Quote:
Originally Posted by Penforhire
Prof, yes it was interesting to see Peter start off as weak in so many ways and sort of grow into or become a ruthless effective Hegemon. Bean is curious because he's not entirely human, something Card explores. How can you not like a runt when he's not acting like Napoleon? 
But am I the only one reading those books and thinking Achilles should not have lived as long as he did? Card did not give me enough understanding of how he could continue to charm so many people when there was a bus-load of better-known-quality Battle School graduates to work with. |
I think Card ended up showing Peter as a strong Hegemon but not particularly ruthless. Bean was an interesting characteristic and I enjoyed the exploration of his being human or not. I thought it was well done and yet it is too easy to give Bean a pass for his willingness to participate in the battles after he knew they were real.
I got the impression that Achilles was able to lay out pretty complex plans that ensured that country X would be the new world power if they worked with him. He chose countries that were bitter about how they had been treated in the past and whose leaders were motivated by power and a strong inferority (sp) complex.