Shadows in Flight

Shadows in Flight by Orson Scott Card, 237 pages

So this book by Card finishes up the Shadows series and the life of Bean. For those that have not read any of the books yet, go read them like I have told you before! But if you are still going to ignore me, Bean is another super smart, though somewhat altered child that attended battle school with Ender. In fact if Ender had started to falter, Bean would have been the one to continue the war with the Formics. When we left off in this series Bean had just taken himself and three of his children into space. The idea was to stay at near light speed travel until a cure could be developed for their genetic condition. But those plans get sidetracked when they happen upon another starship, one that belongs to a previously thought dead enemy.

Shadows in Flight is somewhat humorous, especially seeing the childhood squabbles of super geniuses, but also quite sad. It is rare to come across a series of books where you can see a person grow up. Sure it is easy to find books that quickly jump through a person’s life, but do three hundred pages really tell their story? Even less common are well written series that you slowly watch the characters grow. Rarer still are these same types of series that follow that person through their entire life. Watching a character that we have seen grow up throughout the books, especially in the detail oriented style that Card uses, leaves an emotional imprint on the reader. To then see that character you know and love on their deathbed really hits home.

I know I say this a lot, but I enjoyed reading this series. But this book leaves a lot of questions unanswered, especially what happens after this. If you are one of those readers that need everything tied up in a nice pretty bow at the end, then skip over this series. But if you like reading science fiction, and liked Ender’s Game, then this book and this series should be on your list.