Shadows in Flight (Ender's Shadow Series #5)

by Orson Scott Card

Overview

Ender's Shadow explores the stars in this all-new novel...

At the end of Shadow of the Giant, Bean flees to the stars with three of his children--the three who share the engineered genes that gave him both hyper-intelligence and a short, cruel physical life. The time dilation granted by the speed of their travel gives Earth's scientists generations to seek a cure, to no avail. In time, they are forgotten--a fading ansible signal speaking of events lost to Earth's history. But the Delphikis are about to make a discovery that will let them save themselves, and perhaps all of humanity in days to come.

For there in space before them lies a derelict Formic colony ship. Aboard it, they will find both death and wonders--the life support that is failing on their own ship, room to grow, and labs in which to explore their own genetic anomaly and the mysterious disease that killed the ship's colony.

Shadows in Flight is the fifth novel in Orson Scott Card's Shadow Series.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765368669
Publisher:	Tom Doherty Associates
Publication date:	01/29/2013
Series:	Ender's Shadow Series , #5
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	294
Sales rank:	33,327
Product dimensions:	3.76(w) x 6.78(h) x 0.88(d)

About the Author

Orson Scott Card is best known for his science fiction novel Ender's Game and it's many sequels that expand the Ender Universe into the far future and the near past. Those books are organized into the Ender Quintet, the five books that chronicle the life of Ender Wiggin; the Shadow Series, that follows on the novel Ender's Shadow and are set on Earth; and the Formic Wars series, written with co-author Aaron Johnston, that tells of the terrible first contact between humans and the alien "Buggers".

Card has been a working writer since the 1970s. Beginning with dozens of plays and musical comedies produced in the 1960s and 70s, Card's first published fiction appeared in 1977 -- the short story "Gert Fram" in the July issue of The Ensign, and the novelet version of "Ender's Game" in the August issue of Analog.

The novel-length version of Ender's Game, published in 1984 and continuously in print since then, became the basis of the 2013 film, starring Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Hailee Steinfeld, Viola Davis, and Abigail Breslin.

Card was born in Washington state, and grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He served a mission for the LDS Church in Brazil in the early 1970s. Besides his writing, he runs occasional writers' workshops and directs plays. He frequently teaches writing and literature courses at Southern Virginia University.

He is the author many sf and fantasy novels, including the American frontier fantasy series "The Tales of Alvin Maker" (beginning with Seventh Son), There are also stand-alone science fiction and fantasy novels like Pastwatch and Hart's Hope. He has collaborated with his daughter Emily Card on a manga series, Laddertop. He has also written contemporary thrillers like Empire and historical novels like the monumental Saints and the religious novels Sarah and Rachel and Leah. Card's recent work includes the Mithermages books (Lost Gate, Gate Thief), contemporary magical fantasy for readers both young and old.

Card lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Kristine Allen Card, He and Kristine are the parents of five children and several grandchildren.

Hometown:

Greensboro, North Carolina

Date of Birth:

August 24, 1951

Place of Birth:

Richland, Washington

Education:

B.A. in theater, Brigham Young University, 1975; M.A. in English, University of Utah, 1981

Website:

http://www.hatrack.com

Read an Excerpt

Shadows in Flight (Chapter 1)

The starship Herodotus left Earth in 2210 with four passengers. It accelerated nearly to lightspeed as quickly as it could, and then stayed at that speed, letting relativity do its work.

On Herodotus, just over five years had passed; it had been 421 years on Earth.

On Herodotus, the three thirteen-month-old babies had turned into six-year-olds, and the Giant had outlived his life expectancy by two years.

On Earth, starships had been launched to found ninety-three colonies, beginning with the worlds once colonized by the Formics and spreading to other habitable planets as soon as they were found.

On Herodotus, the six-year-old children were small for their age, but brilliant beyond their years, as the Giant had been when he was little, for in all four of them, Anton's Key had been turned, a genetic defect and a genetic enhancement at the same time. Their intelligence was beyond the level of savants in every subject matter, without any of the debilitations of autism. But their bodies never stopped growing. They were small now, but by age twenty-two, they would be the size of the Giant, and the Giant would be long dead. For he was dying, and when he died, the children would be alone.

Shadows in Flight Copyright © 2012 by Orson Scott Card

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Card's latest installment in his Shadow subseries…does a superlative job of dramatically portraying the maturing process of child into adult…. Card makes the important point that there's always more than one side to every issue. Fans will marvel at how subtly he has prepared for the clever resolution." 

—Publishers Weekly, starred review, on Shadow of the Giant

“Shadow of the Giant is a fitting and satisfying continuation to the Ender series, although it is not a conclusion. Card...seems to indicate that he will at some point return to follow Bean's family and the other Battle School Children as they expand throughout the galaxy.” 

—SF Site.com

“Once again, Card keeps the action, danger, and intrigue levels high...paves the way for further Ender-Bean developments; and leaves his readers eagerly awaiting them.” 

