I dont know about anyone else but i enjoyed reading enders game over enders shadow. Something about Enders Game is just so much better than shadow. I know shadow is about bean but something about it just didnt touch me like enders game did. Any thoughts
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Shadow started off interesting. Watching baby Bean struggle to survive on the rough streets. But by the second book, the preachiness ensued. I didn't even make it to the end of the last book in the Bean series frustrated by several things. Both Ender and Bean are fascinating, but Ender... The series has a special place in my heart having been read back in 2001. I loved the themes of doing the right thing no matter how hard it is and working together towards a goal The Bean series just doesn't have the same feel...
Posted by Enderwillsaveusall (Member # 6227) on :
You hit the nail on head Posted by suntranafs (Member # 3318) on :
Hmm, I realy liked the second Bean book, as well as the first, not sure what I thought of #3, haven't read #4. My favorite of the Ender series was also #2 but I didn't really like #3 or #4 as much there either. For sure, though, there's a lot more to the Ender series morally speaking. But truth is maybe Bean is a better charachter, more real, after a fashion.
Posted by cRaZy ToM (Member # 6474) on :
My favorite books go as follows Enders game SHADOW OF HEGEMON Enders shadow.....
The shadow odf the hegemon..is one of the most Intense books i ever read. Whats facinating is..it could happen..but it..couldnt (if u kow what i mean). and of course, nothing surpasses Enders Game:-)
Posted by Phanto (Member # 5897) on :
Besides for a certain female character switching from tough militaristic mode to sweet loving mother mode, I had nothing to complain about with the Bean series.
That sentence is long and hard to understand. Sorry. Oh, and "that," the pronoun I used two sentences ago, techniqually has no definite target. And I spelled "techniqually" wrong.
Sorry.
[ May 30, 2004, 11:19 PM: Message edited by: Phanto ]
Posted by Locked (Member # 6584) on :
I personally find that both books, and series are equally interesting and develped though each in it's own way. While the original Ender's Game and it's following books deal with strongly moral issues and decisions, the Ender's Shadow series deals with political satires, poking fun at issues of the day. Over all i find that Ender's Game is a much easier read, and a more desirealbe book for those of a simplistic mind. Whereas Ender's Shadow requires a depth of understanding into the political relam of this world. Card portrays his own feelings for the future of the world by developing in the gowing power of the east, the decline of the west, and the unification of the Muslim world, all which are very plausible in the future, tho hopefully we will not live to see such a thing...
Those are my thoughts on the matter. Sincerly, Locked
Posted by Enderwillsaveusall (Member # 6227) on :
I have read shadow of the hagemon and shadow puppets. I like these books alot because there more political and have more war stradegies. The literature is a little tougher to read but i felt these books are very good.
Posted by nidhogg13 (Member # 6624) on :
I personally like the original series better... Enders game is by far the best book, of course, and all of the piggy books are good too, but i never really got to like the characters in the Shadow series...they seemed too distant for some reason. Also, the overall story wasnt as good, in my opinion.
[ June 18, 2004, 01:50 AM: Message edited by: nidhogg13 ]
Posted by fallow (Member # 6268) on :
they weren't too distant, they were just too casually drawn.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
What, they need to be drawn formally?
Posted by chrysophylax (Member # 6630) on :
Actually, I enjoyed Ender's shadow a lot more. !
The reason is this: if you read through the book carefully with a critical eye, you will see that it is actually a much more refined and advanced form of prose than Ender's game. Unlike in Ender's game, which exhibited a veiwpoint which was, i guess, an extrapolation of the author's own, in "Ender's Shadow", OSC removes himself from his own head in order to enter and understand someone elses: Bean's. every observation, every opinion, every twist of phrase is constructed to illustrate the seemingly emotionless intellect, the cold hard logic that is near the very core of Bean's being.
And, because my brain works in a very similar way, (the cold calculation part, not the genius part lol) i found the book easy to identify with, and also very personally inspiring. It attests to a very straightforward honest view that I admire: that the truth is the truth, and we get the truth from the facts, NOT based on what we want it to be, or what would be easier to deal with or more happy.
*shrug* just my own observations, i could be wrong
Posted by Little_Doctor (Member # 6635) on :
I must say that i have come to love OSC's writing so much that i didnt even think of comparing the two. I'll have to read them again in order to do that. And does anyone know when exactly Shadow of the Giant is coming?
Posted by Kabederlin (Member # 6304) on :
At Card's current rate, I'd say like maybe late 2005 if we're lucky. Like... really lucky.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
"OSC removes himself from his own head in order to enter and understand someone elses: Bean's."
Hm. Having heard Card speak and having heard him disgress into politics now and then, I must say that I think the exact opposite is true: in Ender's Game and the early Alvin books, he's narrating from a character's viewpoint; in the Shadow books, he's lecturing us.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
More like getting characters in the book to lecture us and the main characters.
Posted by B-HAX (Member # 6640) on :
I must agree with chryso on Ender's Shadow.
The Ender series holds a special place in my heart from my youth. I happened upon a website talking about the "movie" in the works when it came to my attention that a "parallel" series has come out. So I immediately made my way to B&N to pick up a copy.
I had LOW expectations for I had assumed OSC was simply cashing in on the popularity of the Ender series by publishing his backstory notes in something resembling a novel. I was and have been pleasantly suprised.
I have taken to reading the two books at same time, damn near line for line parallel to one another. This has been very interersting and gives me some insight into how OSC writes.
Once I got into Shadow, I had thought Bean's character was already mapped out from OSC's backstory work dating back to the very first books as well as the short story. But reading closely Bean's character was developed much later on.
The job is daunting, making sure not to leave anything out or contradict the way the story leads. But it is very clear that Bean in EG was not the same Bean of Shadow. In one place in EG Bean is described as being "homesick". Plus, the shower scene before the first battle in Shadow, which Ender confronts Bean in the shower, is no where in Ender's game, in fact, it nearly contradicts Shadow by placing Ender in the gym for the entire time he should be with Bean.
Interesting, but all in all amazing that he managed to keep it together and develop Bean right beside him. I can only imagine what a nightmare it was keeping everything in check.
As I my interest in Ender is rekindled after ten years of being away it is neat to be right back in Battle School.
Plus it will be interesting to see what hollywood does with it. I always thought EG:The Movie if done right would be a masterpiece of cinema.
Take Care!
Posted by chx (Member # 3388) on :
Well, no book can be better than Ender's Game, not even Ender's Shadow. That book changed my life. But Ender's Shadow is also a great, great piece... the only problem there is, it's not Ender's Game
![[Smile]](smile.gif)