The Last Shadow is the chronological conclusion to the Enderverse following Children of the Mind,[3] and is part of the Other Tales from the Ender Universe series.[1] It was released on November 16th, 2021, and was written by Orson Scott Card.[4]
Plot Summary[]
- "Orson Scott Card's The Last Shadow is the long-awaited conclusion to both the original Ender series and the Ender's Shadow series, as the children of Ender and Bean solve the great problem of the Ender Universe—the deadly virus they call the descolada, which is incurable and will kill all of humanity if it is allowed to escape from Lusitania."
- — Back Cover of Hardcover Edition, 2021[1]
- "One planet. Three sapient species living peacefully together. And one deadly virus that could wipe out every world in the Starways Congress, killing billions. Is the only answer another great Xenocide?"
- — Front Flap of Hardcover Edition, 2021[1]
Plot Details[]
In the year 3180 AX, several months after the events of Children of the Mind, Bean's children have had children of their own after solving the problem of Anton's Key, and they grapple with the consequences of leaving their spouses behind on Nokonoshima. As they celebrated one of the grandchildren's birthday, Delft "Blue" Delphiki, a hologram of Hyrum Graff appeared on the Herodotus to inform them that they are needed to help solve the Descolada problem on Lusitania.
As the Delphikis discussed whether to help with the Descolada problem, Jane and Miro Ribeira instantaneously traveled to the Herodotus. Jane explained how Andrew Wiggin had created her body and Peter Wiggin II while Outside, as well as the concept of an Aiúa and how the Recolada had neutralized the Descolada on Lusitania. The Leguminids doubted Jane's story and were baffled at how she and Miro appeared instantaneously on the ship. Jane then instantly transported the Delphikis to a plain of grass on Lusitania. Jane stated that she had left the Herodotus in orbit around the planet and explained the concept of instantaneous travel to them, and that she had sent Carlotta, Sergeant, and Ender to Nokonoshima to persuade their spouses to join the Delphikis on Lusitania.
One of the grandchildren, Thulium Delphiki, spent the next several days reviewing all the work and research done on the pre-Recolada Descolada, as well as the transcripts of the conversations between Descoladora and the Box research ship. Thulium came to the conclusion that Descoladora was not the origin of the virus, but an early victim of it. She also studied the vivisections of Libo Figueira and Pipo Figueira, as well as the Pequenino Human.
Wanting to take her mind of things, Thulium left their residence and went to the perimeter fence, where Miro had been paralyzed before. She decided to walk through it but had no physical pain and she kept going, climbing over the fence to the other side. As she walked, she noticed a cave nearby and realized that the figures farming in the distance were not humans or Pequeninos, but Formics, and that the first Xenocide had not been complete. Recalling how nighmarish the Formics were depicted in literature and how they looked worse in real life, Thulium had to exert effort to stay silent and not whimper out loud and went back the direction she came. Before she could leave, a formic worker spoke out with a grinding but intelligible voice asking her to come back and visit at the request of the Hive Queen of Shakespeare.
As Si Wang-mu and Peter Wiggin II returned from the planet Unity after tiring of their attempts to influence the politics of Starways Congress, they met with Jane and Thulium to go meet the Hive Queen. They eventually reached the cave entrance to the underground Formic city. At the entrance they met Talker, a Formic worker who would guide them. When they arrived in the Queen's chambers, Peter explained his plan for him and Wang-mu to travel to Descoladora and discover what was on the planet. Thulium spoke out against them, saying they should not go as they are not experienced geneticists and would not know what they were looking at. She insisted that she should go, as she considered herself the most expendable geneticist. The Queen told Peter that they did need a geneticist on their journey, that they should take both Thulium and her cousin Sprout.
After Peter and Wang-mu had procured the equipment necessary for their journey, they decided to go to the surfave of Descoladora without Thulium. As they teleported there, they noticed that the landscape and the lifeforms found were extremely Earth-like. After taking a grass sample and Wang-mu grabbed a bee, they returned to the Q-Bay. The two considered the possiblity that humans had visited there at some point. Wang-mu noted that the bee's genome matched exactly with an Earth honeybee from the 22nd century, prior to the Formic Wars. The grass genome also was adapted to fit nutrition needs of Earth animals, especially birds. Another note was that they did not find the Descolada virus present in the samples. Thus, the group thought it was likely that the planet was human-colonized, and not the source of the Descolada.
