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March 23, 2005

Chasing Shadows, Part 2

Finally, we learn why Peter Wiggin wasn't such a bad guy after all

On the off chance that you missed Part 1 of the ThatKidInTheCorner Ender Wiggin Spectacular, allow me to quickly summarize: in Part 1, I tried to go through the broader context of the Ender Wiggin books to date and applaud the coolness of the idea of future world wars in Asia. In this posting (Part 2), I want to think a bit more about the latest book (Shadow of the Giant): what worked, what didn't, what was cool, and how it fits in the grand scheme of things. I'll try to keep it as non-fanboy as possible (Buy Dragon Army schwag here! See the latest update -- from last week! -- on the Ender's Game movie here!), but I can't make too many promises. As they say, I'll try to try.

Shadow of the Giant is essentially "The Hegemon" part of the fictional The Hive Queen and the Hegemon book that Ender Wiggin writes to atone for his sins in the original Ender's Game. That is, after (SPOILER ALERT!!!) Ender killed all the Buggers in Ender's Game, he actually ended up feeling really badly about the whole thing. So he flew off into space, had a telepathic sit-down with the last remaining alien, called his older brother (now ruling the world) on the future phone and then wrote a two-part (fictional) book about how the aliens and his older brother weren't so bad after all. The (fictional) book was called The Hive Queen and The Hegemon and it was so popular that it became the foundation for a new humanistic religion. The first four (real) books (really the first two) in the Ender series gave us most of the details that went into The Hive Queen part of the fictional book, but we never got the whole (fictional) story about the Hegemon. Not until now. Check? Check.

Although Shadow of the Giant ostensibly finishes the story of Bean that began with Ender's Shadow, by this point (the fourth book), most of Bean's secrets have been revealed. His rival hath been slain (that was a book ago) and now he's just trying to find his missing kids and hang out with his wife before he vanishes forever. What Shadow of the Giant really tackles is Peter Wiggin, and how he managed to actually unite the world and made peace on Earth. The book is essentially a political thriller that details the back-room dealings that lead the great nations of Earth (meaning China, India, Islam, and Russia) to stop fighting and all get along. Sure, there are a couple battles, but very little text is devoted to the actual fights -- mostly we just get scores and highlights.

As I mentioned in the previous posting, I really like the future that Orson Scott Card has imagined, and the conflict he's created. That is, can we figure out a way for all of the world's great nations to get along without blowing each other up? For the most part, the political intrigue and diplomacy of Shadow of the Giant pass the relative plausibility test. Given the assumptions in place, it sort of makes sense that this could all happen the way he imagines it does: some people make smart moves, some people make foolish moves, but very few things seemed completely silly. I think he's a bit too unforgiving in his assessment of a unified Islamic state; he keeps calling Islam a "one-way" religion that has no room for tolerance of non-Muslims, and has hard-core Islamists as the backroom bad guys. You have to wonder how much this opinion is influenced by his own religion and politics (he's a devout Mormom). The madness of the Virlomi character (she's running India) was a little tough to swallow, but you know what? Sometimes charismatic leaders really are crazy and start believing their own press. (It happens in developed countries, and it happens in developing countries, and rarely does it end well.) And the machinations and strategies of Peter Wiggin actually work as well; that is, the book does a great job of delineating the difference between actual authority and influence, and demonstrates how the pushing and prodding of diplomacy can be just as effective as an army (since Peter has no real army -- just Bean and a limited assortment of toys).

Perhaps the only part of the story that I didn't completely buy was the ongoing presence and influence of Graff (to my disappointment, there was no mention of his taking over the NFL as promised in Ender's Game -- I always thought that was a nice flourish at the end of that story) and Mazer Rackham. These are rich characters whose puppetmaster presence has been a fun plot device for the author for a long time -- these are the folks who know ALL the secrets. But in this story, they exist almost exclusively as plot devices, and overly altruistic ones at that. Can I believe that these two folks could really pull all these strings exclusively because they have decided (rather autocratically) that the human race needs saving? I dunno. Still, on the whole, Shadow of the Giant definitely works a a political thriller. I bought it.

But I wouldn't have been so into the story if it had only been a political thriller. If anything, that was my main criticism of the previous two Bean books (though Orson Scott Card admits they should have just been released as one book): that is, they were mostly plot. Those two books were nothing but political intrigue and backroom dealings and battles, and didn't offer nearly enough juice on the characters we cared about (though, to be fair, we did get to learn all of Bean's secrets). They were perfectly fine, but they didn't grab me like this one did. And the reason that this one grabbed me was simple: I got tons of dirt on Peter Wiggin.

