Shadow of the Giant

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Chapter One

Mandate of Heaven

From: Graff%pilgrimage@colmin.gov

To: Soup%battleboys@strategyandplanning.han.gov

Re: Free Vacation Offer

Destination of your choice in the known universe. And...we pick you up!

Han Tzu waited until the armored car was completely out of sight before he ventured out into the bicycle-and-pedestrian-packed street. Crowds could make you invisible, but only if you were moving in the same direction, and that’s the thing Han Tzu had never really been able to do, not since he came home to China from Battle School.

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Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card--Audiobook Excerpt

Listen to this audiobook excerpt from Orson Scott Card's science fiction novel Shadow of the Giant. This book, the fourth in Card's Shadow Series, continues the story of Bean, one of the most fascinating characters from Card's sci-fi classic, Ender's Game. Bean's past was a battle just to survive. He first appeared on the streets of Rotterdam, a tiny child with a mind leagues beyond anyone else. Then he was discovered by the recruiters for the Battle School.

Reviews

Praise for Shadow of the Giant

"The novels of Orson Scott Card's Ender series are an intriguing combination of action, military and political strategy, elaborate war games and psychology." —USA Today

"This fine follow-up to Ender's Shadow features that novel's hero, Bean (now a young man), wrestling with Card's trademark: superbly real moral and ethical dilemmas....The complexity and serious treatment of the book's young protagonists will attract many sophisticated YA readers, while Card's impeccable prose, fast pacing and political intrigue will appeal to adult fans of spy novels, thrillers, and science fiction."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Shadow of the Hegemon

"An undeniable heavyweight. . . . This book combines Card's quirky style with his hard ethical dilemmas and sharply drawn portraits."--New York Daily News on Ender's Game

"Card has taken the venerable SF concepts of a superman and an interstellar war against aliens, and, with superb characterization, pacing, and language, combined them into a seamless story of compelling power."--Booklist on Ender's Game

"You can't step into the same river twice, but Card has gracefully dipped twice into the same inkwell--once for Ender's Game, and again for his stand-alone 'parallel novel'. As always, everyone will be struck by the power of Card's children, always more and less than human, perfect yet struggling, tragic yet hopeful, wondrous and strange."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Ender's Shadow

"The publishing equivalent of a Star Wars blockbuster." --New York Daily News on Ender's Shadow

"Ender's Shadow is entertaining, fast-paced science fiction." --CNN Interactive

"The author's superb storytelling and his genuine insight into the moral dilemmas that lead good people to commit questionable actions make this title a priority purchase for most libraries." --Library Journal on Ender's Shadow

"Like Card's idolized Battle School alumni, novels in this saga (not to mention Card himself) have acquired an irresistible aura." --Booklist on Shadow of the Giant

"Card's latest installment in his Shadow subseries does a superlative job of dramatically portraying the maturing process of child into adult." --Publishers Weekly on Shadow of the Giant

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About the Author

Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card is the author of the novels Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, and Speaker for the Dead. Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the only author to win these two top prizes in consecutive years. There are seven other novels to date in The Ender Universe series. Card has also written fantasy: The Tales of Alvin Maker is a series of fantasy novels set in frontier America; his most recent novel, The Lost Gate, is a contemporary magical fantasy. Card has written many other stand-alone sf and fantasy novels, as well as movie tie-ins and games, and publishes an internet-based science fiction and fantasy magazine, Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. Card was born in Washington 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, Card directs plays and teaches writing and literature at Southern Virginia University. He lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Kristine Allen Card, and youngest daughter, Zina Margaret.

Orson Scott Card