#bean quartet

Rating: 8.5/10

I really wish this book was long. 90 pages did not come nearly close enough to satisfying me. However at the same time I feel that it was the right amount. I finally got to read what happens to Bean once he enters space and what happens to his Antoinine kids. They are a new kind of human floating through space desperately trying to figure out how to survive. Bean’s children are so bright (as you would expect them to be) and I’m really excited to read Shadows Alive now because I’ll get to see how this story meets up with Ender’s story.

The final pages for this book had me crying pretty hard. The whole book Bean has gotten far too big to be doing physical activities. To see the boy/man who once had a great impact on huge wars lying down and just sitting back was understandable, but painful nonetheless. The entire book has that looming feeling of Bean’s demise and it really makes you feel sad. However, just like Orson Scott Card fashion, the book ends in that bittersweet feeling.His children find a potential cure, and Bean dies a happy death. Rest in peace friend.

Rating: 9.5/10

Orson Scott Card is such a fucking amazing writer. He’s helped me shape my humanistic views and his books never fail to please.

This was the last book in the Bean Quartet and holy motherfucking lord it was amazing. In the entire Ender Saga, this is probably my second favourite book, after Speaker for the Dead of course. I really really enjoyed how many of the battle school graduates came back into the picture and how (I think) the books showed what their impact on earth would be after there was no longer a bugger threat. War and a fight for power by exploiting the minds of the Battle Schoolers. 

I also really enjoyed Peter’s development through the series. At first we though Peter was an asshole who used to bully Ender and Valentine. But then he learned to control himself, and he learned that you can’t bully people to really solve things. As Hegemon he doesn’t force countries to join his world order, he lets their people take a vote. Even while reading Speaker for the Dead, you realize that this is the theme in these humanistic books- that people are not inherently bad. When people make bad decisions, they do it for a reason.  This was Peter, who consistently lived in Ender’s shadow and it resulted in him using his aggression to overcome him. While it does not justify his actions, it does help us understand him.

I’m really fucking excited to read Shadows in Flight and figure out what happens to Bean, and his Anton’s Keys kids. I want to see them come back and I know for a fact they will be facing off against Achilles Fladres II. It’ll be like a destined rematch, but I really hope that Achilles II can be saved. 

I think I cried for the last 20 pages of the book as it wrapped up all the stories of all the characters. I know I will miss them so much because I feel like I have lived their lives out with them.

Thank you Orson Scott Card, you beautiful bastard.

Rating: 8.5/10

Kay so after reading Ender’s Shadow I knew I had to read the rest of these books. But i had to also figure out how I would squeeze them into this reading challenge. So I figured that I would read one book a “A book with non-human characters.” However I felt that this book made me realize that if I was to properly respect this series, I couldn’t do that.

You see, even though Bean is the creation of science, and he may be a clone, does not mean that he isn't human. I would argue that he is superhuman, but that would still make him a human. Bean is so caught up in this argument with himself that he doesn’t deserve the love other humans have, and that he isn’t capable of producing that love himself. He’s so lucky to be loved by Petra, that she makes him understand that he should be loved and that he is capable of it too.

I find that Card always makes you question these deep questions, and that’s what makes him one of my favourite authors.

Rating: 9/10

Ugh, so I made a big mistake reading Ender's Shadow because I had to read the rest of the Bean Quartet. Just like Ender's Game set up for the rest of the Ender series, Ender's Shadow sets up for the rest of Bean's series.

Can I just say how much I love Bean? He's so calculating and brilliant. I particularly loved his character in this book because this is where his bigger challenges lie. A psychopathic, smart, and powerful boy is out to kill him and Bean knows that the only way for him to end his war with Achilles is to kill him. Bean even loses Sister Carlotta in this fight. She was Bean's friend, but more importantly than that, she was the first person who gave Bean a sense of safety. In many ways she was the person who Bean considered his mother and he loved her. But he never told her that, and he hates it.

And then there's Petra. Even though she is very much a Damsel in distress, she is one hell of a Damsel. She holds her own against her captor and she tries her best to get word out of her captivity. She's fucking brilliant, and she's a soldier.

AND THEN THERE'S PETER. Trying to live up to the Wiggin name, he doesn't have the love or ability to command people that Ender did. All he really has going for him is his wits. In this book he's just a cocky asshole. I really hope we see further character development for him because I think it could be great.

Rating: 9/10

It had been several books since I finished Children of the Mind, and I was kind of itching to continue reading the Ender Saga. 

So here we are, the next book, but this one takes place at the same time of Ender's Game, but it follows Bean. Holy fucking shit. I love Bean so goddamn much. He's basically like Ender, but smarter, and perhaps only slightly less kind. Again the thoughts that ran through my mind was how fucked up Battle School is. These kids of 7-14 years old are being molded to be brilliant military minds. At this age they should be care free, but instead they enter a world of fighting a war for adults. And these adults just piss me off so much. They are well aware of the dangerous situations they put these kids in, but they continue forth anyways.