| The Shadow of the Giant is the latest installment in the "Shadow" subseries which derived from the popular "Ender quartet". Julian Delphiki(aka:Bean)saved the world from a potentially devastating alien race,with the help of a small group of millitary geniuses and Ender, the best commander the world had to offer. With the conclusion of the war, all of Ender's jeesh(team)returned home to Earth,finally, in hopes of reuniting with their families and living normal lives. The world was fully united during the time of the alien threat but alliances were quickly bequeathed in place of war and termoil once the aliens were destroyed. So the great millitary minds,who had just returned from saving the human race, were exploited into doing exactly the opposite. Wars were fought between world super powers for expansion and religious superiority but all that was gained was hostility and unstability. The one man,Peter Wiggin,decided to bring peace to the world by unitining it under a single hegemony.
Julian Delphiki was illegally and genetically altered by a Russian scientist. The scientist,Volescu, enabled Julian an unnatural intellect that dwarfed any others. As a result of the genetic changes he became mentally stronger than any human,because infact he was not human himself but a whole new advanced species. His brain would never stop growing,along with the rest of his body. Though he was gifted with a superior mind he would likely die before reaching twenty of giantism because his heart would finally fail or his spine would collapse. After finally finding love, Julian marries Petra,a former teammate who helped in saving the world from the aliens. They have several children together but because of Julian's condition they were produced in a lab to correct the mutated genomes. One embryo is put into Petra but the others are stolen. Julian and his wife make it their life goal to find their lost children, who in fact do have Julian's condition and are considerd by their enemies to be extremely valuable. Hegemon, Peter Wiggin, insists on the Julian and Petra helping him bring peace to the world with their millitary talents and strong reputations and influence. They both now have to save the world once again (in a way)and find their babies while avoiding the excessive attempts on their lives. Additionally Julians life is coming to an end and he will have to face a difficult decision in order to save himself and his "special" children. This book should not be read with out reading the previous books in the subseries. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of book - very upbeat FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story Coming of age Yes Youngster becomes - ruler Inner Struggle Yes Plotlet: - coping with mental/magical powers Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Descript. of chases or violence - 20 % planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 % Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 10 % Main Character Identity: - Male Profession/status: Age: - a teen Really unusual traits? Main Adversary Identity: - Male Age: - a teen Profession/status: How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor Intelligence - Genius (really!) Setting Earth setting: - medium future 22-24th century Spaceship setting: - futuristic human freighter/transport - really, really giant spaceship/station Takes place on Earth? Yes Takes place in spaceship? Yes Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths scientific jargon? (SF only) - a lot of techical jargon How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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