I think the first time I read this book was immediately after reading Enders Game and it didn't impress me. Bean is a character that is much harder to like than Ender, so I put down the shadow series and never revisited it. It has been a year or so since I last read Ender's Game and enjoyed it significantly more now that I had some space and a much better memory for the events of Ender's Game. I would recommend the book to anybody who likes Ender's Game or anybody who hasn't yet read Ender's Game, but is looking for an excellent science fiction novel. The Ender series has long had an important space in my bookshelf, and now I believe the Shadow series has taken its rightful place there too.