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Earth Awakens

(The First Formic War #3)

Orson Scott Card,

Aaron Johnston (Goodreads Author)

4.06 · Rating details · 8,835 ratings · 613 reviews

The story of The First Formic War continues in Earth Awakens.

Nearly 100 years before the events of Orson Scott Card's bestselling novel Ender's Game, humans were just beginning to step off Earth and out into the Solar System. A thin web of ships in both asteroid belts; a few stations; a corporate settlement on Luna. No one had seen any sign of other space-faring races; eve ...more

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Hardcover, 400 pages

Published June 10th 2014 by Tor Books

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Jun 10, 2014 Thomas Edmund rated it did not like it

Many have criticized the First Formic war for crummy physics, shallow political/cultural analysis, and prose that feels like the novelization of a comic book. Those criticisms will not be deferred by the arrival of this book. Even if, like me, you enjoyed the first installments of this trilogy, I suspect you'll find Awakens to be somewhat of a disappointment.

My first criticism is that it appears that rather than put together an original, or create A unique spin on well-trodden sci-fi tropes, Ors Many have criticized the First Formic war for crummy physics, shallow political/cultural analysis, and prose that feels like the novelization of a comic book. Those criticisms will not be deferred by the arrival of this book. Even if, like me, you enjoyed the first installments of this trilogy, I suspect you'll find Awakens to be somewhat of a disappointment.

My first criticism is that it appears that rather than put together an original, or create A unique spin on well-trodden sci-fi tropes, Orson Scott Card (or is that just Mr Johnston) opt instead to fill the pages of Awakens with numerous cliche's. (SPOILERS AHEAD) fighter ships flying into ventilation shafts, scientists inventing counter-agents to the Formic's poison (with high school chemistry). The heroes bravely fighting each other over who will risk their lives to attack the mother-ship. I thought Unaware at least had some originality, and Afire made Earth's situation seem genuinely dire. Awakens felt like I was reading a novel stitched together from Star Wars, Independence Day, and StarCraft.

Perhaps worse than mere cliche's is the lack of real tension in the plot. All the characters simply work from whoa to go, Mazer is the consumate soldier, Victor understands stuff about spaceships, and Lem continues his journey from amoral brat to actually OK guy. Lem's character perhaps presented the most interesting development through the novels, however his personality changes in Awakens are so contrived, his father such a stereotype, that this part of book was sub-par too.

The next frustrating part of the this conclusionary novel is the neutering of the Formic forces. After annihilating countless spaceships and human lives, the main characters find out a few factoids about the ships and somehow this leads to them essentially being able to take over the 'mothership' without much more fuss than a few firefights. Considering the size of the Formic vessel and the weirdness of the technology I found it impossible to believe the level of detail Victor was able to give to the strike team when taking over the ship and how little attempt was given to make this part of the book exciting. In fact looking back to recall the novel I found myself feeling slightly betrayed. Shouldn't a trilogy equaling 1000+ pages draw together several plots into an intricate finale that only works because of each characters unique contribution. I couldn't see the point of Rena's story other than to depict racist ideas about Somali Pirates (in space) and while Victor and Jem's relationship had one interesting bump, the majority of the time these former enemies simply just did whatever was needed advance the story. Despite having nothing to do with Jem or Victor, Mazor and Wit were dragged into the final plan simply by Jem sending an email and having endless cash.

My Ultimate problem with this trilogy lies with the author note in book 1. I was promised insight into how the human race gets to the point in Ender's Game where children can be used so ruthlessly as Ender and countless other children were. All the First Formic war gave me was a rather basic development of 'when aliens attack the world will unite their military' and a brief suggestion of the beginnings of the program Ender is part of.

Normally I try to end a negative review with some positive points of the novel, but must confess I'm struggling with Awakens, the humor was off and at times incredibly cheesy, all the characters had Daddy issues, which I could not tell if this was about the authors problems or just a desperate attempt to make the characters appear deep. Even the mere act of writing this review has made me deduct stars to the point where (if memory serves) Earth Awakens may have the ignoble honor of being my first one star review for the year. ...more

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Mar 12, 2014 Jack rated it it was amazing

I was going to write this long review addressing some of the criticism, but the simple truth is that a) I'm way too lazy for that, and b) I am just in too much awe over this book to do anything but gush about it. Each of the characters really popped off the page. The pacing was quick.

