I really should stop reading Orson Scott Cards continuing Ender Saga. After the first couple books, it seems more and more like he’s reading his notes and writing stories about what happened in the margins of other books. The latest, Shadows in Flight, shows what happens after the Shadows series of books ended with Bean and his three little legumes that had Anton’s Key (the gene change that makes them smart, but unable to stop growing) turned on. This felt more like a “Where Are They Now?” segment than a continuation of the story. So let’s see what happened.

After the end of Shadow of the Giant, Bean and three kids flew out a relativistic speeds in hopes that someone could find a cure for Anton’s Key and stop the growth that will soon kill Bean (and eventually the kids). But 6 years later (or several centuries depending on your frame of reference) no breakthrough has happened. Bean has grown so big that he is stuck in the hold and can barely move (for fear of overtaxing his heart). The three kids, Andrew (Ender), Carlotta (Lot) and Cincinnatus(Seargent). While Bean barely moves, the kids grow and study. Ender is researching genetics and trying to work (over the ansible) with Earth folks on solving Anton’s Key. Carlotta is working on life support and ship maintenance to keep the ship running and everyone alive. Cincinnatus is researching long term planning and the art of war. Bean is trying to keep up with (and slightly ahead) of all of them so he can teach then and guide them.

The plot revolves around the group finding a spaceship that decelerates and goes into orbit around a habitable planet. The group has to determine if the ship is going to be hostile to them and what they should do about it. Eventually they decide to go into orbit as well and check out the ship. It turns out that it is a Formic (Bugger) ship that was sent to expand on an habitable planet. There is initially some confusion because it is believed that all the Formics died, but as they investigate the ship they realize that it’s not what they expected. This leads them to make some decisions about their future.

At the end of some movies, they have a little segment where they show what happened to each person after the movie ended. This feels like a book make from one of those segments. It seems more like filling in the cracks and tying up all the loose ends (whether they need to be tied or not) type of story. And it really isn’t that interesting. The main problem I have with the whole Bean series of books, is that Bean is too smart. And the only way Card can show it is to have Bean do something and then spend two pages before or after he does it talking about what he did, why he did it and how smart Bean is for figuring out what to do. Overall this feels like a short novella expanded into a novel by Bean’s overthinking of everything. Unless you are a fan of Bean and the Ender novels, don’t bother with it. Not Recommended.

P.S. Apparently there will be one additional Ender/Bean book called Shadow’s Alive that will be coming out at some point and wrap up all the storylines in one final story. I know I’m going to end up reading it at some point no matter how I feel about the series now.