The Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card

Science fiction-roman.

The military and politics in this book are a bit tedious. At times, it seems like a history book - rather than entertainment.

Shadow of the Hegemon was undoubtedly entertaining, but I felt there was something missing from the book when it stands alone. Key events for the overall story occur, such as Petra's kidnapping, Achilles' accension to power and the first interactions between Peter Wiggin and Bean. But everything seems to move so slowly, and is long foreshadowed/signalled/repeated thus reducing its impact.

Alternatively, the new setting of futuristic Earth after multiple Ender books and this novel's predecessor set in space is refreshing, and credit to Card for the international conflicts which occur in a logical and well-researched manner. Hopefully the sequel propels the story forward.

I enjoyed this book and finding out about events on earth after the war with the buggers.

I expected things to be farther along at the end based on the title however.

So far I'm enjoying the shadow series a lot more than ender series apart from ender's game. These books have felt more in the style of the first.

Loved this on my first read years ago. But in my 2023 re-read I found that it continues the trend from re-reads of the other books in this universe-all the characters are too smart and too capable. I decided not to continue at about the 50% mark. I was just over the Mary Sue trope in these books.