Story: 6.5 / 10
Characters: 9
Setting: 8
Prose: 9 ( )

Great book, sorry to see the series end! ( )

Just completed what I suspect will be the last official novel in the Enderverse written by Orson Scott Card himself. I started this journey back in 1985 when the first book, Ender's Game first came out. I have read all the rest which includes the Ender's Shadow series over the years. This last book came out in 2021 so it took awhile for it to come out of my TBR pile.

If you have read all the previous Ender/Shadow books and overall enjoyed them then you certainly need to read this one. It essentially merges the two story lines and draw it all into a mostly satisfactory conclusion. I say mostly because for some there is one question that may not be answered fully enough for them.

OSC books are widely know for their narrative style particularly with inner dialog being extremely important to the enjoying the overall story. Not all the books in the series are like this and this one is not either. Much of the story is revealed by character interactions and dialog which for some is a great thing.

Is this the greatest book in the overall series? No, I do not think so. My rating is has a aspect of nostalgia and respect for the series tied to it hence the 5 stars. Without that then the book would be a solid 4 stars. ( )

Orson Scott Card’s The Last Shadow concludes the main thread of his Enderverse stories, linking the stories that began with 1986’s Ender’s Game and ran through Children of the Mind in 1996 with those that begin with Ender’s Shadow in 1999 and continued through Shadows in Flight in 2012. Card has one final novel planned, The Queens, that will conclude the story of Second Formic War.

In this book, the computer intelligence Jane (now housed in a cloned body of Val) uses her ability to travel instantaneously to bring the children and grandchildren of Bean – who have been traveling at relativistic speeds for the equivalent of thousands of years to those outside their ship – to Lusitania, home of the pequeninos and the Hive Queen. The planet narrowly avoided destruction by the Starways Congress after finding a cure for the seemingly sentient descolada virus. Bean’s grandchildren, Sprout and Thulium, assist Val, Peter (a duplicate body of Peter Wiggin hosting the aiúa of Ender), and Si Wang-mu with investigating the planet they suspect to be the origin point of the descolada. They must use what they’ve learned of sentient life from humanity’s interactions with the Formics and pequeninos to engage with the lifeforms they find there, preventing the mistakes of the past while resolving the final mystery to their own satisfaction.

Card’s chronologically final Enderverse novel is a satisfying conclusion, wrapping things up in a manner that honors what came before in the series without feeling the need to explain every single thing as other franchises have done in prequels and conclusions. Long-time fans will find what they seek here while new readers can enjoy experiencing how it all fits together without the delay of publishing. ( )

Nice tying up of the Ender/Bean series. I listened to the audiobook, which I hear from the author's note at the end is his preferred way for a reader to experience his books. The multiple narrators caused me some confusion, but not enough to dampen my enthusiasm for the book. I have enjoyed all of the Ender/Bean series. My favorite being Speaker for the Dead. I was fascinated to find out that it was the book he originally got the contract for and then felt he had to make Ender's Game into a novel in order to provide the background. This book introduced decendents of Ender and Bean as they try to solve the puzzle of the descolada virus. A great story as are all of Mr Card's books. I look forward to reading more. Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for sharing this book with me in exchange for my honest review. ( )