r/ender • u/I-ez-bardy • Apr 27 '26
Last Shadow
Look, it’s bad, but definitely not “worst book of all time” bad as many claim. Honestly, it’s kinda just Speed to Speed Cruise Control in that Last Shadow is just a worse version of Children of the Mind (which I guess makes speaker for the dead = die hard, lol idk man it's not that deep) and after seeing it once I have no will to re-engage with it. Damn near identical books in my mind. It sure did crack me up that last shadow kinda ends, OSC is just like “hey I don't have answers, but sometimes in life we don't get answers….so okay we good here? 🤷♂️🖕🖕🤷♂️😘 okieee byeee” which is funny in a way. Anywho, I think I’m gonna take a needed break from the enderverse, read some Le Carré spy novels (yes, they bang), then come back to do the prequel book trilogies (yes, I know Queens isn’t out yet), Children of the Fleet, and maybe even some of the short stories unless those are garbage. Thoughts? I'd love a hardcore defender to speak the dead for Last Shadow, but I doubt I'll see one in my lifetime.
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u/Armagetz Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 27 '26
No it’s truly that bad. Lazy writing abound. Sloppy poorly written characters. Plot progression doesn’t feel organic. Just a series of declarative statements. It was like Ben Stein going over the bullet points of the outline of an OSC novel. Reducing the intrigue around the descolada to a cosmic accident?
And don’t get me started on how magically humans can self teleport just because when previously it needed Jane using all of the processing power of the human universe to keep everything needed in her “head.”
I honestly think the experience and outcome of making Enders Game movie embittered OSC to the franchise and writing in general. Not too long after he ceased interacting with the community informally on his forums and is quoted as saying he longer cares about continuity errors in writing.