Shadow Puppets Audiobook By Orson Scott Card cover art

Shadow Puppets

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Shadow Puppets

By: Orson Scott Card
Narrated by: David Birney, Stefan Rudnicki
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Bestselling author Orson Scott Card brings to life a new chapter in the saga of Ender's Earth and The Shadow Series.

Earth and its society have been changed irrevocably in the aftermath of Ender Wiggin's victory over the Formics. The unity forced upon the warring nations by an alien enemy has shattered. Nations are rising again, seeking territory and influence, and most of all, seeking to control the skills and loyalty of the children from the Battle School.

But one person has a better idea. Peter Wiggin, Ender's older, more ruthless, brother, sees that any hope for the future of Earth lies in restoring a sense of unity and purpose. And he has an irresistible call on the loyalty of Earth's young warriors. With Bean at his side, the two will reshape our future.

Shadow Puppets is the continuing story of Bean and Petra, and the rest of Ender's Dragon Army, as they take their places in the new government of Earth.

Browse more titles in the Ender Wiggin series.©2002 Orson Scott Card (P)2002 Fantastic Audio Genre Fiction Sagas Science Fiction

Critic reviews

“David Birney's voice sounds purposefully fatigued, beautifully conveying the world leader Peter Wiggin's frustrated resignation, and Stefan Rudnicki's clipped, low baritone is perfect for the cloack-and-dagger email correspondence that bookends the chapters. Gabrielle de Cuir expertly handles both accents and emotion...[Scott Brick] tackles the Bean chapters with the youthful cynicism and passion that Bean embodies in this book, capturing the character's voice with wonderful passion.” —AudioFile

“The folks at Audio Renaissance have quite literally brought greatness to the text. They've included an introduction and a postscript read by Card himself, both of which place the novel and the audiobook in its context as well as enlightening us to the author's method of its construction. Multiple readers led by Stefan Rudnicki work perfectly to vocally illustrate each chapter, character and scene.” —Science Fiction and Fantasy on Ender's Game(A Science Fiction and Fantasy Essential)

“The ideal presentation of any book of mine is to have excellent actors perform it in audio format.” —Orson Scott Card from the afterword of Ender's Game
Engaging Political Intrigue • Excellent Character Development • Excellent Voice Acting • Compelling Continuation
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You continue with Bean's story, and the positive here is that Card develops the character quite nicely.

However, the premise of the world going to war based on advice from 10 and 12 year olds is simply not believable in this one.

I was able to suspend disbelief in Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow, but he simply missed the mark with the story.

Overall, I recommend and will be moving on to Shadow of the Hegemon.

Another Good Read in the Ender Series

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Bean is one of my favorite characters of all time. It's a thrilling story however I'm disappointed that the author had to use his characters to preach religious views

Shadow puppets - great story!

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This production house is typically amazing, but there are some strange issues with this reading. I think the readers must have been mispronouncing "hegemon" because the word is dubbed over in a really jarring way throughout the production. There were places were they couldn't agree on how to pronounce Achilles. The audio quality also seemed of compared to previous entries in the series.

I enjoyed more time with these characters very much. A few times I had to roll my eyes because the author's personal political evolution is shining through in ways unseen in previous works. Bean's exploration of the morality of abortion as an example. Didn't stop me from enjoying the story. Anyone who made it this far in the series has no reason to stop here.

spotty recording

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the novel it's self is amazing and the voice actors do a phenomenal job. the random music is off putting though

strange music

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Great characters and story, great research into geography and cultures. Well paced action and thought provoking

Great political thriller

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I love this series and the way it can make a compelling story out of a glorified game of Risk. However this entry was significantly weighed down by the romance-and-babies plot.

Good but the weakest Shadow book so far

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When the story, the performances and the editing come into harmony, you get a journey that seems too short.

In thrall

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I just love these books; the "Ender" series and now the "Shadow" series, with Bean and Petra and Peter...I devour them!

Don't read this book if you haven't read "Shadow of the Hegemon" (which is preceded by "Ender's Shadow"). And if you haven't read "Ender's Game" yet, stop here and buy that instead!

Two things to point out, though:
1) This book does not end the "Shadow" series, and so far as I can tell the next book hasn't been published yet! So, while this book doesn't exactly leave you hanging, it doesn't resolve the story, either.
2) My only real complaint with these books are the love stories. I bought into the concept of battle school kids easily enough, and if you forget how old the characters are the story moves along fine. But I found that every time I remembered they're not yet 15, I recoiled a wee bit. I also note, however, that Card seems to realize this, and doesn't remind the reader about age very often.

Definitely another great addition to the "Ender" series - I can't wait for the next one!

Great book!

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I'm a huge fan of Mr. Card, and I don't think I've read a book from him that I didn't like or love for that matter. This book is added to that collection, not my favorite from the Enderverse, but still an excellent story, and I love getting to know the other characters more.

The narration is phenomenal in my opinion, the voices are so easy to listen to.

Another Great Book in the Series

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great audiobook. the story is more earth side focused which was less to my liking, I just prefer space haha. but it does make real life politics appear dumb, which it is.

another brilliant performance

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