Look, this book is good. I'll say that from the outset. Is it as good as the other ten Ender/Shadow books before it? On balance, I'd say probably not (with the exception of Xenocide maybe), but what it does hit me with most of all is nostalgia. After the first book in each of the Ender and Shadow series the story arcs completely diverge. This book reconnects them in a completely legitimate way, and brings all the characters back together for the first time in twenty years (for us, not them) for a final story. So it definitely felt nice to have all these characters from different stories in the same book. But one thing that's different, and a little bit weird for me at least, in this story is that both Ender and Bean – the two main characters of the two series – are absent. It's fine, and there's no issue with it, but I was keenly aware of the hole they both left.

The only other thing that I felt let down by was the complete absence of the revelation (regarding the Formics) that occured at the end of Shadows in Flight. It was pretty significant, and basically made no impact at all.

But still: good book. Go read it. (after you've read the other ten first)