A review by karl2847
Earth Unaware by Orson Scott Card

4.0

Earth Unaware is an odd book because it feels somehow disjointed. Part of this could be because it now has a coauthor or maybe it's just because it's written to supplement a comic book series.

What I mean by disjointed is that none of it reaches its full potential, but it never quite falters either. Let me explain. The characters retain the complexity and memorable qualities normally found in Card's Ender series, and this is by far the best quality in the book. The characters are never wholly good or evil and they do things not for the sake of moving the story along, but because they have reasons to do so. They have motivations and feelings.

If there's one weak link in the characters, it would have to be Wit, not because he's underdeveloped, but simply because we get to see so little of him that we never really get a sense for who he is. In the context of this book alone, his parts of the story seem to have no connection with anything else, and this may be a problem for some readers. Most likely, his story will become more important and connect to the big picture in future novels of the prequel trilogy, so it wasn't a big deal for me. After all, the chapters with him are entertaining, even if they do seem a little out of place.

Another strength in the novel is the whole society of asteroid mining. This is fascinating and original, and it creates a memorable background.

Now the weak points. There are numerous typos throughout the novel, and although it's easy to figure out what was intended, I can't help but feel that the editors didn't take a good look at the book before sending it on. Every book has some typos, but the typos found here are found far too often. Another weak point is that the writing here seems far weaker than in the other books of the series, and some of the sentences don't feel like Card even wrote them.

There is one more thing that many will take as a weakness, but it didn't bother me. This being the first in the "First Formic War" series, you'd expect the war to actually start, and this book, although there is action in it, is more the events leading up to the war than the war itself. Take it as a weakness or not, I didn't mind.

In all, although it is not anywhere near as strong as previous novels in the Enderverse, Earth Unaware is an entertaining read, despite its shortcomings. I feel that it is worth a read.