Nice tying up of the Ender/Bean series. I listened to the audiobook, which I hear from the author's note at the end is his preferred way for a reader to experience his books. The multiple narrators caused me some confusion, but not enough to dampen my enthusiasm for the book. I have enjoyed all of the Ender/Bean series. My favorite being Speaker for the Dead. I was fascinated to find out that it was the book he originally got the contract for and then felt he had to make Ender's Game into a novel in order to provide the background. This book introduced decendents of Ender and Bean as they try to solve the puzzle of the descolada virus. A great story as are all of Mr Card's books. I look forward to reading more. Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for sharing this book with me in exchange for my honest review.

The Last Shadow by Orson Scott Card, is by his own admission best listened to rather than read. It was an enthralling story and despite the fact I hadn't read the first five in the series, he made it plain what was going on. I jumped at the chance to listen to this book as I had read the first couple in the original series and was enamored by them. Card has a wondrous imagination and is a gifted storyteller. There are a lot of characters, not all of whom are still living, and it takes a little bit to sort them all out. Then it is clear sailing to a totally satisfying
listening experience.

If one didn't realize this was the end of a six-book series, one might think it was political commentary as much of the story was woven around a pandemic. Was it generated to wipe out civilizations or was it an anomaly? A question answered before the end of the book. The pandemic is not political, however, the introduction of different species, the advances of science which may not fit all ethics, and coming to understand those who were previously enemies, may all be more so. The main characters are children, at least by appearance and experience, certainly not by intellect, which proves to enhance the story greatly since they tend to be more mature than some of the "adults."

Multiple readers who provide the multitude of voices necessary and keep it from becoming tiresome present the book. They include Emily Rankin, Gabrielle de Cur, John Rubenstein, Judy Young, Justine Eyre, Kirby Heyborne, Orson Scott Card, Scott Brick, and Stefan Rudnicki. This was a wonderful book and an excellent audio interpretation of it.

I was invited to listen to a free audio of The Last Shadow by Macmillan Audio, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #netgalley #macmillanaudio #orsonscottcard #thelastshadow

It has been a long time since I read all of the ender/bean stories. Luckily, the book reminds us of what happened in the past and what the issue was. I remember thinking, what isn't complete in the story? Then I realized this was about the killer virus and, in this novel, it has spread and is threatening the entire Universe.
The audio version is a great presentation. Orson Scott Card himself said his stories are better listened to and the production is a true performance. I enjoyed listening to the story.
It's been a while since I've philosophized during entertainment and this book reminded me that even though my local library categorizes The Ender books are juvenile. There is much more intellectual content than that.
I missed my original characters even though cloning has brought them into this story. Are clones the same as the original? The author also puzzels this along with me.

Yay! Back in the ‘80s I was astonished by the trimorphic descolada virus that made its debut in Speaker for the Dead. I even wrote to Orson Scott Card’s hatrack company and demanded that he stop writing fantasies and get right back to finishing the Ender series. I got an immediate cordial reply from his staff, but I had to wait decades for this book!

I dearly love OSC’s science fiction ideas, but I never been a fan of his quirky writing style. I was pleased to find that his writing here is a bit more mainstream.

If you’ve been waiting all these years like me, you might wonder if you should go back to reread and refresh?

Relax! The ideas in those older books are great reads, but if you’re pressed for time or impatient to begin, rest assured that this book begins with chapters and chapters and more chapters of historical data dumps to refresh the memory. Gradually the data dumps take up less space in each chapter as the action begins. The data dumps are not very interesting or fun, though you can tell OSC tried to vary them to make them engaging. There are also some long and boring interior monologues explaining character motivation, which I dislike far more than the data dumps. Wikipedia says OSC started writing at the beginning of COVID-19, and I would bet anything that the gigantic interior monologue and ahem … data dump ... about pooping out in nature were inspired by the universal toilet paper shortage due to our recent pandemic shopping patterns. Curiously, there’s copious amount of shitting going on in this novel.

