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alexmorse's review against another edition
5.0
Return to strength for card. Back to writing a good story with characters that are real and interesting.
kalah's review against another edition
3.0
First quarter of the book = promising concept
Second quarter = slow and a bit boring
Third quarter = frustrating
Fourth quarter = you have my attention... What do you mean that's where it ends???
Second quarter = slow and a bit boring
Third quarter = frustrating
Fourth quarter = you have my attention... What do you mean that's where it ends???
airving's review against another edition
4.0
The ants are coming! This is how it all began, the history leading up to Enders Game. I thought it was a pretty good story. First contact with an alien race that has no regard for other life forms, like us. They come in guns blazing and we are scrambling to find their weaknesses. The people who live on the fringe of the solar system, miners mostly, and the trading depots that form around miners, struggle to find a way to warn Earth that something is coming that may be able to annihilate the human race.
johhnnyinla's review against another edition
3.0
Earth Unaware (The First Formic War, #1), by Orson Scott Card, Aaron Johnston, 2012
The First Formic War is a prequel to the Ender's Game Saga that covers Earth's first encounter with the Formics (Hormigas). Earth Unaware is the first of three in the First Formic War Saga.
The first couple of chapters is very ranty and sermon-like. Towards the end of the book, new characters are introduced (on top of the many characters and threads already in play) without any seeming connective tissue between them. I suppose these new characters are setting up the next book. The storytelling around this part of the book feels a bit disjointed-- possibly due to having two writers???
I was on the fence about continuing with this saga, but I think there are enough morsels I found tasty to make me want to see what happens next.
One of my favorite quotes is, "Guilt is the greatest weapon because its cuts rarely heal and aims for the heart."
I rate this book 3.5 out of 5 stars.
The First Formic War is a prequel to the Ender's Game Saga that covers Earth's first encounter with the Formics (Hormigas). Earth Unaware is the first of three in the First Formic War Saga.
The first couple of chapters is very ranty and sermon-like. Towards the end of the book, new characters are introduced (on top of the many characters and threads already in play) without any seeming connective tissue between them. I suppose these new characters are setting up the next book. The storytelling around this part of the book feels a bit disjointed-- possibly due to having two writers???
I was on the fence about continuing with this saga, but I think there are enough morsels I found tasty to make me want to see what happens next.
One of my favorite quotes is, "Guilt is the greatest weapon because its cuts rarely heal and aims for the heart."
I rate this book 3.5 out of 5 stars.
cain1010's review against another edition
3.0
Honestly, this wasn't my favorite "science" fiction book. It was a decent story, with some ok characters. I think my main problem with it is the more science you know, the more it takes you out of the story when the science is plain wrong. One example of this is when the a mechanic, who was raised on a ship full of Venezuelan space miners, described the temperature outside in Fahrenheit. I mean, seriously?
virginiaduan's review against another edition
4.0
As far as I'm concerned, Card can write as many stories in the Enderverse as he wants. Milk that cash cow, man! Especially if the stories are as compelling as these. It was particularly thrilling to read how certain elements in Ender's Game started out (eg: Battle School, the MD, the IF, etc). My only complaint is that the dialog isn't as snappy as Card's other books, but that could be a side effect of the co-authoring. I still found it very enjoyable! Loving the fleshed out backstory and can't wait for the next two.
libraryjen's review against another edition
3.0
Not as good as the original Ender series, or the follow-on Bean series (which was my favorite), this one nonetheless held my attention throughout. The stories originally seem a bit disjointed, but as things progress you see how they come together. Honestly, I'm a bit frustrated that the prequel has been drawn out into a series. I mean really, do we need 3 books to tell the story?? I guess we'll see after I read the next one if I still feel like stretching out the prequel into a trilogy is just a money-grabbing stunt, or if there's really enough story to tell to take up three books. Right now I feel like there won't be, but I'll give Card and Johnston the benefit of the doubt enough to read the next book and see how I feel. Yeah, sorry, not a glowing endorsement, nor a scathing rebuke. This book was decent enough to finish, but not enough to recommend one way or the other.
vermidian's review against another edition
3.0
My true rating for this book would be 3.5 stars, but for the purposes of Goodreads I have rounded down to make the overall average rating inch closer to my ideal rating for it. I also just didn't feel like it was good enough to qualify for that fourth star.
There are things I really liked about this book and things that really made me roll my eyes. So, first, let me start with what I liked.
