I used to be a big fan of Orson Scott Card, ever since I read his first published work, the short story “Ender’s Game”, in Analog magazine. It was a dynamite story, and though I bought the novel Ender’s Game PDQ when it was published I always thought that the short story was better. In recent years, though, I’ve rather stopped reading him, for a variety of reasons, one of which is a tendency he’s developed of rewriting his early works, works I remember fondly, in ways that annoy me. When Ender’s Shadow was published some years ago, it seemed like more of that. I didn’t buy a copy, and when my brother loaned me his and suggested I read it, it sat on the shelf.

Just in the last few months, several readers have told me that it’s actually a pretty good book. So when I headed off to Chicago for the Tcl conference this year, I decided to give it a try. And it’s become clear that I had dismissed it too hastily–from what I remember of Ender’s Game (the novel), I do believe I like this one considerably better. Bean’s a more interesting character than I would have guessed–more interesting than Ender, in fact–and Card does a neat job of developing him. He also manages to put a new spin on the story without breaking what’s gone before.

That’s all there is to say, really. Those of my readers who are familiar with the Ender books have probably already read this one, and I can’t say much about the plot without spoiling the earlier books for those who haven’t read them. I liked it. I’m going to have to look up the sequel(s). ’nuff said.