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petrareads8's review
3.75
Not the Somali pirates. Racist!
Other than that this book is so good. Everything about the hive queen and the formics is so captivating. The first and last chapters are especially strong.
Bingwen is my son 🥺 I hope he survives the next book :(
Other than that this book is so good. Everything about the hive queen and the formics is so captivating. The first and last chapters are especially strong.
Bingwen is my son 🥺 I hope he survives the next book :(
themaggiemch's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I was just really bored. I'm so glad I FINALLY finished the series- my completionist little heart is very happy now.
kaaleppii's review against another edition
5.0
Another great book
Loving my return to the universe of Ender's game. Doesn't feel like money-grabbing add on, rather it's a full story in itself. Looking forward to the next book.
Loving my return to the universe of Ender's game. Doesn't feel like money-grabbing add on, rather it's a full story in itself. Looking forward to the next book.
nattygsmith's review
3.0
This was a fun story, and it was enjoyable to see how it continued to set up the world of Ender's Game. For some reason, however, it was while reading this book that I began to really grapple with the abhorrent views and causes that Orson Scott Card supports. It made me really question whether a person's art can be separated from the artist, and what it means to consume art from people with horrible and harmful views.
lyleblosser's review
4.0
I suppose I should have expected the abrupt ending (obviously to be resolved in book 3) as I neared the end of the book, but still it left me a little disappointed. That was the only downside to an otherwise excellent book. And I'm glad the decision was made to continue things into the third book rather than leave things out in this book to try to get everything in. The world building is wonderful and the characters are worth either (a) rooting for, if they're the "good ones" or (b) booing and hissing if they're not. Lots of twists and turns as well. Nicely done!
arkstein's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
seandelliot's review
4.0
I was somewhat tempted to look back at my reviews for the earlier Johnston/Card collaborations, just to see what I thought earlier in the series, but decided that was not necessary. I would be curious to know the writing process for these Ender's Game prequels ... Johnston was on the team that produced the film adaptation of Ender's Game, and some of the stories in the prequels are shown in flashback in that film. Material that was only hinted at in the novel exists in much greater detail in those flashbacks (mostly presented as historic newsreel footage) but clearly has served as the basis for creating this series of prequels. What I wonder ... the genesis of this series, what it born out of the effort to create cohesive back-story for the film? Did the creation of the back-story for the film create the impetus to write the novels? The writing feels very un-Card (I know I said that before), so my suspicion is that Johnston does the writing, and Card is just co-authoring because 1) he created the characters/world and 2) his name probably helps sell more books. All that aside, I have really enjoyed both the first prequel trilogy and these first two books of the second prequel trilogy. The characters are compelling, the plot really nicely developed. Heck, Johnston describes the world in a way that Card left lacking. Card is really good at imagining the world, and creating some great plotlines, and leaving everything else to the imagination. The film for Ender's Game was generally panned, but I have to wonder if that was true for the real fans of the books as well? In any case, this is a great installment in the series, will be sure to devour the next book when it finally comes out as well!
cliff_lusk's review
3.0
Way to much filler. You can skip entire chapters and not miss anything. The story, and this trilogy, is too slow. They could’ve combined the First and Second Formic War trilogies into one.