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A review by protoman21
Earth Afire by Aaron Johnston, Orson Scott Card
3.0
I had a hard time rating this book because I read it over the course of several months. I feel like if the book had been better, I would have read it faster, but then again, I just got engaged and I have been very busy lately, so perhaps it was my schedule rather than the quality of the book that made me take so long. Either way, I think if the book had been amazing, I would have dropped everything to read it no matter what.
I did get more into the book the further along I got. I feel like the action picked up a little and I got to know the characters better and care about them more. I understand the intergalactic scope of this series, but I think it suffered early on from having too many unrelated storylines. The jumps between situations were far too jarring and it took too long to get back to any one character. It took quite a long time for me to actually grow fond of the characters because of this. Another issue is that Card's characters tend to follow certain archetypes and they all seem to speak and act similar to each other, and at times this can get old. Watching the clever young kid outwit his superior in a snotty "Oh, I didn't mean to be snotty." way feels contrived the 39th time you read it.
I still love the idea of this story and now that the players are well established I hope to find the third book much more engaging and easier to not put down.
I did get more into the book the further along I got. I feel like the action picked up a little and I got to know the characters better and care about them more. I understand the intergalactic scope of this series, but I think it suffered early on from having too many unrelated storylines. The jumps between situations were far too jarring and it took too long to get back to any one character. It took quite a long time for me to actually grow fond of the characters because of this. Another issue is that Card's characters tend to follow certain archetypes and they all seem to speak and act similar to each other, and at times this can get old. Watching the clever young kid outwit his superior in a snotty "Oh, I didn't mean to be snotty." way feels contrived the 39th time you read it.
I still love the idea of this story and now that the players are well established I hope to find the third book much more engaging and easier to not put down.