The book focuses on Bean’s seven intellectually gifted grandchildren, a post human species self-designated as “leguminates.” And this book is the big reveal of their proper names. (See below for character names.) But oh man, how does Card come up with his annoying and idiosyncratic naming conventions? (I picture his family around the dinner table drawing straws to put their two cents in.) And then there are characters with confusing names, descendants and post human spin offs that bear the same names of major characters but look like different major characters. I “endered” up making a list of names to keep track of who’s who. For example, there’s two fracking “Enders” here and neither one is exactly the guy from the first book!

So these children and their one gifted parent—their normal human parent having been ruthlessly abandoned—are aboard their private spaceship, I guess an SUV-type space craft? A vision of the battle school director appears, accompanied by two personages, and he tells them to listen. The triumvirate speak of a need to save humanity from the descolada virus.

Once this story gets going and characters interact, the dialogues are fun and refreshing. I greatly enjoyed the depiction of Si Wang-mu and her interactions with people. She is witty, strong, empathetic, and pretty darn funny. There are additional funny bits, which also enjoyed. I could argue how any one of several people is the main character, but to me, the book felt like an ensemble collage of characters. The narrative voice hops back and forth from head to head and then sometimes to an omniscient perspective, often with dizzying effect.

Besides the frenetic head hopping, some segues seemed a bit abrupt as did the climax and denouement. I was hoping for a mind-blowing, freaky-deaky virus story but instead got a “found family” type narrative. This book is about how to treat other people, as were the last ten books I’ve read, it seems.

The dialogue (whenever it’s not actually a data dump in disguise) is very engaging. The presence and depictions of female characters are credible and multifaceted. The places where dialogue AND women coincide—are excellent!

I thought OSC did a great job giving voice to women. Not just one female. This book is full of a variety of strong, smart, and interesting females. The ant queen, Jane, Si Wang-mu, and Thulium all play important roles. Great job capturing the nuances of eight-year-old wiz kid Thulium.

NetGalley granted me early access to the audiobook. It was a multi-character production (nine people!!!), but I was disappointed how that was handled. Sometime a narrator would read all of the character parts in a chapter, and sometimes readers each would portray a specific part like a proper audio drama. No consistency. Often the reading felt forced. The effect on me was to visualize two voice actors, ones in sweats, the other in jeans, in a white studio, a single fluorescent bulb blinking in a nervous eye twitch—instead of visualizing a scene unfolding. Tying for worst aspect is inadequate representation of a Japanese accent (just like Masser Rackham’s lack of Australian accent) The best aspect of the audiobook is the narrators’ entirely credible interpretation of how to render animal voices and genetically modified people. Which reminds me to mention, I typically dislike anthropomorphized animals in stories, but these OSC alien-animals and GMO people were fun, thoughtful ideas—like what is the essence of a species, and at what point do they count as people.

This book is entitled “The Last Shadow.” So how does this last book end?

Let’s first go to the Very Very End. The acknowledgements where he gives thanks to jennifer ackerman for her books on birds that gave him the inspiration for this book.

He also gives thanks for the voice actors. Maybe his hearing is going. If my math is correct, he’s just past 70? Anyway, that is very sweet of him.

But the rest of the acknowledgment is almost like an end-of-life wrap up. And I will need to add translations for some of his comments. He says he’s aware that the ending will disappoint some (aka it sucks). He reminds us that none of his books wrap up cleanly, so why should we expect this one to? And he reminds us that at least all of his books have an ending. (Too true; I hate cliffhangers, but this justification reeks of guilt.)

Well, he offers many reasons why he could actually write the fracking book I had expected, he could write a boring book like the heavy hitters (aka hard science fiction?), but he doesn’t want to write about tiny aliens (OMG OSC, go read Project Hail Mary right now), and he did want to write a human-oriented impactful story and expressed his love for the youngsters in his life. Also he could not come up with a motive why a civilization would create such a nasty (aka interesting?) virus. He basically says I ain’t the one to write the story of the descolada; it will have to be the next generation of writers. Geeze it takes guts to write this Acknowledgment (aka epilogue?).

