The Last Shadow

Orson Scott Card
The Last Shadow Cover

The Last Shadow

thegooddoctor
9/12/2022
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First -- a confession. I only read the first 58 pages. I tried valiantly to drag myself to the end of chapter 5 -- but I just couldn't justify wasting any more time on this mindless drivel.

To think that a series that began so promisingly -- with "Ender's Game", then "Speaker for the Dead", both winners of the Hugo and Nebula Awards -- has now descended to such an incredibly low level of unreadable rubbish, is truly disheartening. Perhaps Card is getting even with SF fandom for not nominating him again? Or perhaps he is just past it -- how many years has it been since his last worthwhile novel? Well, to answer my own question, I would say "The Hive" was quite good (2019), but he has spun out a few clunkers since then. (Oops -- sorry -- "Children of the Fleet" -- not so good -- was actually 2017, my mistake).

Are there fans out there who actually enjoy discussions of rubbing your derriere on the grass because you are too stupid to use the washroom before you leave for an indefinitely long hike? Do they also like to read about annoying little brats arguing -- with again more potty speculations?

I hate to say "I told you so" -- but I did. In my review of "Shadows in Flight" -- I asked how far along this trend toward younger and younger protagonists Card would descend. Here, he has shown us that he is perfectly willing to write a novel that prominently features little wee kids squabbling endlessly over meaningless provocations. In his "Children of the Fleet", we were already a good way along this unfortunate curve.

Do yourself a favour -- if you want Card, try the earlier Ender installments, or even the earlier 2 or 3 "Shadow" installments. Just remember to veer off before "Shadow of the Giant". The novels of the first formic war have some great material, and the second formic formic war books are also quite good. There also some great short stories in the enderverse -- see The Investment Counsellor, (exceptionally good) other stories in "First Meetings in the Enderverse" and War of Gifts. If you want to see Card at his very best, even if it's not ender-ish -- then you absolutely must read the story "Unaccompanied Sonata" -- a true masterpiece!

One of the very worst thing about this novel is that Card debases his excellent character "Jane" from "Investment Counsellor" by dragging her into his story of childish nonsense.

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My rating system for this website (I have done reviews for over 80 "books" (including short stories, novelettes and novellas, as well as novels).

Their system is out of 5 stars, and allows you to use half-stars, so highest rating is 5 full stars, next-highest 4 ½ stars, etc. -- and lowest is ½ star. I did NOT want to space these ratings equally, giving just as much precedence to low-quality mush as to really good works. For that reason, I laid out my system as follows:

My rating system: I begin with one star being equivalent to a rating of "C-". Progressing upwards, I add ½ star for each step, up to the maximum 5 stars, which is equivalent to a rating of "A"+. I reserve ½ star for BOMBS, there being no option of zero or negative stars. As a result, I maximize my rating space for good books, and don't squander half or more of that rating space on books that are of marginal quality. And so, yes, I do consider this novel a BOMB.