Shadow of the Giant

Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card

Card's final book in the Shadow series continues Peter Wiggins attempt to unite the world under a single government headed by himself, the Hegemon. Bean and Petra are trying to recover their stolen embryos, which have been implanted and are now babies.

Peter as Hegemon wants the earth united. He does not want to do this with force or violence. As the wars rage between the largest powers on earth, Russia, Asia, India and Islam, Peter waits to pick up the pieces, or to offer troops and safety to the countries that join the Free People.

Graff and Mazer are sending ships into space to create new colonies. Their love for the former Battle Schoolers or Jeeshmates, compel them to ask the still children if they will consider leaving the earth to be the leaders of new world colonies in space. This will also save earth from destruction because the members of Ender's Jeesh are now the leaders of warring nations. Many begin to see the sense and flee Earth to start over.

Bean and Petra are slowly finding their babies. Petra gives birth early and they realize that their new baby Ender has Bean's genetic key that will make him very small and very smart until he begins to grow into a giant, as Bean is now. The unchecked growth with kill Bean and the children carrying their father's legacy. Bean decides once all of the babies are found, he will take the ones with the genetic key and leave Earth with them. Petra does not know that she will be left with the normal babies alone on Earth.

Islam and Asia join forces through the marriage of Virlomi....goddess of India and Caliph Alai. This destructive marriage forces the hands of the warring countries and war across the Earth erupts at a greater pace.

The babies are all recovered. After Bean leads the FPE armies to victory, he is 'killed' in battle. He takes the afflicted babies, gives Petra a divorce decree, and leaves Earth. He awaits the genetic cure for his giantism. Petra continues leading an army until the wars cease and the world begins to unite under the Hegemon. Broken hearted over the loss of Bean and three of the babies she finally returns home to raise the remaining five. She finds Peter has a growing relationship with the babies because of her absence. Eventually she will marry Peter and have more children.

The Earth unites, except for America. Peter is Hegemon of the Earth. The Battle School children opt to leave Earth and head their own colonies, freeing the Earth from fighting over their battle genius.

Peter and Ender connect over ansible. They are able to talk about Peter's life and his driving desires and how they affect the way he treated Ender as a small child. When Peter dies, Ender writes the book Hegemon, and speaks for Peter.

Rating 4.5 This is one of my favorites of the Shadow and Ender series. I think it totally trumps the follow ups to Ender's Game. Heart wrenching and quick enough paced. I was able to give more attention to the war scheming.
Rating PG 13 Lust, war

Shadow Puppets

Shadow Puppets by Orson Scott Card

The third volume following the former Battle School children.

Bean and Petra finally admit their love for each other, get married and implant an embryo. Bean doesn't want his genetic mutation to be inherited by his babies so they go through genetic testing. The doctor preforming the testing is none other than Volescu, the man that mutated Bean's genes. Of course all of the embryos except for the one implanted in Petra are kidnapped by Achilles.
Peter is finally figuring out that his parents aren't low on IQ points. They save him from assassination after he decides to steal Achilles from the Chinese. Peter and his family then go off planet to the old Battle School to bide time until it is safer for them to return to Earth.
Verlome begins an uprising by getting the small villages of people in India to start building a wall to keep out the Chinese, which have over taken their country.
Lots of warring. The Muslims begin to rise in power with a new Caliph, Alai.

I had fun with this book. I liked seeing the human side of Petra and Bean. I am glad that Peter is finally recognizing that his parents aren't idiots. The warring and scheming get to be more than my interests allow.

Rating 3.5 This book is as good as its predecessors, maybe even better during the parts about Bean and Petra, but I am tired of the world war.