—Booklist on Shadow Puppets

Editorial Reviews

In this long-awaited sequel to Orson Scott Card's 2005 Shadow of the Giant, Ender and three of his children flee to the outskirts of the universe in search of a cure of their accelerated life cycle. No encouraging answers come from Earth's scientists, but when the Delphikis come upon a deserted Formic colony ship deep in space, they make discoveries of their own that could change everything. Bound to be a bestseller. Now in mass-market paperback and NOOK Book.

Card's latest installment in his Shadow subseries…does a superlative job of dramatically portraying the maturing process of child into adult…. Card makes the important point that there's always more than one side to every issue. Fans will marvel at how subtly he has prepared for the clever resolution.

Shadow of the Giant is a fitting and satisfying continuation to the Ender series, although it is not a conclusion. Card...seems to indicate that he will at some point return to follow Bean's family and the other Battle School Children as they expand throughout the galaxy.

Once again, Card keeps the action, danger, and intrigue levels high...paves the way for further Ender-Bean developments; and leaves his readers eagerly awaiting them.

From the Publisher

Card’s fifth novel narrated by Julian “Bean” Delphiki (after Shadow of the Giant) mingles transcendent strangeness and didacticism. On a spaceship cut off from the rest of civilization, Julian is raising his three remarkable children, doomed to die young by the engineered genes that also make them inhumanly brilliant. Triplets Cincinnatus, Carlotta, and Ender (named for Bean’s old classmate) are only six years old and already smarter than nearly any adult, but just as emotionally immature as any children. Bean tries setting them up as an incestuously reproducing super-race who will be parents at age eight and dead at 22, but when an unidentified alien ship appears, the children eagerly embrace a less depressing way to prove themselves. Bean’s endless lectures make him appear a mouthpiece for the author; his children’s snarky resentment of being talked down to will similarly ring true for readers. Agent: Barbara Bova Literary Agency. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Julian "Bean" Delphiki, a friend of the legendary Ender Wiggin (Ender's Game) from the Battle School during the war against the alien Formics, has left Earth along with his three children to spend the remainder of their artificially short lives among the stars. Bean and his children all have Anton Syndrome, a condition defined by hyperintelligence and gigantism that results in a life span of under 25 years. Hoping to use their knowledge to discover a cure for their condition, the space travelers encounter an alien ship that may contain a surprising answer to their problem. Picking up where Shadow of the Giant leaves off, Card deals with the repercussions of bioengineering for the human species. VERDICT Card's graceful storytelling gives this narrative the feel of a parable or a futuristic myth; it is bound to please the author's fan base and readers who enjoyed the first book.

Library Journal

Gr 8 Up—Julian "Bean" Delphiki's story continues in this thrilling installment of Card's acclaimed sci-fi saga. More than four centuries have passed since Earth's scientists first activated Anton's Key, a double-edged genetic mutation granting both hyperintelligence and a painfully fatal form of gigantism. On Earth, the once-desperate quest for a cure has been forgotten. Hurtling through space at light speed, Bean and his three infected children still seek a solution. They find it aboard an abandoned Formic colony ship. In studying a mysterious plague that appeared to have killed the ship's previous inhabitants, the children believe they've discovered how to alter their own cellular structure so as to keep their intelligence while doing away with the more undesirable side effects of Anton Syndrome. Only time will tell if their experiment will be successful. Card's storytelling and world-building are fantastic, and fans of the series will surely be pleased. However, the story is complex and only minimal background is provided. Familiarity with the previous books is required to appreciate the intricacies of this one.—Alissa J. LeMerise, Oxford Public Library, MI

School Library Journal

Warning: Do not attempt to appreciate this book without at least some familiarity with Card's child-warrior Ender series. Previously in Shadow of the Giant (2005), military supergenius Bean fled Earth with his three surviving children aboard a starship; at the relativistic speeds of which the ship is capable, time-dilation effects may enable them to stay alive long enough for medical researchers to find a cure. They all have Anton's Key, which gives them tremendously accelerated and enhanced growth and intelligence, the profound drawback being that they never stop growing and will die before reaching the age of 30. Bean is already more than 14 feet tall and so debilitated that he can survive only in microgravity. The children—they call themselves "leguminotes"—biologist Ender, engineer Carlotta and warrior Sergeant, are 6-year-old late-adolescents and far smarter if no less quarrelsome than any other human. But they need a purpose other than mere survival—Ender, keyed into the latest research via ansible, the instantaneous communicator Card and others borrowed from Ursula Le Guin, suspects that a cure may not just be improbable, but impossible—so fatherly Bean has secretly steered them towards a surprising, not altogether unexpected but certainly intriguing confrontation. No further characterization is practicable without giving away what little plot there is, but don't worry, plotting has never been what Card is all about. The author has always superbly written about children, and here he's in top form. The original Ender, still roaming the galaxy in search of redemption, rarely gets a mention: bad news for Enders, good news for leguminotes. If you still prefer Ender to Bean after this, you're really hardcore.

Kirkus Reviews