dropinthecosmicocean

[dropinthecosmicocean]

thoughts on Shadow of the Hegemon

Though this book is by a sci-fi author, and yes, it does have elements of sci-fi, I wouldn’t say it’s much of science fiction, but rather, political and military fiction, if only because so much of the plot revolves around politics, political intrigue, clever battle plans, scheming and manipulation. At the same time, the book also explores human relationships, character motivations, love, sacrifice, moral dilemmas and big philosophical questions. It also has its share of witty exchanges and constant second-guessing and mutual-analysis happening between characters who may not share the same motivations. 

Here’s my recap of the story (Wikipedia probably does a much better job summarising so this is really more for myself)

At the start of the story, the Battle School kids from the original Ender’s Game have returned to their homes on Earth after humans won the Formic Wars and the world, though one’d expect it to be happy and at peace, is actually in political turmoil. Countries aren’t united and more than a few of them want to get hold of the children, who are legitimately the best military minds on Earth, for their own advantage. If they can’t, they may even resort to killing the kids so enemies can’t get to them first. 

- Most of the kids from Ender’s Dragon Army get kidnapped by the Russia gov, including Petra, who will be one of the main characters and they eventually find out they’re under the control of Achilles (pronounced ah-sheel), a Battle School student they’ve heard of. He was a sociopath who would allegedly kill anyone who made him feel vulnerable and also the main antagonist in this story.

- Bean (another battle school kid) and his family were not kidnapped, by some combination of luck and smarts, but were almost murdered by Achilles, who wanted Bean dead. Bean knew about the kidnapping and wanted to rescue Petra, an important friend to him. He eventually does succeed.

- Meanwhile, Peter Wiggin, Ender’s elder brother, tries to manipulate the political situation on Earth for good by sending letters to important people and writing forum posts behind his online persona, Locke. He eventually becomes Hegemon, something like the main leader of humanity.

The bulk of the plot revolves around Bean, Petra, Peter and their conflict with the enemy Achilles, though other people that make significant appearances are Sister Carlotta (Bean’s guardian), Peter’s parents, the Dragon Army kids and two other Battle School kids Virlomi and Suriyawong. 

Some more thoughts on this book (continued)

With all the clever scheming this book has, I’d say the plot is the author’s own sort of clever scheming, which means to say it’s very tightly spun, has many little nuances, develops quite quickly and it will take you on a ride. Mostly, I was mentally entertained trying to follow all that was happening and it doesn’t get boring easily. If the plot isn’t developing, you’d be given a bit more insight into one of the characters, like their backstory or a look into their current motivations and worries, so there’s always something to look forward to.

At some parts, we get a flashback into past events like during Ender’s Game or the early life of Bean which the author does go into more detail in his other books - which makes me appreciate the depth of the world that OSC has build. This, along with the philosophical discussions interwoven into the story, I think makes the book very re-readable. There are definitely some insightful things I may have missed or overlooked with just this first read-through. 

Something I find interesting about the universe SotH is set in, is that the main characters are really, prepubescent children and even the oldest are still teenagers. These are child war veterans we’re talking about. Something about them being so young and yet have experienced so much good and bad, joy and pain, just.. tugs at your compassion for them. I like that they’re not just written to be smart (by making them do and say smart things like logical deductions and battle plans etc.) but have complex and believable traits and personalities, which makes me want to revisit them and understand them deeper in more rereads. 

If I could give SotH a rating: 4/5 

Since this is the first book I’ve read in a long time, I don’t have any others to compare it against, but I did enjoy it very much and it was a very mentally-stimulating, thought-provoking read. I’m just cautious to give it a 5, because that feels reserved for a really life-changing, perfect book... and I don’t think so many of them exist, for every person. But that isn’t to say I might change my mind about this if I do more reading or rereading.