Prequels are tricky. (Just ask George Lucas!) This is one done right.

I think it succeeds for several reasons: first, there are a few references in the Ender books to the first Formic war, but not so many that we really know everything that happened. Plenty of room for fleshing things out. Second, while there's one (minor) character here that we know will be important later, for the most part the story focuses on new and interesting characters that we can come to care about without looking to connect the dots to the ones in the other books. Thirdly, there's plenty of new imaginings here of culture and technology that is fresh to the Enderverse. Mining ships, private vs. corporate are out in the asteroids, while meanwhile on earth some military types are trying to prepare for the unexpected, which will eventually turn out to be alien attack.

If I have any complaints about the book they are few. The biggest is that I've grown to loathe the popularity of planned multiple books in a series. I'm sure the book powers that be like it since they can hook an audience and plan for more sales. But I hate getting to the end of a book and not getting any real closure and having to wait months or years to see more of the story. Mostly because I'm impatient. (On the flipside, I do like reading more in a series I liked... so I guess it's not enough to keep me from starting books like that. It's just enough for me to complain about it!)

Also, I'd like to just take a moment and say the way life on an independent ship is portrayed was really interesting and felt realistic to me here. Compared to some goofy ideas in some other books I've read of late. (I'm talking to you, Across the Universe.)

I was really worried about this pairing of Card and Johnston as I tried one of their collaborations before and it was DREADFUL (Invasive Procedures) But this one is much better, a can't-put-it-down kinda book that's a must read for Ender fans and still easily accessible for just more general sci-fi fans.