When Orson Scott Card wrote the contemporary science fiction classic Ender's Game in the late 1970s, he laid the groundwork for a career in historical speculation. His variations on the Ender narrative arc -- including a trilogy of novels following the primary text's protagonist on an interstellar colonization mission and the present series of novels chronicling the life of Ender Wiggin's sidekick, or "Shadow," Bean -- have thrilled readers with their intimate relationships and epic storylines.
Now, more than 25 years after Ender's Game, Card continues to delineate the nigh inevitable consequences set in motion by the actions taken to counteract an alien invasion of a future Earth. His latest effort, Shadow of the Giant, is an elaborately woven web of international maneuvering and intranational politics with a dash of mass media manipulation and a pinch of raw military action.
Card is a man who knows his military history -- and he won't let you forget it. Characters incessantly reference Alexander, Caligula and the conquests of old. But where excessive name-dropping fails to belie the maturity of Giant's well-read child geniuses, Card's spot-on dialogue captures the sarcastic but wise spirit of the novel's college-aged characters.
In Giant, Card spares no time for backstory -- new readers will find themselves awash in a flood of inside jokes, nuanced personalities and a well-developed timeline. Indeed, full appreciation of Giant requires an immersion in the entirety of the Ender series.
Shadow of the Giant charts the fate of a handful of ambitious child geniuses reared for the battlefield. Their powerplays as heads of state in India, China and the nations of Islam, as well as their military influence in Russia and Thailand, set the stage for an Earth on the brink of catastrophe.
The first chapter dumps readers into the middle of a military coup as Han Tzu, or "Hot Soup," as he is known, claims the Mandate of Heaven in China. Shortly thereafter, Alai legitimates his power as Caliph, or religious leader of Islam, and Virlomi channels Shiva the Destroyer in her leadership of an occupied India. Meanwhile, Peter Wiggin, Ender's older brother, strives to make his Hegemony, a role equivalent to the United Nations' Secretary General, more than a figurehead position. In between chapters of political powergrabs and large-scale troop movements, Bean and Petra scour the globe for their stolen and implanted embryos.
The narrative moves at a brisk pace as Card intersplices global and personal storylines with ease. Ender veterans will appreciate numerous inter-textual references linking Giant to other novels within the series, though Card's explanation of the origins of Jane as an investing program for Ender's Battle School pension is contrived at best, a sore thumb of a plot device in an otherwise sleek and seamless storyline.
Fronted with often smarmy and always insightful e-mails, each of Giant's 26 meaty chapters is evenly paced, with the exception of a pair of moderately tangential episodes that feel planted for future consideration in an as-yet unwritten addendum to the Ender series.
At 350 pages, Shadow of the Giant is a smooth, enthralling read. The plausible maturation of once-peripheral characters in this thoroughly conceived novel rewards fans of the long-running Ender series. He hasn't outdone himself, but Orson Scott Card's latest bestseller is a worthy addition to his career-spanning saga.
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