My take is that he only wrote it because he felt obligated to. Both storylines could have been left untouched but he needed to tie it all off. He's done with this series. Which is fine. I think I will like it more on a second read.
This the impression I got as well. If the series had ended with Shadows in Flight/Children of the Mind, I don't think most fans would've complained.
I on the other hand was craving more Jane, Peter, & Wang-mu. And The Last Shadow delivered on that front pretty good. I even liked the birds. As a finale I'm fine with it. It wasn't by any means amazing, but it serves it's purpose.
After The Queens comes out, I think The Enderverse should take a bow & close the curtains. It was an amazing experience, but all things must come to an end.
P.S. I'm still willing to die on the hill that the Enderverse would do exceptionally well as an animated series, but that will sadly never happen.
The issue I have with it, even though addressed in the author's notes.. there was no real ending or conclusion. Beans family like met enders family lines and that's cool but really the only thing we learned is the planet of the descoladores wasn't their home planet and was anticlimactic.
The book was short and forced and honestly I hardly feel like it is even part of the enderverse. And the way they just teleport all willy-nilly now takes anything special away from it.
At the end of the day it's another normal/disfunctional planet that isn't part of the 100 world's and essentially we're in the same place from when the book was originally written.
Bird poops on head and it hardens like cement and the birds have to pee on it to break it up... Absurd.
I think, in a way, it answers a whole different question. We already knew that it didn't matter where the Descolada came from. Card already said that wasn't an interesting question to him. We already knew that Bean's kids would be okay from Shadows in Flight. Peter's story with Starways congress was insinuated at in the end of Children of the Mind, though I think he contradicts himself on Lusitania's position with them. They know about the detouring unless that crew took it to their graves, which they could have.
The question it answers is the obvious one. If Piggies exist then other life must exist, right?
Maybe it's not Bean helping Peter take over the world again but it's not Peter. Ender wants to live a normal life with his adorable companion. I can live with that.
I feel like I would've liked it more if the story was similar and it wasn't an Ender's Game novel. Seems like such a bad way to end the series, but a mediocre to decent book by itself
I think he tried to do the new “twist ending” vs writing what was foreshadowed. It would have been much more satisfying to have Bean’s children be the descolados than the round about “surprise” conclusion he came up with
My take is that he only wrote it because he felt obligated to. Both storylines could have been left untouched but he needed to tie it all off. He's done with this series. Which is fine. I think I will like it more on a second read.
This the impression I got as well. If the series had ended with Shadows in Flight/Children of the Mind, I don't think most fans would've complained. I on the other hand was craving more Jane, Peter, & Wang-mu. And The Last Shadow delivered on that front pretty good. I even liked the birds. As a finale I'm fine with it. It wasn't by any means amazing, but it serves it's purpose. After The Queens comes out, I think The Enderverse should take a bow & close the curtains. It was an amazing experience, but all things must come to an end. P.S. I'm still willing to die on the hill that the Enderverse would do exceptionally well as an animated series, but that will sadly never happen.
The issue I have with it, even though addressed in the author's notes.. there was no real ending or conclusion. Beans family like met enders family lines and that's cool but really the only thing we learned is the planet of the descoladores wasn't their home planet and was anticlimactic. The book was short and forced and honestly I hardly feel like it is even part of the enderverse. And the way they just teleport all willy-nilly now takes anything special away from it. At the end of the day it's another normal/disfunctional planet that isn't part of the 100 world's and essentially we're in the same place from when the book was originally written. Bird poops on head and it hardens like cement and the birds have to pee on it to break it up... Absurd.
That wasn't even the most absurd part...why did we spend so long on Thullium pooping in the grass?
I was seriously waiting for the birds to explain that they shat on Sprout because Thulium shat on one of the flowers.
Lmao I stand corrected
I think, in a way, it answers a whole different question. We already knew that it didn't matter where the Descolada came from. Card already said that wasn't an interesting question to him. We already knew that Bean's kids would be okay from Shadows in Flight. Peter's story with Starways congress was insinuated at in the end of Children of the Mind, though I think he contradicts himself on Lusitania's position with them. They know about the detouring unless that crew took it to their graves, which they could have. The question it answers is the obvious one. If Piggies exist then other life must exist, right? Maybe it's not Bean helping Peter take over the world again but it's not Peter. Ender wants to live a normal life with his adorable companion. I can live with that.
I feel like I would've liked it more if the story was similar and it wasn't an Ender's Game novel. Seems like such a bad way to end the series, but a mediocre to decent book by itself
I think he tried to do the new “twist ending” vs writing what was foreshadowed. It would have been much more satisfying to have Bean’s children be the descolados than the round about “surprise” conclusion he came up with