It’s been quite some time since I read a book in the Ender series. Quite frankly, I never expected Card to return to the saga after he seemingly closed things out in “Shadow of the Giant”. Sure, there were a few loose ends, but I was satisfied that the story had been told. Apparently that was not the case, as this novel attempts to take care of those dangling threads and reconcile a few continuity discrepancies.
I often enjoy novels that exist for the sole purpose of repairing continuity inconsistencies, because those are the things that nag at me incessantly. Of course, that’s usually something that’s reserved for media tie-in properties, where authors will take it upon themselves to take care of gaps and plot threads from the parent series. Some authors in the “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” franchise, for instance, produce some of the best novels in that fashion.
When it comes to science fiction literature outside of the media tie-ins, however, it’s a risky business. The “Second Foundation Trilogy”, for example, was a noble failure at an attempt to resolve the loose ends of Isaac Asimov’s classic saga. Many of the new “Dune” books create more continuity problems than they’ve resolved. At least, in this case, the author himself is attempting to make all the Ender novels, short stories, and comics and pull them together into one cohesive whole.
The end result, however, feels generally unnecessary. Having never read the short stories or the comics, I never recognized the apparent continuity problems and never yearned for a novel to make it all work together. Like most of Card’s more recent novels, there’s a bizarre need to insert political and social statements that don’t always mesh well with the circumstances (a problem seen more often in the “Shadow” series).
That said, it was good to see Peter receive a better treatment as the Hegemon than he received in the “Shadow” series. Peter’s rise to power was a lot more disappointing once it was explained; it was an example of something that could have remained in the background, left to the readers’ imaginations. The same, of course, could be said for this book.
Rating: 6/10
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