73. Shadow Puppets, by Orson Scott Card.

Shadow Puppets is the third novel of the Ender's Shadow series, and it continues to follow Bean and the other Battle School grads - particularly those that are from Ender's Jeesh - through the political scheme-hatchery of life back on Earth. Peter is a figurehead Hegemon, Petra is trying to convince Bean to marry her and give her children, and the nations of the world are squabbling over countries and borders, each trying to take supremacy. Achilles is betraying different governments in turn, furthering his own cause at all costs.

This series is quite connected. It's difficult to read one without continuing to finish the series. Each novel has its own flow to it, and its own climax, but the plotline is developing through multiple books at a time, so it seems more like one large book rather than a series of small ones. I got a bit bored during this book, and I was a little annoyed with how some of the characters were portrayed. Peter and Petra in particular did not develop as I was thinking they would, and I'm not sure I'm entirely a fan of their actual personas.