Birney, Scott Brick, and Gabrielle De Cuir are outstanding together; all having spectacular pace and emphasis on characters emotional dialect. Though their lack of accents to accompany the multi-dialects that encompasses this all-global story does seem to waver away from the text. Told from the perspectives of two former students and the future Hegemon (all under aged), the narration is directed as being told from mostly children where De Cuir truly shines. S.B.P. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


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


Review
"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



Review
"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



Book Description
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 heros; 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.



Download Description
This is the direct sequel to ENDER'S SHADOW; it tells of Bean's life after the Battle School. Peter Wiggin, Ender's older brother, recruits Bean as his own right-hand-man, and together they are able to take control of one of the warring factions on Earth. Peter becomes the absolute ruler of Earth, the Hegemon.


About the Author
Born in Richland, Washington in 1951, Orson Scott Card grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He lived in Brazil for two years as an unpaid missionary for the Mormon Church and received degrees from Brigham Young University (1975) and the University of Utah (1981). The author of numerous books, Card was the first writer to receive both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel two years in a row, first for Ender's Game and then for the sequel Speaker for the Dead. He lives with his wife and children in North Carolina.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
One of the more pleasant literary surprises of 1999 was Orson Scott Card's Ender's Shadow, a self-styled "parallel novel" that recapitulates the central events of Ender's Game from the perspective of Bean, the child genius -- and genetic wild card -- who served as Ender's second-in-command during the genocidal war with the Formics. Bean's story now continues in Shadow of the Hegemon, a moving, richly imagined sequel that is clearly one of the major science fiction novels of the season.

Shadow of the Hegemon begins in the turbulent aftermath of the Formic War. The nations of Earth, no longer united by a common enemy, have grown both fearful and aggressive. Deeply entrenched rivalries -- cultural, religious, ethnic -- proliferate, and the world stands on the brink of geopolitical chaos. Against this backdrop of mounting political tension, a singular event occurs: Most of the surviving members of Ender Wiggin's victorious platoon are kidnapped. The motive behind that kidnapping is immediately clear. Some unidentified power hopes either to utilize this concentration of strategic genius or keep that genius out of the hands of political rivals.

In Shadow of the Hegemon, Card once again addresses large, fundamental questions: Who will govern in the problematic future that is coming? Will that future be dominated by humane moral imperatives or by heedless, expedient ambition? As the novel winds its way toward a provisional answer, three brilliant -- and very different -- figures rapidly dominate the narrative. The first is Achilles, a teenaged psychopath with a gift for manipulation and an indomitable will to power. The second is Peter Wiggin, older brother of the absent, legendary Ender. Peter has spent many years influencing events behind the scenes and faces the prospect of stepping onto the political stage without the aid of an elaborately constructed mask. The third figure, of course, is Julian Delphicki, a.k.a. Bean.

Bean, like most of the characters, is little more than a child. But he is a fiercely brilliant child, the unexpected product of an illegal genetic experiment that will end, inevitably, in tragedy. Three elements dominate Bean's life: his relentless opposition to Achilles and his designs, his love for his mentor and de facto mother, Sister Carlotta, and his determination to save the life of his friend and former platoon mate, Petra Arkanian.

Shadow of the Hegemon explores complex questions of faith, loyalty, and ethical responsibility without becoming dry, boring, pompous, or didactic. On the contrary, it is a thoughtful, thoroughly entertaining novel that asks hard questions and never settles for easy answers. It is one of Orson Scott Card's most impressive achievements and deserves the attention of a large, appreciative audience.

--Bill Sheehan

Bill Sheehan reviews horror, suspense, and science fiction for Cemetery Dance, The New York Review of Science Fiction, and other publications. His book-length critical study of the fiction of Peter Straub, At the Foot of the Story Tree, has been published by Subterranean Press (www.subterraneanpress.com).

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is one of the most popular science fiction novels ever written. Ender's Game won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for best novel when it was published. The book has gone on to sell well over a million copies. It tells the story of the boy "Ender" Wiggin and his hard-won victory over an alien race that would have destroyed the Earth and all of humanity.

But Ender was not the only child in the Battle School; he was just the best of the best. In Ender's Shadow, Card told the story of another of those precocious generals, the one they called Bean—the one who became Ender's right hand, his strategist, and his friend.

And now Card continues Bean's story, and finally tells a tale long-awaited by his millions of fans. At last we learn what happened on Earth after the destruction of the Hive Queen's worlds; after humanity no longer had a single enemy to unify the warring nations. This is the story of how Bean turned away from his first friend, Ender, and became the tactical genius who won the Earth for Ender's brother, Peter, who became the Hegemon.

Author Biography: Orson Scott Card is the author of the national bestseller, Ender's Shadow, and of the beloved classic of science fiction, Ender's Game. He lives in Greensboro, North Carolina.

FROM THE CRITICS

Elizabeth Weise - USA Today

In Shadow of the Hegemon, the abilities of Bean and the others to outthink their captors and undermine their plans make for a page-turning read.

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 Cahners Business Information.

VOYA

This sequel to Ender's Shadow (Tor, 1999/VOYA Voyages, February 2000) continues the story from Bean's viewpoint and takes place in roughly the same time period as the beginning of Speaker for the Dead (Tor, 1986/VOYA August/October 1986). Ender has left the planet, but Bean and the other members of Ender's Dragon Army are suddenly the targets of kidnappers. Bean barely escapes being blown up—twice—but Petra Arkanian, another of Ender's "jeesh," is not so lucky. She is captured by the psychopathic Achilles, Bean's enemy from his days in the streets of Rotterdam. Achilles is using Petra and other Battle School alumni to help him determine how to take over the world militarily. Meanwhile, Locke, also known as Peter Wiggin, Ender's brother, is working on his own plan to control the world by more peaceful means and become Hegemon, with Bean as his shadow, or background aide. As always with Card, brilliant young people face deadly peril, participate in fast-paced action and heroic deeds, and deal with genuine moral dilemmas with intelligence and thoughtfulness. Some issues are left unresolved, paving the way for another sequel, which no doubt will be welcomed warmly by the many fans of Card and of this series. VOYA CODES: 5Q 5P J S A/YA (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Every YA (who reads) was dying to read it yesterday; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult and Young Adult). 2000, Tor, 363p, . Ages 14 to Adult. Reviewer: Sarah Flowers SOURCE: VOYA, June 2001 (Vol. 24, No. 2)

KLIATT

The sixth in the Ender series, this takes up Bean's story where Ender's Shadow left off. Achilles has kidnapped all of Ender's jeesh except Bean and is planning to use them to conquer the Earth. He has repeatedly tried to kill Bean. In an eerily plausible scenario, Achilles will begin his war in India and Pakistan. Bean goes to Thailand to try to stop Achilles and to mount Petra's rescue. By the conclusion, Petra is rescued, Achilles is dead, Bean knows that genetic factors limit the length of this life, and Peter Wiggin is the new Hegemon. As stated in the afterword, there are two more sequels planned for this story line alone. Must reading for those who follow the series. Reading at least Ender's Game and a few of the others will be necessary to understand the character interactions here. (Ender series) Category: Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror. KLIATT Codes: JSA—Recommended for junior and senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2000, Tor, 452p., $6.99. Ages 13 to adult. Reviewer: Sherry S. Hoy; Libn., Tuscarora Jr. H.S., Mifflintown, PA SOURCE: KLIATT, March 2002 (Vol. 36, No. 2)

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