I am just amazed at what Card and Johnston were able to do with this trilogy. They take a pre-established universe and works within it to create a world that doesn't contradict what was previously laid out. Ender's I was going to write this long review addressing some of the criticism, but the simple truth is that a) I'm way too lazy for that, and b) I am just in too much awe over this book to do anything but gush about it. Each of the characters really popped off the page. The pacing was quick.

I am just amazed at what Card and Johnston were able to do with this trilogy. They take a pre-established universe and works within it to create a world that doesn't contradict what was previously laid out. Ender's Game was written in the late 70s. Obviously technology hasn't progressed in the last 35 years exactly as was laid out in Ender's Game, so going back and writing a prequel novel that takes place in what is now our not too distant future must have been quite the challenge, just on the science front. Not to mention that, from page one, the reader already knows how it all ends.

So, instead of taking our world and writing an alien invasion story that will appeal to the general masses, Card and Johnston take an alternate version of Earth from the Enderverse, turn back the clock, and show us the secrets behind the scenes. Though, I've been amazed with this aspect of the series from the beginning. I should probably talk about something specific to this book.

Okay, um.

The characters. I think that if I had to choose my favorite part about the book it's just how much the characters popped off the page and made my like them, which didn't always happen in the previous books. Every single POV felt unique and I found myself just shaking my head, knowing that none of these people would have come together this way under normal circumstances. This isn't exactly a groundbreaking plot device, but Card and Johnston handle it expertly, making you really feel just how different each and every one of the "heroes" is from the others.

(I listened to the audio book about half the time, and a huge kudos to all of them for really bringing the rather large cast of characters to life.)

Anyway, I loved it. Just heard that there's another trilogy in the making depicting the Second Formic Wars. Can't wait for that now! ...more

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Aug 08, 2013 Laura rated it liked it

Shelves: laura

MORE MAZER RACKHAM! MORE MAZER RACKHAM!

I would like more of a focus on Mazer Rackham ;)

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Jun 23, 2014 Jim Kahn rated it it was ok

The third book in the prequel series to the original "Enders Game" series, the book is worth the read to fans of the Ender universe but once again it falls far short of the quality of the originals. Card seems to have given up any pretense at writing compelling and realistic dialog: each character has the identical sarcastic / juvenile sense of humor and manners of speaking which makes it impossible to develop any sort of attachment. Card also has given up on any pretense of 'hard' science ficti ...more

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Jun 27, 2014 Mandy Bellm rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction

Fantastic conclusion to a fantastic series. So excited to hear there is a trilogy in the works for the Second Formic War. Not going to be able to wait for the year(s) in between each one though!

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Jun 14, 2014 Christopher Chiarino rated it it was amazing

I rarely review the books I read but this one was worth the time. Card does a great job giving the reader what they want. It described everything that happen in great detail. I really enjoyed Mazer and Bing it reminded me of Ender's experience with Mazer. Also there was a great plug for the second Formic War. I bet Bing's school will become Battle School!!

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May 28, 2014 Mike rated it it was ok

Shelves: scifi, library

Couldn't wait until this one came out and sped right through it. Just ok and not up to the standards set by the first two books in the series. 2 Stars. It felt mechanical, not original and fresh. The story lines were not as tension packed and interesting as the leading books. Enjoyed it but not near as much as I hoped.

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Jun 22, 2014 John Sorensen rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

I like Card and his books. This book focuses on closing out the story lines and ending the trilogy. This is accomplished with efficiency and is well done. I was satisfied not only with how the story lines ended, but they felt organic and credible given the way the characters would have behaved. This story focused a bit more on the story and less on the science and physics the first 2/3rds of the book. However, in the last 1/3 of the book machine guns in free fall are just a bad, stupid idea. The ...more

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Apr 20, 2014 Jarrett Piner rated it it was amazing

Such a satisfying book! I had major worries when I learned that Card was writing prequels to Ender's Game, and am so glad he (and his co-author) wrote these. An absolute "MUST READ!" for any fans of the Enderverse.

Buy it and read it! ...but only after reading the first two...

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Oct 18, 2016 Kasia rated it really liked it

Even more in love with Lem

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Sep 20, 2018 Adrian rated it liked it · review of another edition

Final a la precuela de Ender pero que me ha dejado con sabor agridulce (me esperaba más).