Rating PG 13 War, War, war, war, murder

Shadow of the Hegemon

Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card

The Bugger war is over and the children taken into space for battle school have returned to Earth (2170 AD). Bean is with his new family in Greece. Locke (Peter Wiggin and Ender's brother) has had Ender exiled from Earth so that when war on Earth begins Ender won't be fought over by the leaders there.
Now that the Bugger threat is over, it is time for Earth leaders to fight over world dominance. The children that fought with Ender, or Ender's jeesh are now considered to be the optimal battle minded people on the planet. In quick succession they are all kidnapped, except for Bean. Achilles is back and he wants Bean dead. Just before Achille has the Delphinki family blown to bits, Bean realizes what is about to happen. The family makes it out of the situation alive, but Bean must go into hiding. He and Sister Carlotta run off and try to stay under Achilles' radar. While in hiding they go to meet Locke. They convince Peter to come out under his real name so that eventually he can be trusted by other governments and eventually become Hegemon. With Locke's help, Achille is shown for the nutcase he is and all Battle School children are released except for Petra. Achille keeps her as he travels from Russia to India to begin a world wide revolution which he hopes to win. He plans attacks on Asian countries and secretly plans to join forces with China.
Bean goes to Thailand to try to head off some of Achilles' attacks. While there he learns from another Battle School graduate....Virlomi, where Petra is being held. Petra is with Achille. He takes her everywhere and leaves her no way to contact anyone. At one point she is able to beat Achille up but this probably just seals her fate.
Bean makes his own small force in Thailand just like the one he was over in Battle School. They train in as many ways as possible. Finally Bean is able to save Petra, but Achille is set free and is taken to China by the Chinese leaders.
Sister Carlotta is killed by Achilles. She leaves a letter for Bean revealing his genetic heritage and Anton's Key. She tells Bean he will be lucky to make it to the age of fifteen. Bean decides he will never marry and have children. Just as Bean makes this vow for his life, Petra tells him she has feelings for him and offers herself up.
Locke reveals the treachery of China. He is made Hegemon over the world.

Rating 4.5 I really think I like this series better than the original Ender series!
Rating PG 13 murder and mayhem

Ender's Shadow

Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card

This is a companion novel to Ender's Game.......meaning the story is retold from another character's perspective. I think I liked this one just as much as Ender's Game, if not more. I guess I could think that because it is the freshest in my mind.
This story is about Bean. Bean is a tiny little child without a home in the streets of Rotterdam just before the last Bugger war. He joins a 'family' of other children for protection and to stave off starvation. Bean is thought to be four years old yet he is a genius. He recalls being in a 'clean' room with other babies. The other babies disappeared. Somehow Bean knew there was danger, crawled from his crib and hid in a toilet tank. He was found by a janitor. He was near starvation. The janitor took him home but wasn't able to keep him. At this time Bean was less than a year old.
Bean has a super memory and can recall everything he sees. He hides out in the streets trying to stay alive. He finds a 'family' run by a sympathetic little girl.........Poke. He convinces her to get one of the bullies that steal the food from the little ones, to take over the family and give them protection. Poke chooses Achilles (Ah Sheel). Bean knows this boy, although crippled, is dangerous. Achilles, with the help of Bean, turns the streets of Rotterdam from harsh survival towards civilization. Achilles betrays Poke by killing her.
Bean and Achilles are being watched by the government. The government is always looking for genius children to send to battle school. They are building up an army to defeat the Buggers. Sister Carlotta is one of their recruiters. She finds Bean. She tests and teaches him. She realizes that is is inhumanly smart. Sister Carlotta learns from Bean about his impressive memory. She also learns that Achilles is a murderer. She gets Achilles off of the streets and into school in order to keep the government from sending him to Battle School.
When Bean turns five he is sent into space to Battle School. Eventually meeting the famous Ender Wiggin. Bean goes against all of the psychological games that the trainers have set up for all of the students. He is finally put on the new Dragon Army, with Ender as head. They win every war. Meanwhile Bean is a loner. He makes one friend, Nikolia.
On Earth Sister Carlotta finds out that Bean's embryo was stolen along with 22 others and made into tiny geniuses. He is the twin of the genetically undisturbed Nikolia. Bean is the only surviving child of the 23 kidnapped babies. His parents have no idea their embryos where stolen, or that they have another son.
Achilles has his leg reconstructed and is sent to Battle School against good counsel. He plans to kill Bean. The school finds out that Achilles is a serial killer. Bean decides to be proactive. He traps Achilles and gets him to confess to seven murders, including Poke and the doctor that preformed his reconstructive surgery. Achilles is iced.
Bean and Ender are sent to Command School. Bean is only seven. They learn to command ships so that someday they will be able to command the fleets that will kill the Buggers. Bean realizes that this is not 'pretend'. They are actually commanding the fleets. Ender does not know. Ender is the head commander. He and Bean along with other children are able to blow up the Bugger's world and their queens.........saving the Earth from destruction.
Bean seemed to think a lot in this book which was a turn off for some people, but I liked that part. I decided to read this after reading the Ender's Game series. Although I am not a sci-fi fan per say I did really like this. It didn't feel all that sci-fi to me. Much of the time was spent on Earth.
Bean was an amazing little character. I liked to follow his chain of thoughts.
Rating 4.5
Rating PG 13 Language, violence.

Saints

Saints by Orson Scott Card

Caution..........this book is FICTION!! It won't seem like it, but it is.

