Shadow of the Giant
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| Author | Orson Scott Card |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Shadow Quartet |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Tor Books |
| Released | March 1, 2005 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 368 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-312-85758-6 |
| Preceded by | Shadow Puppets (Chronologically/Published) |
Shadow of the Giant (2005) is the fourth and final novel of the Shadow Quartet. This series started with Ender's Shadow and was followed by Shadow of the Hegemon and Shadow Puppets. Shadow of the Giant was written by Orson Scott Card and was published in March 2005.
Card is currently writing two additional books in the Ender series that will tie the Ender Quartet and Bean Quartet together. One will be called Shadows in Flight and will take place after Children of the Mind. The other book, provisionally titled Ender in Exile: Ganges, will deal with some aspects of the Shadow series along with an account of Ender's life before the Speaker series.
[edit] Plot summary
At the beginning of the novel, it is known that at least two of Bean and Petra's eggs were implanted by Volescu into other women. Meanwhile, in conquered China, a belief is spreading that the current government has lost the Mandate of Heaven. Han Tzu meets up with Mazer Rackham, who hands him a blow dart pen. Shortly afterwards, Han Tzu overthrows the current government and installs himself as the new emperor.
Peter Wiggin, Hegemon of Earth, along with Petra Arkanian, comes to visit Alai, who is now the Caliph of the Muslim League. Eventually, the two help Alai realize that he is little more than a glorified prisoner, and that others have been ruling Islam in his stead. After uncovering a conspiracy against him, Alai resolves to take a more firm control of his newfound nation, and to treat the peoples he wrested away from China as actual people, and not as animals as they were being treated before.
The rest of the book deals with Peter Wiggin working to create a world government free of war through his Free People of Earth alliance. Caliph Alai of the Muslim League and Virlomi, now the virtual goddess of India, oppose his efforts. Against this backdrop of world political machinations by the former Battle School children is the extremely personal story of Bean. Anton's Key is making him grow at an astounding rate and he knows that it will be a short time before he will die due to his body becoming too large for his heart. He is also searching for their missing children.
The formation of the Free People of Earth is shown throughout the novel. It begins with five countries. Felix Starman, head of Rwanda, joins only on the request that Bean (now nicknamed Giant Julian) lead the army, as his army is very patriotic and would be willing to serve under Bean. The first test of the FPE comes when they recognize a country that another country does not. That country begins to go to war. Peter emphasizes that war against one FPE member is war against all of them, so he sends Bean and the Rwanda army to battle and defeat that country's army. This strikes fear into the rest of the world, and they join the FPE to avoid conflict with Bean's well-trained and efficient army.
Meanwhile, Bean questions where Peter is getting funding for the FPE. He suspects that he is embezzling Ender's military pension, so he requests that Ender's fund be placed under the control of an autonomous computer. Graff reprograms the Mind Game to accurately predict markets. This program later becomes Jane. The Mind Game is also used to help find Bean's missing children; the machine limits the searches from thousands of possible recipents to hundreds. In the end, the International Fleet finds eight of the children, three of whom have Anton's Key turned. The ninth one is still missing. It is revealed that Achilles planted this one into a woman named Randi. The baby appears to have Anton's Key turned, as he speaks earlier than usual. To avoid persecution, Randi decides to leave Earth to live in a colony where she can raise Bean's child.
With the help of Mazer Rackham, Bean divorces Petra and takes the children with Anton's Key and flies away on a starship provided by the Fleet to achieve relativistic speeds and therefore stay alive long enough to find a cure. Bean's departure breaks Petra's heart. However, Petra eventually goes on to marry Peter, and they have five children together. Near the end of the novel, the FPE achieves success; only the United States has not yet joined. Peter speaks with Ender via ansible, giving the Speaker for the Dead all he needs to write The Hegemon.
[edit] External links
| Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series | |
|---|---|
| Ender Quartet | Ender's Game | Speaker for the Dead | Xenocide | Children of the Mind |
| Bean Quartet | Ender's Shadow | Shadow of the Hegemon | Shadow Puppets | Shadow of the Giant |
| Additional books | Shadows in Flight | Ender in Exile: Ganges (working title) |
| Short stories | First Meetings: "The Polish Boy" | "Teacher's Pest" | "Investment Counselor"
Intergalactic Medicine Show: "Mazer in Prison" | "Pretty Boy" | "Cheater" |
| Books | Characters | Concepts | |
