The Last Shadow - Tak's Reading Room

Paperback, 435 pages

English language

Published Oct. 31, 2022 by Tor books.

ISBN:: 978-0-7653-4414-4

(1 review)

Orson Scott Card's The Last Shadow is the long-awaited conclusion to both the original Ender series and the Ender's Shadow series, as the children of Ender and Bean solve the great problem of the Ender Universe—the deadly virus they call the descolada, which is incurable and will kill all of humanity if it is allowed to escape from Lusitania.

One planet.

Three sapient species living peacefully together.

And one deadly virus that could wipe out every world in the Starways Congress, killing billions.

Is the only answer another great Xenocide?

3 editions

Barbarius reviewed The Last Shadow by Orson Scott Card

Playing with old toys

4 stars

Look, this book is good. I'll say that from the outset. Is it as good as the other ten Ender/Shadow books before it? On balance, I'd say probably not (with the exception of Xenocide maybe), but what it does hit me with most of all is nostalgia. After the first book in each of the Ender and Shadow series the story arcs completely diverge. This book reconnects them in a completely legitimate way, and brings all the characters back together for the first time in twenty years (for us, not them) for a final story. So it definitely felt nice to have all these characters from different stories in the same book. But one thing that's different, and a little bit weird for me at least, in this story is that both Ender and Bean – the two main characters of the two series – are absent. It's fine, and …

Look, this book is good. I'll say that from the outset. Is it as good as the other ten Ender/Shadow books before it? On balance, I'd say probably not (with the exception of Xenocide maybe), but what it does hit me with most of all is nostalgia. After the first book in each of the Ender and Shadow series the story arcs completely diverge. This book reconnects them in a completely legitimate way, and brings all the characters back together for the first time in twenty years (for us, not them) for a final story. So it definitely felt nice to have all these characters from different stories in the same book. But one thing that's different, and a little bit weird for me at least, in this story is that both Ender and Bean – the two main characters of the two series – are absent. It's fine, and there's no issue with it, but I was keenly aware of the hole they both left.

The only other thing that I felt let down by was the complete absence of the revelation (regarding the Formics) that occured at the end of Shadows in Flight. It was pretty significant, and basically made no impact at all.

But still: good book. Go read it. (after you've read the other ten first)

Subjects

Science fiction