Bean and Petra are back for more wacky, political antics.
General Information
Title: Shadow Puppets
Author: Orson Scott Card
Original Publication Date: 2002
ISBN: 0-765-34005-4
Cover Price: $7.99 US, $10.99 Can
Buy from: Amazon.com
or Amazon.ca
Premise
Peter Wiggins learns of a certain vulnerable moment that
Achilles is
about to have.
High Point
The meeting with Dr. Anton.
Low Point
The shift into politics and away from battle caused a significant
drop
in the overall sense of adventure.
The Scores
The start of a new family is the only element that’s
original
to the series in this book. Everything else has been done in the
series before, and about as well. I give it 3 out of 6.
The imagery is pretty utilitarian, omitting details in
locations that the author never plans to visit again. It tends to
draw attention to locations that are not important, or seemingly
inconsequential locations that will have signifigance in the future.
I give it 4 out of 6.
The story is well assembled out of previously
manufactured
parts. I give it 4 out of 6.
The characterization has little that is truly new. The
old characters are consistent with their past selves, with the
possible exception of Peter Wiggins, who I remember as being
more
competant than this. I give it 4 out of 6.
The emotional response this produced was minimal.
Many of
the conversations between Bean and Petra were comical, but
the rest
didn’t really do anything for me. I give it 3 out of 6.
The editing is fairly good; there was only one
typographical
error I noticed, and the little redundancy that was present was
true
to the situations. I give it 5 out of 6.
Overall, it’s good enough to keep me around for the
last book
in the series when it comes, but I won’t be holding my breath or
splurging on the hardcover. I give it 4 out of 6.
In total, Shadow Puppets receives 27 out of 42.
Kindov underwhelming
When I read this book last month I thought it was kindov underwhelming. I really enjoyed the previous book, but this one left me wondering: “He built up Achilles for that?
Achilles was supposed to be that enemy of Peter Wiggin’s that causes him to really gain power because of all the other nations being afraid of Achilles. Now I don’t have a clue how that is to be accomplished. Maybe that’s the point and there will be something truly special in store, or maybe Card just got tired of Achilles and thought the character was better off dead. Hope it gets more intrigueing in the next book.