Background
Published in December of 2000, Shadow of the Hegemon is the second book in Orson Scott Card’s Shadow series. While we know the Hegemon will be Peter Wiggin (older and more aggressive brother of Ender Wiggin) the book primarily follows Bean and Petra through their lives after the great battle of Ender’s Game. It raises the specter of war on Earth after we ran out of others to fight.
My Thoughts
While it made sense the nation-states would fall back into war, I was surprised the main villain turned out to be Achilles who grew up on the streets with Bean. I just didn’t see him as that much of a character. Peter Wiggin becomes more reasonable now that he is overmatched and knows it. Also, we finally see the Wiggin parents weren’t quite the 2-dimensional characters they were made out to be.
Recommendation
Not a bad read