This was in incredibly short read. It's less than 100 pages, even with the extended edition (which is what I read).

I would recommend you pay the extra $2 and get the extended edition. It contains three sections which were originally cut, but which Orson Scott Card still wanted in there. The three sections were cut for a good reason, I think. That is, they didn't really fit in the story where they were put. But, those three sections (especially the third) give some great background to the characters that I really love.

This story is a continuation of [b:Shadow of the Giant|8647|Shadow of the Giant (Shadow, #4)|Orson Scott Card|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165699277s/8647.jpg|4088], following Bean and three of his children after they left Earth. The whole book is mostly one small story which is clearly intended to set up [a:Orson Scott Card|589|Orson Scott Card|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1294099952p2/589.jpg]'s next book, [b:Shadows Alive|11949135|Shadows Alive (Shadow, #6)|Orson Scott Card|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nocover/60x80.png|16910881], in which I suspect Ender Delphiki (along with his brother and sister), will get to meet his namesake, Ender Wiggin.

The story is really great, in my opinion, because it does a good job of showing how Bean's children are growing. I noticed some interesting parallels between Bean's children and the Wiggin children, in terms of group dynamics.

It was also a nice change from all the war stories that make up the rest of the Shadow series.