As Peter and Wang-mu returned to Descoladora, a swarm of birds flew off near them, which Peter noticed to be Keas, a kind of parrot. The birds landed on their shoulders and took off anything on them that could be easily removed. Wang-mu heard a Kea speak Stark near her ear. When the Keas heard a Raven's call, they scattered. A Raven appeared and invited Peter and Wang-mu to talk to "the council". As they exchanged names, the Raven said that the humans of the planet called her Barking Dog, which Wang-mu decided to shorten to Dog. When Wang-mu requested for their belongings back, a swam of Ravens appeared, and Peter teleported them several kilometers away. Another Raven appeared, which Wang-mu tried giving him a variety of names until Phoenix stuck. Wang-mu offered to take Phoenix with them through instantaneous travel, and Phoenix accepted. When they returned to where Dog was, Dog asked if they would take her, but they refused until they had their belongings back. Within moments, the Keas had returned everything. Wang-mu asked for the Kea that had origininally spoke in her ear, and she named him Royal Son after explaining her own name. Royal Son asked to return to their planet with Peter and Wang-mu, and the three teleported back to Lusitania.
The next morning, Royal Son asked to go back to his planet, and so he, Peter, and Wang-mu teleported back to the forest where the Council was at. Dog then met with them and requested to go with them to Lusitania but refused to stay in the Q-Bay. Peter originally refused but Dog said she would wait out any quarantine procedure before going out to meet the other creatures Royal Son had told them about, which were the Pequeninos and Formics. Peter still balked but Wang-mu stilled him and insisted that it was a fair trade, as they had seen a fair amount of the Ravens' and Keas' planet. When they arrived back at the Q-Bay, Thulium and Sprout, who had decided to go to the planet when they returned, immediatley left to the planet. Within three minutes, the Keas had taken all of their belongings. Royal Son spoke in Sprout's ear asking why they had come. Realizing her mistake, Thulium teleported herself back to the Q-Bay. She realized she had left Sprout and panicked but Jane said that he was still on the planet. Her first reaction was to go back for him but Jane demanded that she stay. Wang-mu also explained that Dog had been checked for viruses and was being taken by Jane to see the Fathertrees and the Hive Queen.
Soon after, Dog met the Hive Queen. Dog asked if the humans could be trusted, as they had previously destroyed the entire Formic species, with one exception being the Queen herself. Dog feared that if they were discovered the humans would send a fleet to destroy their planet, but the Queen told her that the humans of Lusitania would save them, and later move them to other colonies. Dog asked her how long would it take her to build a new fleet of starships that could challenge the human empire. The Queen guessed twenty years alone, but with her Sisters on the Lusitanian Colonies, three years. The Queen suggested that the Ravens and Keas trust the humans and keep no secrets, for they will know.
On Descoladora, Sprout was harrassed by the Keas but did not strike back, gaining their trust. He was then taken to meet the humans. Following Royal Son for a great distance, he and Sprout eventually stopped in a clearing. Soon after, a human walked over, but he did not look like a normal person. He wore no clothes and swung from the branches with arms at least twice as long as his legs, and large grasping hands where feet should have been. Despite these ape-like features, he walked upright. The man said to call him Ruqyaq, a powerful name in Quechua. Beginning his questions, Sprout asked when Ruqyaq's people changed from being normal humans. Ruqyaq explained the orgins of his people, who were called the Yachachiyruna, as well as the normal humans who lived underground on Nest (known as The Folk) as well as the Keas and Ravens, and how they came to be sentient. Ruqyaq explained that they had sent the Box a transmission of a virus as they assumed that the people in the Box were the ones who had sent it to them, to ask them if it was them. Ruqyaq explained that they encountered the virus but it caused no destruction, and called it the Recorder because it records genomes.
When Sprout returned from Descoladora, he explained that he had met a man with ape-like features named Ruqyaq, who explained that the residents of the planet, which they called Nest, originally came from Earth after the First Formic War and modified themselves during the non-relatavistic journey into a subspecies called the Yachachiyruna or Engineers, and that the birds had bred intelligence into themselves. Jane collected Thulium, Peter, Wang-mu, Miro, Ela Ribeira and Quara Ribeira, the Raven Dog, along with 3 Pequeninos and 3 Formic workers to meet with Sprout. With everybody assembled, they watched the video recordings that a Yachachi had made of Sprout's activities on Nest.