I'm nearly certain this could be Card's ticket to Hell. Yet I loved it.......so maybe I'll be on the train next to him. Do you feel like this is turning into the unofficial Card blog? I do..........

This book begins in Manchester England in the 1820's. Dinah is a ten year old girl. The books opens with her father John abandoning her family. Tough, tough times follow during the industrial revolution in England. Anna her mother must find work as a servant just as she loses her last baby. Robert, the oldest brother is sent to work in a factory. Dinah soon follows Robert into the factory to earn what she can to help the family. Seven year old Charlie is sold away as a chimney sweep.
The book follows the family as the children grow.........Robert owns his own factory, Dinah is forced into marriage with Matt (Robert's friend), and Charlie runs away from the sweep that owns him and tutored by his mother's employer, then given a job. Soon the Heber Kimball enters the picture as a missionary for the LDS church. Charlie, Anna and Dinah are converted. Dinah's husband is furious. Just as their lives are changing John comes back. Anna takes him in and he is also converted. As the new Saints are leaving the country to travel to Zion........Matt and Robert try to thwart their attempts by having Dinah declared insane. When that doesn't work they take the children.........Valiant and Honor, and Dinah goes to America without them......never to see them again. This is just the tip of the iceberg in their sacrifice.
Dinah meets Joseph Smith as he is wrestling (not the stick kind either) some unsavory men at the rivers edge. Joseph went looking for a fight and got one. He wins the fight but Dinah is let down, thinking that she would meet God, but seeing a man, a man she desires......instead.
Eventually Dinah is taken as a plural wife of Joseph.
Charlie marries Sally. Within a year their baby dies and Charlie is asked to live the Principle also. He marries Harriet, Sally's sister.
This book paints a picture of its historical characters (Joseph, Emma, Heber, Vilate, Brigham.....) vastly different from anything else I have ever read........even actual history. I'm sure Card took liberties.........but I liked them. It did not make me change my mind about what I already thought of these people.
The beginning of the book takes up about 200 pages before we even hear about the missionaries. Like I always say.....it takes Card time to lay out the story but it is usually worth it.
The whole polygamy deal left me feeling mentally torched. This is something many LDS people have probably pondered on from time to time. I know this book has been offensive to many but I enjoyed seeing the more human aspect of the characters and the Principle. It made me question what I would actually give up. I came to the conclusion that I hope to God I never have to find out.
Rating 5 Don't read this book if you don't have a strong testimony, it's a heartbreaker.
Rating PG 13...........Card is always forthcoming about sex...........within marriage of course, and not just in plural marriage. Also, despite this being about LDS history, there is swearing. Attempted rape, child abuse, sexual abuse.

Homebody

Homebody by Orson Scott Card

Don Lark is about to sink all the money he has into the grand Bellamy mansion. He plans to renovate the place while living there for a year, then sell and make some money. Don has had some hard past years with a divorce and then the death of his baby girl at the hand of his drug induced ex.
He meets realtor Cindy when he checks out the dying mansion. They begin a passionate couple of days.........of kissing until Don realizes that Cindy is not the girl for him, after she reveals a past shame. He also realizes that he might be able to date again despite the fact that Cindy has her own problems that he can't fix.
Don meets the Weird Sisters, his ancient next door neighbors. They try to tell him to knock the house down and hint at some kind of evil lying in wait next door.
As Don brushes off the warnings and begins the renovation, he finds Sylvie, a squatter, living in his new purchase. Sylvie bugs Don but he feels the need to take care of her. He lets her remain in the mansion as he starts the demolition. Weird little things begin happening that Don attributes to Sylvie. He is also blackmailed by a lawyer and the former homeowner with the help of a nosey realtor. In order to protect Cindy and himself........although nothing happened between then, Don pays $20,000 to get the lawyer off his back.
During renovations Don gets closer to Sylvie and begins to care for her. She too has a secret to tell Don. She thinks that she accidentally murdered her roommate in the tunnel leading from the basement to the gully in back. Sylvie and Don go into the tunnel and find the body..........turns out *SPOILER* the body is Sylvie. The roommate murdered her and the person Don is falling in love with is a ghost, trapped in the house by her shame, guilt and sadness.
Don goes next door to get more information about the house from the elderly neighbors. He finds them fading away. As he fixes the house, it gets stronger....as was Sylvie. Extraordinarily Don finds that the old women escaped from the house years ago when they were whores and the house was a bordello........it still has a hold on them and as the house grows stronger, they are weakening.
Don decides to find Sylvie's killer and make her face Sylvie. Now that Sylvie knows she didn't cause harm to her former roommate.........Lissy she is fading from this life and Don is desperate to save the only woman he has loved in years. Lissy meanwhile has been leading the life she took from Sylvie..........including using her identity.
Lissy comes looking for Don once he makes a connection with her. She needs to cover up her past transgression........killing Sylvie, by killing Don, the only person that knows what really happened. Lissy comes to the house and is met by the fading ghost of Sylvie instead of Don. In some magical way Lissy's body has taken on the name of Sylvie because that is what it has been called for ten years. It wants to be reunited with the spirit that goes with the name. As Sylvie and Lissy fight their last battle, the body and spirit touch and the spirits of the women trade places. Sylvie now has a body! Lissy is sucked into the need of the house. For Don to save Sylvie and help her keep her body from the disembodied Lissy, he must break down the load bearing wall of the house (it's spine) to weaken and kill the house. Once that is done, Don and Sylvie (with a new body) escape next door. They find the old women regaining strength. The old Bellamy mansion is finally destroyed and flattened. Don and Sylvie plan on getting married and the old women leave their house to the new couple. Now that the Weird Sisters are free from the pull of the ancient house they want to get away.
Card takes his time getting to the point, but he entertains enough that you don't mind too much! I was right at the point where Sylvie finds out the dead body in the tunnel is hers and I was challenged to a game of air hockey by my 18 month old. It killed me to have to square off with the baby instead of find out what happened..........but duty called. I was fully entertained by this book. Probably not the best Card book but a good enough read.
Rating 3.5 The story doesn't get super hot until at least half way through.
Rating PG 13 language and some heavy making out.

