Orson Scott Card's latest book, "The Shadow of the Giant," is another continuation of the popular Ender's Series. It is the third sequel to "Ender's Shadow," a novel that takes place parallel to "Ender's Game," telling the story from another character's perspective. All in all, in the eighth book of the Ender's series, and Card has proven again that he can keep the characters vitalized and the plot original and captivating.
The star of "Shadow" is Julian "Bean" Delphiki, one of the child geniuses created to be used as a weapon against extraterrestrial threats. He was successful in defeating humanity's alien enemy, the "Buggers." Now that the war is over, the battle school children are all returning home, where their home countries are seizing them to be used as their own personal super weapons. But Bean, the war hero, winds up being the ultimate chess piece in the erupting geopolitical power plays: each nation seeks to employ its battle school graduate in a megalomaniacal bid for world domination.
Card excellently balances believable, nay, lovable characters with grandiose politicking and a vision of man's future that is both tempting and horrifying. Card retains his heart-twisting ability to make the reader sympathize with every plight and every failure of the characters. The book is written in a realistic manner without clear decisions or a clear distinction between right and wrong.
Bean is the product of the genetic alterations of a mad scientist. When he was only a few months old, he crawled from his crib to escape the eventual murder that befell his brothers. However, the same modifications that made him brilliant also turned his life into a ticking time bomb. Bean has a disease called gigantism, which limits his life to a maximum of 18 years, until his heart would be unable to support the mass of his body.
"The Shadow of the Giant" is the story of a world struggling for unification, either under a democratic hegemony or an oppressive Muslim empire commanded by a new caliph who is a battle school graduate and member of Ender's "jeesh," or group of friends. Card has shaped a vivid world that is both infinitely personal and global on a scale that could intimidate even the most veteran authors. "Shadow's" only infraction comes not from doing something wrong, but from not doing enough. Although the writing is beyond reproach, the scope of Card's vision falls short of being complete. Questions remain, even as the series comes to completion.
Card's latest work is an excellent science fiction novel; it has aliens, genius children raised for war, even a vision of humanity struggling to expand throughout the galaxy. It is also a superb novel of profound humanity and feeling that's more than worthy of continuing an already phenomenal series.
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