Orson Scott Card brings us back to the very beginning of his brilliant Ender Quartet, with a novel that allows us to reenter that world anew.With all the power of his original creation, Card has created a parallel volume to Ender's Game, a book that expands and compliments the first, enhancing its power, illuminating its events and its powerful conclusion.The human race is at War with the "Buggers", an insect-like alien race. The first battles went badly, and now as Earth prepares to defend itself against the imminent threat of total destruction at the hands of an inscrutable alien enemy, all focus is on the development and training of military geniuses who can fight such a war, and win.The long distances of interstellar space have given hope to the defenders of Earth--they have time to train these future commanders up from childhood, forging then into an irresisible force in the high orbital facility called the Battle School.Andrew "Ender" Wiggin was not the only child in the Battle School; he was just the best of the best. In this new book, card tells the story of another of those precocious generals, the one they called Bean--the one who became Ender's right hand, part of his team, in the final battle against the Buggers.Bean's past was a battle just to survive. He first appeared on the streets of Rotterdam, a tiny child with a mind leagues beyond anyone else's. He knew he could not survive through strength; he used his tactical genius to gain acceptance into a children's gang, and then to help make that gang a template for success for all the others. He civilized them, and lived to grow older.Bean's desperate struggle to live, and his success, brought him to the attention of the Battle School's recruiters, those people scouring the planet for leaders, tacticians, and generals to save Earth from the threat of alien invasion. Bean was sent into orbit, to the Battle School. And there he met Ender......

奥森・斯科特・卡德是当今美国科幻界最炙手可热的人物之一。在美国科幻史上，从来没有人在两年内连续两次将“雨果”和“星云”两大科幻奖尽收囊中，直到卡德横空出世。1986年，他的《安德的游戏》囊括雨果奖、星云奖，1987年，其续集《死者代言人》再次包揽了这两个世界科幻文学的最高奖项

卡德生于华盛顿州里奇兰，在犹他州长大，分别在杨百翰大学和犹他大学取得学位，目前定居于北卡罗莱纳州。卡德坚信小说具有教化意义，应该向读者传递积极上进的信息。“安德”系列小说便充分反映出作者的这种观念。这个系列还包括《安德的影子》《霸主的影子》等