Book Review: Shadows in Flight – Author Orson Scott Card

Shadows in Flight
By Orson Scott Card

Lost in space with nothing to do. That was what was running through my head as I listened to disc after disc of this audio book. Shadows in flight just does not go anywhere. The story starts out in a ship hurtling through space at light speed with three children Ender, Carlotta, Sergeant, and their father Bean. Now these children and their father have a genetic mutation which makes them super smart at very young ages and continues in till they die. It also causes them to grow very large very quickly and die very young. Their father who had grown so large was now left in the cargo hold as he was too big to go anywhere else in the ship and the children were left to run the ship under his indirect supervision.

This is why they had to travel at light speed to help prolong their life’s and to give them time to see if they could find a cure for their condition. And that is about it. You learn all about each of them and their attributes, Ender works with his father to find a cure, Carlotta keeps the ship running, and Sergeant is preparing for a war he may never fight in. You learn about their fathers past and that he fought in many battles on earth against an alien race that had many similarities to bees on earth.

The drones were lead into these battles by their queen who were out looking for planets to inhabitate. Now you don’t read about the battles or the war in this book but he does reflect on them so you know where he is coming from and why he stole his children away and is flying through space. Then about the second to last disc they come in contact with an alien ship. I know what you thinking ok this is where the fun starts, the intrigue, the suspense, the adventure.

No. They just find the last of the dying race of the aliens their father had fought in the war back on earth. They talk to the aliens by one of the aliens latching onto Enders head and communicating with him telepathically and gain what information they can from them about what happened to them and why they were there, and that’s it. I don’t want to give away the ending, so I won’t, but you’re not missing much. Now I know this is a book in a series of books , the cover itself states that this is the sequel to Shadow of the Giant, but even having not read the series I just did not see a need for this book. I am Just left bored and asking myself why?

Shadows in Flight seems and feels like filler and that is it. Oh how I wish they could hear you scream in space.

Book Review: Shadows in Flight – Author Orson Scott Card