So this book IS the last, like the title says, it’s the wrap up for at least the Shadow (Bean) series. I’ve read lots of serial novels and I notice a peak in quality around book one, two, or three, followed by a slow steady decline, and then I start wondering maybe my beloved author should start drawing their pension and not rely so much on writing. It’s really sad and touching that this author is obviously self conscious of his writing and is contemplating more than one ending.

Yeash. How do you rank the quality or enjoyment in this situation? What I wanted isn’t what the author wanted to give. It is 13 hours long. About half of that is a mind numbing data dump. The plot is simplistic. He wrote some really decent female characters. It’s not easy for him to give power and autonomy to women, considering he is a direct descendant of Brigham Young, a thoroughly despicable autocrat, and mormon women are commanded to obey their husband, bow their head and say “yes.” At least they don’t have to veil their faces anymore. He has been so programmed he may not know he has been, and either way, he has to echo the propaganda of the patriarchy under the threat of incalculably harsh penalties for all of eternity. People, it is not easy being a white man, upwardly mobile, and being told that woman, children, animals, the earth must bow down to you when you become a god and have many wives to pop out the babies to inhabit that planet you will rule. I guess I am a tad worked up about the ending.

=======================

Characters

The people or leguminates onboard the Herodotus are all descendants of Bean and Petra Arcanian. Three adults and seven children.

Cincinnatus Delphiki “Uncle Sargent” the muscle
Dysprosium “Dis” - twin boy bully
Lanthanum “Lance” - twin boy bully
Thulium “Ultima” “Ulian” “Thullie” - girl, youngest of all

Andrew Delphiki “Uncle Ender” the brains and leader
Mazer Rackham “Boss”
Petra Arkana Delphiki “Little Mum”

Carlotta Delphiki “Aunt Carlotta” or “Aunt Bella” the nurturer
Brussels “Sprout” - boy, kind
Delphi “China” “Blue” - boy, next youngest of all, tender hearted, thulium’s best friend.

Other Characters
Hyrum Graph - appears as an angel holograph to Carlotta to save humanity from the descolada. He’s now embedded in the computer like the gift of the holy ghost. Ping! He brings two personages:

Jane - A super-smart post human who is capable of instant travel and she looks like Valentine. Origin: When Ender Sr was unconscious he mind linked with ant queen created a computer stack overflow that bifurcated to make the two post-human personages of “Peter” and “Jane” and then his human body died.

Peter “Andrew” “Ender” “Peter” - super smart post human like Jane but confused because he has primal urges of Peter and empathetic urges of Andrew (Ender) and no memories to rely on. Origin same as Jane.

Miro Hibera - Lusitanian, brother of Ella Hibera who created cure with the supernal help of Jane. Jane’s husband

Si Wang-mu - From Path. Peter’s wife

I don’t remember how the last two characters pinged into existence. Felt like a rough cut.

Readers (please excuse typos)
Stefan Rodniki
Emily Rankin
Scott Brick
Gabriel Decure
Justine Heyer
Kirby Heyborn
Judy Young
John rubenstein
Orson Scott Card

While I have not read the books between the first one and this one, it was relatively easy to pick up and read. I love the birds and the whole resolution of many of the threads (but not all). My only regret is I want this story to continue!

Summary: A conclusion (?) to the spin-off Shadow series about Bean and his family bringing them back into the Ender Quintet.

I have seen The Last Shadow both marked as the sixth book in the Ender series (starting with Ender’s Game) and the fifth book in the Shadow series (starting with Ender’s Shadow). It plays both roles. As I commented with The Last Tourist (odd that both have the same naming convention), it is just easier to read books that are written more closely together. The Shadow series was started in 2003 and Ender’s Game is a 1985 novel that was based on a 1977 short story. What I did not know until the author’s comments at the end of the book, was that initially Card had a contract to write the novel Speaker for the Dead, but realized that once he started writing that book with its roots going back to the short story version of Ender’s Game, he needed to elaborate and change some of the plotlines to prepare for the later books.