All along the book on Peter Wiggin had been that he was smart enough to get into Battle School but that he had been "too aggressive" to make the cut. (He tortured squirrels and bullied his younger siblings as a child.) Well, apparently (wink wink) THAT WASN'T THE WHOLE STORY. (You don't say.) I don't want to give too much away, but it will suffice to say that there are still some secrets about Peter that actually make sense. Beyond secrets, you really do begin to understand Peter's motivations and his flaws. Whereas he was once a manipulative and power-hungry monster, it turns out that the kid actually has some talent -- and some decent values. As a reader, you even (gasp!) begin to feel for him. You understand why he did what did, what his ambitions are, and that he might actually be a decent dude.

Essentially, you end up feeling the same way about Peter Wiggin as the fictional readers of the fictional The Hive Queen and The Hegemon allegedly felt. And that's when you realize (in the most delightfully meta sort of way) that you've actually just read The Hegemon! Whoa. Pretty cool. (It is now appropriate to don your safety goggles and helmets, cause I'm gonna geek out something fierce.) And don't think this is lost on Orson Scott Card, because he dares to give us The Conversation. That is, similar to the first Bean book, he returns to an event he's already described and retells it from a different perspective. In this case, it's the spaceship-to-Earth phone call between an aged Peter Wiggin and his (relativistically maintained) messianic younger brother, Ender. (My notes at this point read: Ohmygod! Ender Wiggin, BACK FROM THE GRAVE!) In the original novel, it's a crucial moment for Ender. At that point in Ender's life, Peter is a creature of his nightmares, the embodiment of all that is evil inside Ender. Ender has just committed a "xenocide," and he's not feeling so good about himself; he's haunted by the worry that he is actually an evil and cruel monster like his older brother. Thus for Ender to actually speak to his brother at all was a courageous thing: Peter was the final obstacle that Ender had to conquer before he could disappear into the sunset.

It's a testament to Orson Scott Card's virtuosity as a storyteller that he is able to so gracefully reverse the pathos in the conversation. The original scene is all about Ender, and Peter exists as a scary ghost from Ender's past. This time around, it's the exact opposite. Ender is now the ghost, neutered in the reader's mind by the milquetoast books that would follow Ender's Game and more a concept than an actual character. Peter, on the other hand, is now sympathetic -- we know what he's been through, what he's done, and he actually seems like a decent guy after all. That is, I read the conversation and realized I already knew what Ender learned in the original: that Peter was human after all. I had just read The Hegemon.

*****

One final fanboy indulgence: I'm going to take it upon myself to rank the eight Ender Wiggin books. Here's what I've got:

(1) Ender's Game: it's the best one, with the richest array of characters, the most imagination, and the best twist at the end (and this is a series that has a knack for twists). It's also the only one that's remotely quotable; remember that THE ENEMY'S GATE IS DOWN.

(2) Speaker for the Dead: this earns the number-two spot simply by virtue of being the only book not about war that actually works. To take the Ender story and grow it up so quickly and successfully (this is essentially a family drama about anthropology) is pretty impressive. This is only book where the adult Ender isn't awful. Also, it has a cool twist at the end.

(3) Ender's Shadow: it was pretty daring to go and retell the Battle School story from Ender's Game. It doesn't just work -- it sings. The Bean backstory is phenomenal at the same time that the plot intertwines gracefully and appropriately with the original story. Amazing that he pulled this off.

(4) Shadow of the Giant: simply by virtue of being the closest we were going to get to The Hegemon, this almost nudged its way into the Top Three. Still, it was a little too plot-heavy (especially in the first half of the story) to edge past Ender's Shadow. Also, it was difficult to pretend to care about Bean's mutant children when there was all that good Peter stuff going on. Still, it's close.

(5) Shadow of the Hegemon: yeah, I tore though this one is about three hours. All plot, with familiar characters, and little juice. The secrets weren't that exciting (or shocking), and it's really only the first half of a story. Achilles is pretty cool, though. That's what gets it to five.

(6) Shadow Puppets: Man, how many times can you get "shadow" into the title? This is essentially the second half of Shadow of the Hegemon, and is a little more action-packed than the first. At the same time, it's pretty obvious and is mostly about bad guys getting their respective comeuppances. Still, there's a BIG gap between number 6 and number 7.

(7) Children of the Mind: I imagine that Orson Scott Card wants this one back. Fake Peter and Valentine running around? A computer program who wants to be human? And the lamest Ender ever? The absurdity of this story is the only thing that keeps it out of last place. Seriously. Certain characters should have just been named "Plot Device."

(8) Xenocide: Dear Xenocide, you are in last place because you were the single most disappointing book I have ever read -- even worse than The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe. In retrospect, it wasn't all your fault. It was really tough to measure up to the first two Ender books. I feel for you. And at least you had the courage to take the story in another direction. The only problem was that said direction wasn't so sweet. Obsessive-compulsive children counting grains of wood in the floor? For pages and pages and pages? I remember reading you at a furious pace waiting for you to stop sucking. You never did. That's why you're in last place.

(And if you thought this was geeky, just you wait until The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie comes out at the end of April. Oh my. I'm already ashamed of what I'll write about that one.)

Posted by thatkid at March 23, 2005 6:33 PM under Stuff To Buy

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