Shadows in Flight

This book is full of standard OSC tropes: genius kids, good parents making sacrifices that their children don't appreciate, the need to breed for the good of the species, etc. It's a pretty good read, though. The main plot points are signaled far in advance so there are few surprises, but there is one bit near the end that's unexpected. It's not a major twist, but like other books in the Shadow series, it shows us that things are more complex than the point of view we've been given previously in the Ender universe.

I don't like Orson Scott Card. There was a time when he was a gifted writer, but that was decades ago. And I'm rather glad of that, I must admit, because his homophobia and religious bigotry offend me.

But Shadows In Flight isn't as bad as most of his recent books have been. Yes, it has the usual "genius" children talking to each other in "shocking" ways; Card seems to find them irresistible. There's even some of Card's trademark child-on-child violence, which makes me wonder just how badly screwed up his head is. But for once he doesn't take it too far.

This is no Ender's Game or Songmaster. It isn't even A Planet Called Treason. But it's readable and not annoying, which is a big improvement over Card's other work this millennium.