As I have commented before, I am not sure there is any book I have read more than Ender’s Game. Orson Scott Card has played around with the story since its novelization in 1985. He released a revised version in 1991 that took into account the fall of the Soviet Union. He revised it again slightly for a 20th-anniversary release in 2005. And he released an audio play version in 2013 that referenced some of the subsequent short stories and included new scenes and perspectives. And in 2011 there was a film adaptation. I am very familiar with the series and have even read the companion book that pays tribute to the ways that the novel has impacted scifi.

Despite my love for the “Enderverse”, I have been a bit mixed about Card’s writing over the years. Card has embraced his libertarian political ideas with the two books Empire and Hidden Empire about a second American Civil War. And Card’s Mormon theology regularly comes through in his writing, not just in his religious book series but frequently in his social commentary, especially around family.

A story has to be able to stand up on its own, not just as a plank in the world-building of a series. For the most part, I think The Last Shadow cleaned up some of the mess of the Children of the Mind. The original characters of Ender’s Game are essentially all gone except for Jane and some cameos by others. Miro from the 2nd-4th books of the series plays a significant role as does Peter from the fourth book and then the children and grandchildren of Bean that were introduced in Shadows in Flight.

The old adage from Arthur C Clark about “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” is at play in The Last Shadow. Having achieved instant space travel by essentially a type of technology that could be called magic and a level of genetic science that would be called magic (probably black magic) by many, this continues to be a series that is as much about philosophical ideas as action. In this case, a number of threads spin around the concepts of love and loyalty and the limitations of humans, even if they are very smart humans.

I am trying to discuss the novel without spoilers. There is a lot of emotional angst, not just about the brilliant children that are always in Card’s books, but among their parents and other adults that are trying to lead or relate to them. Humanity is never just the rational for Card. There is always a role for the irrational and the communal responsibility to the group. I think this is probably an end to the series, but I could be wrong. I thought the last book was an end to the series. And Aaron Johnson has written five prequel books with some input by Card about the first and second formic wars (which I have not read.) So I could be wrong about this being the end.

In the author’s note at the end of the book, Card thanks Steffon Rudnicki and other voice actors that have brought the series alive in audio formats over the past 20 years. For me, this is primarily an audiobook series. I have read them all in print, but I enjoy them most in audio. I recieved an advanced copy of the audiobook (these will not be published officially until Nov 16, 2021) and the audio production and multi-voice narration continues to be excellent.

The Last Shadow by Orson Scott Card (The Shadow Series #6) Purchase Links: Paperback, Kindle Edition, Audible.com Audiobook

The Last Shadow by Orson Scott Card is a must read for fans of Ender’s Game, Ender’s Shadow, and the other books in the Ender’s Saga and Shadow series. It represents another grand adventure in reason and discovery, featuring characters related to and much like those in the early books, in a different time and place, and with a different dilemma. Along the way, some loose ends from the series are tied up in unexpected yet satisfying ways.

For those who’ve previously listened to the audiobook editions, you’ll be pleased to know that this one features the same voices and the same high quality. It’s been years since I listened to the books in these series, but listening to this audiobook felt like coming home not only to the same style of storytelling, but to the same familiar voices. For those considering trying the audio edition for the first time, please do. It’s a treat that adds to the sensory experience of the book.

Thank you to the publisher for providing an advance reader copy of this audiobook through NetGalley. This review represents my own honest thoughts.

I really did not enjoy the first half of this book, but I was curious as to how this series would end, so I continued on with it. The second half was slightly better and did have some interesting moments.

I listened to the audio version and most of narrators were good, but there were a couple that I did not like.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the chance to read and review this audiobook.

This audiobook has numerous narrators for the different characters. I felt it was very well done to help give each of the characters their own personality. It helped me keep them separate. It did take me a bit to get into it since I normally read books instead of listen to them. However, by the end I had been drawn into the story.

Thank you to the author, narrators, publisher and NetGalley for my eAudio in exchange for an honest review.