Shadow of the Hegemon

Written by Orson Scott Card

Narrated by David Birney, Scott Brick and Gabrielle de Cuir

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release date: Sep 5, 2006
• ISBN: 9781593974817

Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card is best known for his science fiction novel Ender's Game and its many sequels that expand the Ender Universe into the far future and the near past. Those books are organized into the Ender Saga, which chronicles the life of Ender Wiggin; the Shadow Series, which follows on the novel Ender's Shadow and is set on Earth; and the Formic Wars series, written with co-author Aaron Johnston, which 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 novelette 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 science fiction and fantasy novels, including the American frontier fantasy series "The Tales of Alvin Maker" (beginning with Seventh Son), and stand-alone 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 work also 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.

Reviews for Shadow of the Hegemon

[terrybain_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very fine, intense, headspace work. I'm reading it aloud to my son (9 years old) and he doesn't even flinch at the political discussion.

[comfypants · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Even though you know how this story has to end if you've read Ender's Game (although you don't necessarily know how many books it will take to get there), it still sucks you in and is hard to put down. It's a fairly enjoyable read, but there are a lot of problems. It's not science fiction. It happens to take place in the future, but there are no sci-fi elements whatsoever; that's just an excuse for Card to make up whatever he feels like regarding world politics. And those politics are simplified to a level of a game of Risk. Characters can predict the future of world events based on a handful of pieces of information, which is especially unbelievable since Peter Wiggin, the supposed political genius, comes across as a complete twit in this book. And he and two other of the four main characters are insufferable smart asses. Even Bean comes across that way sometimes. The dialog is often terrible. Sometimes it's just awkward and unnatural. Sometimes Card uses it to frame things he wants to say to the audience, which is the most unfortunate aspect of this book. As great a storyteller as Card usually is, he's kind of a d**k, and as soon as I feel like I'm hearing his opinions rather than his characters' opinions, the book loses a lot for me.

[Bobby Keim · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Ok story. TERRIBLE production. Embarrassingly bad. No consistency of pronunciation of main characters names and titles. Horrible over-dubs in effort to correct mispronunciations. Using a 60+ man to read Peter, who isn't even 20? The music. Gabrielle overacting. Spanish Mrs. Wiggin? Why not!?

Macmillan Productions seriously needs to stop making audio books. This is really bad.

[grumpus · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is a continuation of the time just after the Bugger Wars on Earth. Brilliant and thought provoking as well as nothing like Ender's Game. It is a great read.

[nicoletort · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When I picked up the sequel to Ender's Shadow I was not expecting the poltical thriller that is this book. Nevertheless, it is a good read.

[buffalogr · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Great parallel drawn between the way children and nations act.

[melydia_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The League Wars are over, but the struggle continues between various world powers. Someone kidnaps all the Battle School kids who served under Ender during the Bugger War. Bean alone escapes this fate. Though he must go into hiding, he seeks out the only person who can help him free the others: Peter Wiggin. Most of the story revolves around Bean and Petra, but I didn't feel like I got to know her any better than I did in Ender's Game. Of course, I've noticed Card's difficulty with writing realistic female characters before. The continuation of Achilles's tale was kind of interesting but not especially believable. I hear the series improves as you go along. Not that this is such a bad book - it just didn't do much for me.

[rachelpenso · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the sequel to Ender's Shadow. I definitely enjoyed Ender's Shadow more, as there were more politics in this book, which I find dull. The story continues to follow Bean, now back on Earth. All the members of the Dragon army are kidnapped (with the exception of Ender, since he is not on earth) and Bean teams together with Peter Wiggin to find them.

[neale_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A good follow up to Ender's Shadow. Very detailed in its coverage of the characters motivations. If you liked the others in the series you'll like this one.

[karlstar_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The second novel about Bean, Ender's friend and fellow Battle School graduate. By this point Ender is gone and Bean is left on Earth to both survive and try to fend off the schemes of Ender's brother, Peter. In this novel we start to find out what happened on Earth after Ender left. While that turns out to be good material for a novel, it still feels a bit like going over old material, even if this is almost entirely new. Bean is still an engaging character, and the events of the book are plausible and interesting.

[librisissimo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Substance: Intricate political plotting, utilizing religious, philosophical, and military theory. Although having the protagonists and their opponents all be military prodigies sets a high bar for the author's own intelligence, Card meets the challenge.Style: Too much preachy narrative. As usual with Card's later works, all the actors sound alike, and all the family dialogues sound like commercials. Introduces lots of "Battle Room Slang" that I don't remember from "Ender's Game"; possibly used in "Ender's Shadow." As an attempt to make the characters part of a unique community, it only makes them sound childish, especially since there are no referents for any of the terms and some are used too infrequently to give a good context to their meaning. They are just nonsense syllables.

[elizajane_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book starts right after Ender's Shadow, the Formic War is over and the Battle School children have been sent back to their homes on earth. Earth is in a political turmoil, however, and the children are in danger. Shortly after arriving home all the members of Ender's Dragon Army are kidnapped, except one, who escapes. Bean. Bean and Peter Wiggin turn to each other for help. Bean wants to rescue his friends, especially Petra, and Peter wants to rule the world as Hegemon.It has been a couple of years since I read the previous books in this series and, wow, I had forgotten just how great these books are. It is like meeting up with old friends reading about these characters again. Bean has always been my favourite and his secrets are revealed in this book. There is a lot of political and military strategizing in the story which I do not have a head for, but Card has a way of writing which kept me interested through those parts. An incredibly involved plot with lots of action and fabulous characters.

[ametralladoras · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Pales in comparison to Ender's Shadow. This book shouldn't even be considered Science Fiction but more Military Strategy fiction...and I am obviously not a fan. The characters are dull (except for a few moments with Petra) and the plot is anticlimactic.

[satyridae · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Audio, unabridged. This one was a little too dry for me in its repeated analysis of various imaginary political scenarios, and the principal villain seemed less real in this book than the last.

[fiverivers_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Unfortunately, like so many authors who write endless series, Card should have known when to stop. Not one of his best works, Shadow of the Hegemon is filled with cookie cutter characters who are clones of one another to some degree; utterly nonsensical political stratagems that tend to a big yawn; utterly implausible premise of very young adolescents being the political geniuses and power-mongers of the world.All of this is very disappointing coming from Card, because when he has his literary act together he is so very, very good. It would seem, however, that when he's bad, he's very, very bad.Ultimately this is a forgettable novel.

[Michael Neeper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great continuation of the series, but the audio was pretty poor. Sounded like it was recorded in the 80s

[heidilove_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

not really the greatest, but a nice attempt at a parallel novel, and one that let me dive back into Bean, my second favorite of the Ender characters.

[imbookingit · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'd read this book before, but listened to the audio to get me back into the world.I had a hard time rating it, because although the characters were fascinating and the story compelling, there were aspects that drove me nuts at times!

[janepriceestrada · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is not as good as the first of the Bean series but Card is a masterful writer and it is extremely interesting. Whether the characters are discussing religion, politics, war, or childhood it is quite brilliant and the action is lightning fast.

[astr1102 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Another book with a slow beginning but picks up speed. Kind of boring compared to the rest of the stories in the series.

[kmass_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I didn't think it was possible before I read it, but this is even better than Ender's Game.