Warning: Contains a few minor spoilers
This book is in my opinion the worst book in the Ender series (which is not much of a put down) for a number of reasons. The biggest reason is that it lacked the depth of emotion of the earlier books. It did not really keep me wondering about the future like the "Speaker for the Dead" trilogy, and it lacked the despair of "Ender's Game" and "Ender's Shadow." Although it did have a lot of interesting pieces (which I won't mention here for those of you who have yet to read it) it also had a lot of other problems. For starters, Peter was not the vast hero he was made out to be at the end of "Ender's Game" and instead seemed more like a typical megelomaniac attending college. He also ended up with only a few loyal troops at his disposal and no real power, instead of the leader of a now united world as was implied in "Ender's Game." Also, Achilles continued his way too dramtatic changes from "Ender's Shadow" to become a would be world ruler. Are we to believe that the two most powerful nations on earth (Second Warsaw Pact and China) in the book would place their faith and their armies in the hands of a thirteen year old just because he attended Battle School? This is still a good book by Orson Scott Card, that is a good read for excitement rather than contemplation. My suggestion is borrow it from a friend or library, this adventure isn't worth the money.