Ender's Shadow

Ender’s Shadow is a 1999 science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card. The story belongs to the same universe as Card’s earlier novel, Ender’s Game, and takes place in parallel, through the perspective of the previously minor character, Bean. It is approximately the year 2170, and Bean lives in destitute conditions on the streets of Rotterdam, having escaped from a lab that performs experimental treatments on children’s genes. Bean rebels against the tyrannical IF government after it captures Ender, the titular protagonist of the parallel story, enslaving him to use his genetically enhanced intelligence against a race of alien invaders called the Formics. The novel explores the intersections between the ethics of genetic engineering, war, and human servitude.

The novel begins on the streets of a dystopian futuristic Rotterdam. Bean, who has lived there since he escaped shortly after his birth, forages for food, using his intelligence to compensate for his tiny size. Bean joins a cohort of other homeless kids led by a young girl who calls herself Poke. He uses his smarts to implement a food sharing system that allows the whole group to obtain enough to eat at a nearby soup kitchen. The kids employ a ruthless, hostile, and conniving orphan, Achilles de Flandres to protect them. Soon, Achilles gains significant power over the group and demands that the other orphans call him “papa.”

As Bean continues using his enhanced intelligence to gain resources for the orphans, Sister Carlotta, a nun, notices him. Sister Carlotta is the opposite of a traditional nun: An active recruiter for the IF administration, she has taken to the streets to find children who might help the humans fight the Formics. She enrolls Bean in a training center called Battle School; there, he quickly stands out for his intelligence, which outstrips that of everyone else, including Ender himself. Ender is ultimately chosen as the humans’ main agent against the Formics because they believe he possesses the best balance of intelligence, motivation, and physical fortitude.



Bean begins to learn more about the Battle School’s history and the agenda of the human government. One day, he is asked to draw up a chart showing what the best team of children would look like, under the pretext that it is simply for research. He puts himself on his own roster, and ends up being chosen by Ender to lead the tactical arm of his team, whose main task is to outsmart the other players of the war “game.”

Bean reluctantly participates in the battle, hoping to one day reunite with his family. Meanwhile, Sister Carlotta’s research reveals that Bean has a genetic twin, Nikolai, a boy several years older than him. Their genetic match had not been discovered previously due to Bean’s genetic modifications. Another scientist, Volescu, activates a mechanism called Anton’s Key, designed to ensure that Bean will continue getting smarter and larger at an accelerating pace until his body exhausts itself and fails between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five. In a rare display of benevolence, Sister Carlotta arranges for Bean to reunite with his parents, as well as Nikolai, after the defeat of the Formics. With Bean’s help, Ender’s cohort defeats the alien invaders, allowing Bean to finally go home.

Like Ender’s Game, Ender’s Shadow follows a protagonist with an interrupted childhood, or who experiences childhood in reverse. Ultimately, the precocious Bean leverages his cognitive and emotional intelligence to take down the obstacles separating him from his family and the prospect of a stable life.