Seeing the culture of the world prior to the war is something we really didn't get much of a feel for in the Ender's Game book and following stories. Technology had improved so rapidly because of the Formic Wars that only brief references were made that I can recall. This is a real example of how the world was when the Formics attacked. The mining ship culture was really interesting and I found myself appreciating the aspect - to an extent, I'll explain a little more when I go into what I didn't care for. I have always admired the female characters being well rounded, strong characters. Concepción was an awesome character and I enjoyed her leadership qualities, but I also enjoyed Dr. Benyawe and Edimar and Rena. Very few authors treat their female characters as true equals in their stories and this one does a great job. Also of note, the amount of diversity of race that gets stuffed into these books is fantastic.
Now, to what I didn't care for.
Some other reviews say that the science, and specifically the physics, is very off. But, as an art major, I didn't have much knowledge of the physics errors and was able to get by that without it bothering me. No, my biggest gripe is that all the characters read with roughly the same flat emotional range. If names weren't attached to their characters, you could easily interchange most of them without any difficulty. They were flat and while the story line was interesting enough to carry them, none of them were particularly impressive as characters on their own aside from the 15 year old main character Victor. Which leads me into my next point. Victor is 100% a grab at that nostalgia in Ender's Game. A kid way smarter than the majority of humanity? Smarter than every adult in his ship despite limited training in his field? Yeah, it's definitely got the movie trope issue of "Adults Are Useless." That theme permeates the El Salvador culture and undercuts adult characters that are making really intelligent decisions, only to get outsmarted by a teen. Also in the vein of grabbing at nostalgia was the character of Wit O'Toole, whose program is basically choosing people for a battle school that are already trained adults already in various global military programs. I actually had a separate bone to pick with this character being in the book as he has no real effect on the story in this book at all, save giving us a glance at Mazer Rackham (suddenly made Maori likely for diversity reasons) who we know to be important at later points in the Formic Wars. Adding in that extra vantage point also made the book drag on uselessly, making the pacing feel slower because Wit's perspective added nothing to the developing issue in space.
My gripes with Orson Scott Card as a person aside, this book is readable though a bit flat. If you enjoy Ender's Game, it's worth a read. Just don't expect it to be nearly as good.
There are things I really liked about this book and things that really made me roll my eyes. So, first, let me start with what I liked.
Seeing the culture of the world prior to the war is something we really didn't get much of a feel for in the Ender's Game book and following stories. Technology had improved so rapidly because of the Formic Wars that only brief references were made that I can recall. This is a real example of how the world was when the Formics attacked. The mining ship culture was really interesting and I found myself appreciating the aspect - to an extent, I'll explain a little more when I go into what I didn't care for. I have always admired the female characters being well rounded, strong characters. Concepción was an awesome character and I enjoyed her leadership qualities, but I also enjoyed Dr. Benyawe and Edimar and Rena. Very few authors treat their female characters as true equals in their stories and this one does a great job. Also of note, the amount of diversity of race that gets stuffed into these books is fantastic.
Now, to what I didn't care for.
Some other reviews say that the science, and specifically the physics, is very off. But, as an art major, I didn't have much knowledge of the physics errors and was able to get by that without it bothering me. No, my biggest gripe is that all the characters read with roughly the same flat emotional range. If names weren't attached to their characters, you could easily interchange most of them without any difficulty. They were flat and while the story line was interesting enough to carry them, none of them were particularly impressive as characters on their own aside from the 15 year old main character Victor. Which leads me into my next point. Victor is 100% a grab at that nostalgia in Ender's Game. A kid way smarter than the majority of humanity? Smarter than every adult in his ship despite limited training in his field? Yeah, it's definitely got the movie trope issue of "Adults Are Useless." That theme permeates the El Salvador culture and undercuts adult characters that are making really intelligent decisions, only to get outsmarted by a teen. Also in the vein of grabbing at nostalgia was the character of Wit O'Toole, whose program is basically choosing people for a battle school that are already trained adults already in various global military programs. I actually had a separate bone to pick with this character being in the book as he has no real effect on the story in this book at all, save giving us a glance at Mazer Rackham (suddenly made Maori likely for diversity reasons) who we know to be important at later points in the Formic Wars. Adding in that extra vantage point also made the book drag on uselessly, making the pacing feel slower because Wit's perspective added nothing to the developing issue in space.
My gripes with Orson Scott Card as a person aside, this book is readable though a bit flat. If you enjoy Ender's Game, it's worth a read. Just don't expect it to be nearly as good.
gnull's review against another edition
4.0
It was a very good read, though in fact I listened to it, and I look forward to the sequel, but did it have to end so suddenly?! Whatever happened to writing a complete book?
1eviticus's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Story and characters deserve a 4 or 5 stars, but Aaron Johnston's lack of knowledge of basic physics should have disqualified him from writing anything set in space.