The Last Shadow

{{Short description|Book by Orson Scott Card}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{infobox book |

| name = The Last Shadow| orig title =

| translator =

| image = The Last Shadow cover.jpg

| caption = First edition

| author = Orson Scott Card

| cover_artist = John Harris

| country = United States

| language = English

| series = Ender's Game series

| genre = Science fiction

| publisher = Tor Books

| release_date = 16 November 2021

| media_type =

| pages =

| isbn =

| preceded_by = Children of the Mind, Shadows in Flight

| followed_by =

}}

The Last Shadow is a 2021 science fiction novel by American writer Orson Scott Card, part of his Ender's Game series. It links the Shadow Saga (the parallel companion series) back to the original Ender series. This book brings the two series back together, and wraps up some of the plot threads left dangling in Shadow of the Giant (the fourth book in the Shadow Saga). The events in the book follow those in Children of the Mind, the final book in the Ender series.{{cite web |last=Peterson |first=Matthew |date=2009-11-12 |title=Orson Scott Card – Online Radio Interview with the Author |url=http://theauthorhour.com/orson-scott-card/ |publisher=The Author Hour radio show}}

Card has said that he began writing the first pages of the novel while quarantined during the COVID-19 pandemic.{{Cite web|url=http://hatrack.com/osc/reviews/everything/2020-04-05.shtml|title = Maybe Some Good Will Come Out of This – Uncle Orson Reviews Everything}} The novel was originally set to be titled Shadows in Flight, but Card decided to swap titles with the fifth book in the Shadow series (released on 17 January 2012),{{cite book |last1=Card |first1=Orson Scott |title=Amazon.com: Shadows in Flight (The Shadow) (9780765332004): Orson Scott Card: Books |date=17 January 2012 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0765332004}} which serves as a bridge to the final book. The concluding events of Shadows in Flight were initially planned for the first chapter of the final book, with working title Shadows Alive.{{cite web |last=Card |first=Orson Scott |date=2011-07-15 |title=Hatrack River Forums:Shadows in Flight |url=http://www.hatrack.com/cgi-bin/ubbmain/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=005427;p=0}}