Peter and Wang-mu returned to the surface of Nest. He and Wang-mu discussed Thulium's theory that the Folk were driven underground by the mischief of the Keas and to avoid a war. Dog, who was listening, explained that around two centuries into the colony, the Folk began to tire of the Keas' harrassment and started to trap them, which broke out into war between the birds and humans, which drove the Folk underground and bearing deep resentment. After Dog said that the Lusitanians were not more advanced than the people of Nest, Peter asserted that the Formic Hive Queen could wage terrible war with the knowledge of her species and the destruction they are capable of. Dog said that humans waged worse war, which Peter agreed with. Wang-mu said that there would be no war, as they would not raise a weapon against the Folk, but if the Folk did they would simply leave. Dog suggested they leave and ignore Nest, but Peter knew they needed to learn more about the Descolada, and Wang-mu said that they could not do that without everyone else agreeing. Wang-mu said that they would likely decide to visit the Folk, but Dog tacitly warned them not to go with them, that the Folk would harm them.
A meeting was called for all members of the Descolada Project, where they discussed the discovery of the Recorder virus being a precursor to the Descolada, and about the intentions of the Makers of the Recorder. Jane also mentioned that the Folk had invited the Lusitanians to a banquet that night, and they hypothesized that it was a trap. Peter II and Wang-mu refused to go with them, citing that Dog had given them a hint that they would be harmed by the Folk and that Wang-mu was pregnant. Mazer 'Boss' Delphiki mentioned that they should come up with a name for instantaneous travel, and Petra 'Little Mum' Delphiki suggested that they name it Detouring. Jane asked for a show of hands of who would go meet the Folk, and everybody except for Peter and Wang-mu volunteered. The group also noted Thulium was not present, but Jane said she expected to find her on Nest.
As they arrived on Nest, Royal Son greeted them and explained that he and other Keas would guide them to the Folk. The group came to a doorway built into a recessed place in a rocky cliff, and the door opened automatically. They entered into a room that turned out to be an elevator, and it lowered them down a long time. The elevator opened into a large room where the Folk were. Far back in the room they saw several highly elaborate chairs in the middle, one of which was occupied by Thulium. The group was invited to sit down, but Sprout snuck over to Thulium and noticed that they had her face thickly caked with makeup that looked chalky, but noticed some bumps Thulium usually did not have. Sprout scraped away the layer of white, which fell off and uncovered dozens of small blisters, and a clear fluid had burst out of them. Sprout called out to Jane and showed her the blisters. A few Folk moved to try to intercept Jane, and some of what looked to be the Folk's highest officers looked cheerful, as if they had already won a war that wasn't supposed to start. Jane Detoured everybody back to the Q-Bay. Sprout and Jane talked to Thulium and she explained that she had gone yesterday to the Folk, and the blisters appeared that morning when she woke up. They began to examine the microorganisms to find out how to cure it, and Sprout vowed revenge on the Folk.
Peter, who was not in quarantine, went to the Hive Queen to seek her insight. The Queen compared their encounter to the First Formic War and how the humans had killed the Formic invaders, but the Formics merely saw them as animals. The Queen suggested that they return to Nest to save the Keas, Ravens, and Engineers and take them to a few Lusitanian Colonies. The Hive Queen also told Peter to bring Thulium to her if they could not cure the disease on their own.
When Jane brought Thulium over, the Queen left her city and walked out into the meadow, bringing Talker and two of the sluglike helpers that tended to the eggs in the hive house. The Queen lifted both slugs up onto Thulium's body, and they left small holes in Thulium's clothing, with the skin bleeding slightly under them, as a kind of Formic surgery. The Queen then pulled them off and attached them to her abdomen. Talker explained that the Queen was scanning the virus. The Queen created a substance in her body and put them into the slugs, but was exhausted and needed Jane and Sprout to carry the slugs onto Thulium. Once placed on her, the substance moved through Thulium's body killing or removing or disabling virus worms as they went. As dawn approached, Talker said that Thulium's state was very bad, and that if the Hive Queen had not helped, all the worms at once would have torn open every cell wall, becoming a pile of cellular garbage, and all the worms would dissolve into spores that would be inhaled by another host. The Queen said it was a deliberate creation, adapted from a lifeform found on Nest and changed into being lethal.
After they were cured, Peter and Wang-mu went back to Nest, knowing that the Keas, Ravens, and Yachachi were next, to see if they wished to come to the Lusitanian Colonies. When they arrived on Nest, no birds were in sight. Eventually Wang-mu noticed something bright on the ground, and saw it was a dead Kea. There were hundreds around them. They returned to the Q-Bay with the bodies of 2 birds. Those in the Q-Bay investigated the cause but nothing turned up, it seemed as though the birds just died. Miro said that they should return, but in a Box for any birds to escape into. They filled it with roosts and sent it to Nest. Peter and Wang-Mu walked toward the Council trees, where Ruqyaq emerged, and he asked if they could take Keas and Ravens to escape. Ruqyaq explained that the weapon was a combination of ultrasound and infrasound, that he had designed for riot control twenty years ago. Ruqyaq took them to an area with some Keas and Ravens still alive, and Sprout invited them into the Box. Jane sent the Box full with birds back and forth dozens of times. Eventually there was no birds left except for a few that hovered off in the distance, apparently with no wish to go even under threat of death. Then the Yachachi emerged from the trees, and Jane teleported them away, and the group Detoured back to the Q-Bay.
