Ender's Shadow

Title: Ender's Shadow
Author: Orson Scott Card

What it's about: It's the future. The Earth has faced off against the menace of the Buggers, insect-like aliens, twice now. The world is looking for new commanders to lead them against this threat, and the International Fleet has established Battle School, an orbiting installment that is where children are trained to be soldiers. Ender Wiggin is one such child, viewed as the most promising candidate to lead the fleet. Another child, however, is Bean, and this is his story. Bean's a street child who manages to stay alive because of his intelligence, and it's this intelligence that gets him noticed and taken to Battle School. From here, we have the story of Bean learning to excel and figuring out his place in the world, as well as learning what it is to be truly human.

What I thought: Bean is really a very interesting character to follow. His way of looking at things is very different from the norm, but that just makes the story flow really well because Bean is very logical. Also, the whole world and scenario set up in both this book and Ender's Game is frankly a very interesting one, to me, at least. Everything makes sense, the world is very realistically set up, and the characters are convincing and likable. What more do you need? There's a reason Card is known as a master of sci-fi.

Overall: Excellent read.