Book Review: Shadow of the Giant

I just finished Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card.  This was the latest book in the Ender series and it wraps up the questions of what happened to the kids of Battle School after end of the Bugger war.  I really liked the book.  It has been so long since I had read Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow that I forgot several of the Battle Schoolers, and even some from Ender’s Jeesh. 

It’s hard to say the story is about any one person, it is more aobut Earth and what happens when the brilliant strategists that were trained and raised on the Battle School to defend Earth from an alien invasion come home.  In the Speaker for the Dead we hear about the fact that Peter Wiggin was able to unite the nations of Earth and bring peace to the world.  This book shows how it was done, and how it was not all Peter’s doing at all (though he definately found ways of making most things that occured to his advantage). 

The twists of fate in the book are great.  The characters are all well done, as par for the books in the Ender series.  I especially liked the parts where Card would lead you through the thoughts of the characters, their motivations and point of view.  The tragedy of the path Virlomi took, and the sadness in the life that Bean and Petra endured made for great reading and made you truly identify with the characters, if not just actually understand them.  The books does set it up for more stories though, and hopefully Card will see fit to write them.

All in all, I would definately recommend this book, and any of the books in this series. 

Recommendation: 4 out of 5.