The group then went to the meadow to sort the birds. Jane told them to divide themselves into their breeding populations, then instructed the Keas to form a group who wanted to be alone and a group that wished to be with the Ravens, as they could not be trusted with humans. One by one the patches of birds disappeared as Jane sent them to the colonies. The Yachachi sat on the edge, and Ruqyaq asked Jane if they could stay on Lusitania, but she said no as the only trees on Lusitania were the sacred Fathertrees. Jane also instructed them to make clothes for themselves, so they asked to stay for a few more days.
Some time later, Wang-mu gave birth to her son and named him Fei-Tzu Wiggin. Soon after, she and Peter decided to visit one of the colonies to see Royal Son, and Thulium asked to go with them. When they arrived and met the Keas, Wang-mu and Peter introduced their son, and Royal Son joked that he must then change his name, but Wang-mu told him to treat him as his brother.
Back on the Herodotus, Sergeant took Dysprosium and Lanthanum Delphiki back to their separate rooms as they were causing too much havok together. Hearing the hologram of Hyrum Graff speak, Sergeant mentioned purging him from the ship's computer, but Graff said that he was the ship's computer. Graff offered Sergeant advice on taming his children;. Sergeant admitted he needed advice on being a father, as Bean mostly talked about science when he was alive, and accepted Graff's help.
Sprout and Blue decided to go to one of the colonies to visit Ruqyaq. Ruqyaq told a story about their ancestors, the Huapaya people of the Andes mountains. He explained how they selectively bred a certain kind of berry in the mountains that eventually became corn, potatoes and tomatoes, explaining that this ability led them to become great breeders. Sprout asked if the Yachachiyruna would teach them their genetic science, and they agreed if Sprout would share theirs. Bidding farewell to Ruqyaq, and acknowledging and saluting Yachachiyruna and Ravens alike, Sprout and Blue returned home to their mother's house. As they went back, Blue said that he noticed they did not ask for the secret of Detouring. Sprout mentioned that Jane wished for the ability to die out with its current users. When they went to bed, Sprout wondered if he should teach Ruqyaq how to detour, but he decided to obey Jane and teach it to no one, not even his own children.
Publishing History[]
Orson Scott Card first mentioned a "finale" to the Enderverse that wraps up both the Ender Quintet (or at the time, Quartet) and the Shadow Saga series. The book would pick up from where Children of the Mind left off and tie up loose ends from Shadow of the Giant as well.[3] The novel was originally set to be titled Shadows in Flight, but Card later decided to publish a fifth chapter in the Shadow Saga with that name instead, which serves as a bridge to the final book. Thus, the title of the final chapter was changed to Shadows Alive. The concluding events of Shadows in Flight were initially planned for the first chapter of Shadows Alive.[5]
When asked in 2018 about the status of the novel, Card responded that he would begin to write the novel once he "figure[s] out what’s going on with the Descolada Planet."[6] In 2019, the short story "Messenger" was released as part of the anthology Infinite Stars: Dark Frontiers. Card had previously released the story as part of Uncle Orson On the Fly. The short story was intended to be the first chapters of Shadows Alive. After the release of the first The Last Shadow chapters via Uncle Orson on the Fly in 2021, it appears that this short story is no longer canon.[7]
In April 2020, Card wrote a column for his website in which he revealed that the title for this novel has been changed to The Last Shadow.[8] In early 2021, Card began to release the chapters of the book incrementally via Uncle Orson On the Fly.[7]
Trivia[]
- The cover art of The Last Shadow by John Harris appears to be the same science fiction setting as depicted on the cover art of Speaker for the Dead, which was originally on The Age of Pussyfoot by Frederik Pohl in 1969.[9]
Editions[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 The Last Shadow (Hardcover) on Amazon
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Last Shadow (Paperback) on Amazon
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Orson Scott Card - Online Radio Interview with the Author
- ↑ The Last Shadow on Macmillan
- ↑ Hatrack River Forums:Shadows in Flight
- ↑ Orson Scott Card's answer to When will Orson Scott Card finish the 'Children of the Mind/Shadow' storyline? - Quora
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Uncle Orson On the Fly
- ↑ Maybe Some Good Will Come Out of This, column from 4-5-2020
- ↑ The Age of Pussyfoot by Frederik Pohl on Goodreads