Sarah

Sarah by Orson Scott Card

Although I am sure there was much poetic license taken, this is the story of Sarah, wife of the great prophet Abraham. The story begins with Sarai (Sarah's first given name before it was changed by God) as a ten year old girl. She lives with her father, a king without a country. Abram (Abraham) comes to secure a bride price for Sarai's sister Qira, for his brother Lot. Abram and Sarai meet. He tells her he will return in less than ten years to marry her. She sees that he is a truthful man that worships the one true God and that the priesthood of that God is his birthright.
Abram does return. He marries Sarai and takes her off to the desert where he has many herds. There is a severe drought and they move from well to well in order to care for their herds. In the mean time Sarai becomes a great woman in a great house hold. Abram studies the stars, copies the scriptures and writes his own writings. Sarai remains barren throughout their first years of marriage despite God's promise to Abram that he will be the father of a great nation.
The drought drives Abram and Sarai into Egypt. Abram is met by the men of Pharaoh. Abram is told by God not to divulge that Sarai is his wife. He instead introduces her as his sister Milcah. They are taken to different places in Egypt and are kept separate for a year. Pharaoh wants to marry Milcah so his children will have the blood of the priesthood. If he knew she was Sarai and the wife of Abram he will kill Abram and marry Sarai because he is a princess of Ur. Sarai is given Hagar as her handmaid, a gift from Pharaoh to lessen the blow of being held hostage. Abram teaches Pharaoh of God and Sarai warns Pharaoh of an uprising by his highest advisor. Abram and Sarai are allowed to leave Egypt. They finally tell Pharaoh Sarai's true identity after he makes promises in front of his men that Abram and his household will come to no harm. They return to the desert.
Lot and Qira are living in Sodom. The city life is not for Lot but Qira loves it. Sodom and its surrounding cities are wicked. Abram gives Lot some of his herds so that he can move out to the desert. Qira comes very begrudgingly. She makes the camp of Abram miserable. Lot decides to split his herds from Abram and spend some time back in the city to make Qira happy.
There is war in Sodom and her sister cities. Abram takes some of his men to take back the prisoners of war, Lot included. Abram and his men triumph. The prisoners are set free. Sarai goes to Abram. She learns from God that she is to give Hagar to Abram that he may have a son. She can do this because she owns Hagar and so Hagar will stand in for Sarai's body.
Hagar becomes pregnant. It is miserable for Sarai but she handles it like a queen. Hagar shows her true colors and becomes a pain in the rear. Ishmael is born of Hagar. Abram loves him.
Years later Abram and Sarai are aging. Abram prophesies the destruction of Sodom and surrounding areas by meteorites. He also prophesies that Sarai will bear him a son that will build up a great nation. God changes the name of Abram to Abraham and Sarai to Sarah.
Sodom is destroyed just as Lot escapes. Qira turns back to get her jewels and gowns and is turned into a pillar of salt..........or basically zapped by the fire from Heaven.
Sarah becomes pregnant at an advanced age. Isaac is born. Ishmael and Hagar mistreat him. Ishmael is given his herds and they are turned out of Abraham's camp in order to preserve the life of Isaac. Isaac grows into a young man and he and Abraham go out to visit wells and check herds. Abraham seems distraught.......the book ends before we find out why?????
Obviously Card and we can only know so much about Abraham and Sarah. The rest he has studied a great deal to assume. I do not take this book as truth only speculation therefore I am not bothered by anything in the book. I enjoyed it immensely. I liked getting to know Sarah as a person and how she may have felt and reacted to the situations we learn about in some vagueness from The Bible.
Rating 4 This is my second reading so I should probably give it a higher score. Tiny but necessary bits were a little dry........the political and land issues. Still worth the read.
Rating G

