Review of 'The Shadow of the Hegemon'

The Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card
2nd book in the 'Ender's Shadow' series

Another adventure featuring Bean, Peter (Ender's brother) and Petra following on (in time at least) from where Ender's Shadow left off. In this novel Petra is kidnapped by the “evil” Achilles (you will remember him from Ender's War) who then proceeds on his conquest for world domination. Again Card shows his mastery of politics and people, portraying his characters as people with realistic desires and emotions. The details of Peter's family (unknown to Peter) and his own inner conflict with exposing his on-line persona Locke are quite interesting – he is a real person with real desires and conflicts. The political aspect of the novel is all embracing as Card explores the complexity of a war in southern Asia. There is a lot of philosophy and political manipulation throughout the novel which I found very interesting, but a bit difficult to get through – action sequences are few and far between. The ending is never much in real doubt though how it happens definitely is (and, near the end, is a real page-turner).

Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”


Genre: Science Fiction

Publisher: Tor Books

Publication Date: 2000

ISBN: 0-312-87651-3


Other reviewed books in the 'Ender's Shadow' series:

Other reviewed books by Orson Scott Card: