99. Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card (Science fiction) 367 p.

This is the last book in the Bean quartet, following Ender’s Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon, and Shadow Puppets. I’m having trouble putting together a coherent reaction to this book: on one hand, there were some things in it that annoyed me, and others that I would have liked to be different; on the other hand, I loved this book.

There’s no point in writing a detailed summary of this book, since if you haven’t read the previous three, it won’t mean much, and if you have, you don’t need my summary to convince you to read it. Maybe it’s enough to say that this is the story of an attempt to unite Earth under one government, to build a world where everyone can live in peace. It’s also the story of some extraordinarily intelligent people who are involved in that struggle, on both sides of the issue. And of course, it’s the story of Bean, who doesn’t have much time left on Earth.

That, actually, is where I had my first problem. This series is about Bean, but as world events heated up throughout the books, we saw less and less of him. Ender’s Shadow was told almost entirely from Bean’s perspective, and hardly a page went by that we didn’t see what he was thinking or feeling. I really missed that intimate point of view in Shadow of the Giant. I like Bean best when I can see inside his head, and this book didn’t give me that chance.

It isn’t just Bean whose thoughts and emotions I would have liked to read about; even when Card gave us a glimpse inside a character’s head in this book, it was usually all tactical, strictly related to whatever crisis was happening at the time. I really felt the lack of a true understanding of that characters, especially Peter.

It’s kind of an obscure point, but I was a little annoyed by the IF’s policy of creating deliberately monocultural colonies. Actually, more than annoyed; it made me kind of angry. I suppose, having grown up in one of the most multicultural cities on Earth, I’m prejudiced in favour of that model; I think the worst thing for any culture is to be isolated from contact with all others. Sure, the colonists can learn about other cultures, languages, and religions over the ansible, but none of them will live with anyone who believes in those things.

I don’t want to complain too much about Shadow of the Giant, because I really did take pleasure in every moment I spent reading it. I’m so glad I got to see Peter through the eyes of other people, and that he isn’t the monster he was through Ender’s six-year-old eyes. In fact, I wish I could see more of Peter’s story.

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I was feeling obliged to rate this book 9/10, because there were ways I thought it could have been better, but I still wanted to give it a 10. And isn’t that what these reviews are about? Not some kind of objective measure, weighing faults against virtues, but just a way of sharing how much I loved a book, or didn’t. And I loved this one.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Pages read: 29,479

Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, Bean quartet, Cardathon Challenge Redux, Enderverse, Orson Scott Card