Enchantment

Enchantment by Orson Scott Card



Card, better know for his sci-fi (Ender's Saga) has pulled off a lovely fairtale retelling. Enchantment is the story of Sleeping Beauty combined with Russian history and myths plus a lot of magic. Ivan and his parents leave Russia in the early 80's to seek a life in the U.S. On their way out they stop in the Ukraine to wait for passports and visas. They stay with relatives near the Carpathian Mountains. Ivan enjoys running which is strange for a boy of his age and background. As he is running through the forest he comes upon a clearing full of leaves, a sleeping woman, and something guarding the sleeping woman. In fear, Ivan turns and leaves. Years later he is still comsumed with thoughts of what he saw at the age of 10.
In 1992 Ivan returns to the homeland engaged to an American and ready to do work for his college dissertation on Russian fairytales. Just before his return to the U.S., Ivan visits his Ukrainian uncle. He decideds while he is there, he will put a rest to what he thought he saw years ago. Ivan finds the clearing, the princess and the bear that guards her. He is able to overcome the bear and kiss the girl.
Most of this story takes place after Sleeping Beauty (Katerina) wakes up. The now betrothed couple return to 9th century Russia where Katerina's village is in danger from the witch that enchanted her. Card is able to balance the viewpoint of multiple characters in various countries and times with incredible depth.
I so enjoyed the retelling........or rather what happened 'ever after'. I liked the historical aspect and the fact that Katerina and Ivan return to modern day American and we see how the differing cultures and times come together. The magic and fantasy are just enough that even if you aren't normally a Card lover you will still enjoy the novel. Coming from Slavic ancestry, this made me want to read the real Russian fairytales, which are supposed to be much more gruesome and tragic than our modern day ones.
Rating 5 Romance, magic, history and witches yum!
Rating PG 13 Some swearing, some violence, sexual language.

Lost Boys

Wow, okay the book picture turned out bigger than I expected!!

This is Lost Boys by Orson Scott Card.

OSC is LDS. He is an author. I don't think that makes him an LDS author though. (He's better known for his Sci Fi series 'Ender's Game" which is also really good.) With that said............

I was absolutely shaken by this book. It is one of those things you read and then it sort of stirs about your brain for awhile after. Step and his wife DeAnne have 3 kids and one on the way. Step is a computer programer. He moves his family to a small southern town for his job. In the town, there have been a rash of disappearing boys. How the family ever overlooks this and doesn't know every single fact, including the missing children's favorite color is beyond me. I mean........ maybe I'm a nut, but I am a mother living in a small town. We obsess about these kinds of things. The Fletchers don't. Many crudy things befall this family. It seems for a bit that the book isn't addressing what you think it is supposed to be about. Then at some point I realized the whole story is what the book is about. How bad things happen to good people, even the ones that pray and go to church. (The family is LDS and that does play a part in their characters. I would say that it doesn't detract from the book, for anyone not wanting to read LDS fiction. This IS NOT LDS fiction.) The oldest son Stevie has an incredibly rough, even painful time at the new school. He begins haning out with what the family assumes are imaginary friends. The friends just happen to have the same names as the 'lost boys'. (Hello parents, get a clue.) Beyond the fact that the parents seems to be missing a screw and not worrying themselves into a good mouth foaming................I LOVE this book. I totally identify with Step's personality. He's a little mouthy and totally defends his child. Yeah Step, you're the man. Way to whoop some tail! DeAnne is okay too, very motherly. I like her. Great story line, not too many holes. Characters you can totally get into. Then you get freaked out. Then you bawl your eyes out. That is what I call a wicked good read. Make me FEEL something!
So I give this book a 5. I would rate it between PG and PG 13. Step has a mouth on him. Remember.............I have a high threshold for language. I really don't remember much of it, but I do know DeAnne gets mad at Step for his language, other wise I probably wouldn't remember anything. Sorry about any vagueness, I don't want to spoil any parts of the book. Go read something wicked good!