Deception, God, and Bean Is Smarter Than Everyone: A Review of Ender’s Shadow
The first installment in the all-new Electric Thoughts Book Club series (new episodes monthly) was the novel Ender’s Shadow by Orson Scott Card. When Tyler suggested this book I was hesitant. I read Ender’s Game in middle school and I hadn’t touched it since so I was afraid that I would be hopelessly lost while traversing Ender’s Shadow. To my relief, I wasn’t. The reason is that Ender’s Shadow is not a sequel to Ender’s Game; instead, it is a “parallel novel” that takes place at the same time as Ender’s Game and in mostly the same locations. The thing that sets Ender’s Shadow apart is that the story is told from the perspective of a different character: Bean. Bean is a friend (sort of), lieutenant (sort of), and a confidant (sort of) to the titular character, Ender Wiggin.
Being a parallel novel to Ender’s Game, the setup for the plots of both books is the same: Ant-like aliens known as “the Buggers” attacked and almost wiped out the entire human race. They were stopped but they will be back. To prepare for the next invasion, the International Fleet tests the intelligence of nearly every child on Earth. The most gifted ones are sent to Battle School, a massive orbital space station where they are taught and tested for command positions in the war to come.
Ender’s Shadow is told in a third-person limited point of view and, though we mostly follow the main character Bean, the perspective shifts between different characters throughout the novel. I commend this method of storytelling; in fact, my favorite chapter is told from the perspective of Bean’s nemesis. Through exploring a diverse range of thoughts, Card presents a unique approach to such motifs as deception, religion, and problem-solving.
Deception
Aside from being a science-fiction/drama, Shadow is, in small part, a mystery book as Bean uncovers the secrets of Battle School and the manipulative schemes of the military and the government. It was an awesome experience to follow Bean’s thought process as he comes to conclusions that I already knew were correct from the bits of information I retained from my read of Ender’s Game. What is even more fun than uncovering the deception of others is exploring the deception spun by Bean and the other characters we follow. In Ender’s Shadow, Card explores the other side of the coin that is dishonesty; a side we don’t often turn face-up. We learn why very intelligent people like Bean and good-hearted people like Sister Carlotta lie — and some of the effects of that lying.
God
Another one of this novel’s strongest aspects is its B-plot. I was engrossed by every word spent following Sister Carlotta’s search for Bean’s origins. The story itself is riveting; however, I mostly appreciate the character of Sister Carlotta, a Catholic nun who finds Bean and gets him to Battle School. Of all the literature I have read (and I haven’t read that much), Sister Carlotta is the best representation of the way a religious person — specifically a Christian — thinks. It was no surprise to me when I learned that Card is a Mormon because I think that much of Carlotta’s thought process is a reflection of his own. Furthermore, I love how the super-intelligent Bean reacts to this kind of thinking with frustration and how Card allows that frustration to linger in the air without ever reconciling it. It is this level of respect that Card has for his readers to resolve things in their own minds that made me truly enjoy the storytelling of this book.
Bean Is Smarter Than Everyone
If you’re looking for a story that presents the world from a child-like perspective then Shadow is not the book for you’re looking for. Bean’s thoughts are anything but child-like because Bean is smarter than everyone. Period. And that is another thing I love about this book.
Unlike other good books that I would recommend, Ender’s Shadow didn’t make me feel emotional until its climax; however, I have come to understand that this is simply the result of the nature of Bean’s character. His radical intelligence makes him calculated and unempathetic. When you step into this story you step into his mind. Things that would be more emotional to others simply aren’t very emotional to Bean so it doesn’t come through in the story. And I think that is fine — excellent even, insofar as it allows me to explore the world from a different person’s perspective and that is certainly what you get when you open up Ender’s Shadow.
Final Notes
I am a little annoyed by the introductory dialogues at the beginning of every chapter. I experienced Ender’s Shadow in its audiobook form and thankfully each voice for these parts is performed by a separate actor. Since all of these characters were also in the story, I was able to attach a name to each of the voices. Meanwhile, Tyler, who only ever read the book from his physical copy, believed it was a dialogue between the same two people throughout the entire story.
Finally, Ender’s Shadow acts as a backstory for Card’s Shadow series which includes four novels following this one. At its best, the set-up that occurs in this book comes as a result of Bean’s genius deductions; at its worst, it feels like the plot of this book is put on hold as the author gives a fun, but seemingly unnecessary history lesson about his world. That being said, Ender’s Shadow still manages to tell a compelling story on its own.
In conclusion, if you read Ender’s Game a while ago and you want to get back into the franchise but you don’t want to have to read the same book twice, Ender’s Shadow is the perfect book for you. If you are into science-fiction dramas but you have not yet read Ender’s Game, I suggest you read that before picking up Ender’s Shadow.