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Dec 25, 2014 Heather rated it liked it

Shelves: 2015-suggestions, science-fiction

This will be my review for the entire trilogy:

Plenty of other reviewers have covered in minute detail the points I am going to make, but let me have my turn:

Positives:
Interesting Characters. Good start to the back story. (Sort of. This was not the back story you were looking for. Minor spoiler alert... this is just the beginning of the back story.) Okay... that was it.

Negatives:
Junk science. This was startling in part because Scott Card made such a fuss over this at Writer's Boot Camp a handful This will be my review for the entire trilogy:

Plenty of other reviewers have covered in minute detail the points I am going to make, but let me have my turn:

Positives:
Interesting Characters. Good start to the back story. (Sort of. This was not the back story you were looking for. Minor spoiler alert... this is just the beginning of the back story.) Okay... that was it.

Negatives:
Junk science. This was startling in part because Scott Card made such a fuss over this at Writer's Boot Camp a handful of years ago--you know, getting your facts straight so you don't pop the reader out of the story by making stupid errors. (First example in the first book was a mistake that was essentially over the definition of velocity. I took college physics--and then some, but this was high school stuff--a stupid error that kept making my mind question every bit of remaining science in the rest of the books instead of enjoying the story. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. If you are going to put that much science in a novel, you need a science editor--or at least a smart high school kid who can cover the basics with writers too busy to bother. Sheesh.)

Too much science & military stuff that made the story drag. Over and over and over. (We interrupt this story to bring you yet another 10 page scene about science we know nothing about -- see above, or to explain new technology we invented for this story so you can ooooh and aaaaah over how clever we are, and/or military exercises that will -- with one exception -- never come up again later in the book.

Plot Structure from Hell. Too many POVs that don't factor into anything critical. Secondary story lines that have nothing to do with anything else... ever. This is my main complaint. The first three chapters of the first book are about three separate people in three completely separate situations, creating three story lines that almost never do more than bump up against each other briefly for the next 900 pages. (Story line three doesn't do any bumping up at all against the first two story lines until the trilogy is past the halfway point.) It wasn't until the last 100 pages that all three of the main characters (none of whom was Mazer Rackham, who barely made a showing in the first book, though finally got some occasional page time by the middle of book two) finally came together at the same time. The books were plotted as though three separate stories about people involved in the Formic Wars were written, cut apart, and glued together in roughly chronological order. This meant that things just got going with one character's story line and then we were jarringly moved over to another story line, and then another, not getting back to that cliff-hanger with the first story line for possibly another 47 pages. Each of the main characters, of course, also have secondary characters as part of their stories, who in turn become POV characters with their own scenes, if not full chapters--eventually creating three to four levels of story lines. If you cut all of that out, the entire trilogy would barely fill a two hour movie. I felt jerked around and manipulated as a reader. This was not a page turner because when I turned the page at the end of a chapter, I was in a completely separate story most of the time.

(Try to imagine telling the story of the Napoleonic wars from the POVs of Horatio Hornblower, Sharpe, and Captain Wentworth from Jane Austen's Persuasion with some scenes and even story lines from half a dozen of their secondary characters thrown in for good measure, and with Admiral Nelson finally making more than a brief mention in book 2 but cutting the story off randomly after a major battle but long before the end of the war. That's what this trilogy is for the Formic Wars. We never get to Waterloo. We barely get to know Nelson. The whole thing makes us care about too many amazing characters and then drops them with only a hint of their futures, but truthfully, we still have barely touched the story of the man who is supposedly the hero of the story.)

To sum up: Great ideas, great characters, interesting story. Junk science, poor pacing, poor plotting, too many POV characters and scenes having nothing to do at all with the main plot line that stalled the story in too many places. If this manuscript was in the slush pile rather than being handed to an editor with Card's name headlining it, it never would have seen the light of day. I hope the future book(s) that will obviously have to be written, will wrap up some of dangling plot threads and finally tell Mazer Rackham's story. ...more

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Jul 28, 2014 Jordan B. rated it did not like it

Shelves: horrible-drivel

I understand that this book has gotten horrible reviews. I usually try to give the author the benefit of the doubt, but Orson Scott Card wrote a horrible book this time. Listen, I loved Ender's Game, and even loved Earth Afire, but this book was a fail.

Where do I start? Card left a lot of loose ends untied. I'm going to start rambling (I'll try to keep it short):

#1. When Victor was leaving the ship for the first time, he adjusted and launched himself toward the return ship. Card says it took one I understand that this book has gotten horrible reviews. I usually try to give the author the benefit of the doubt, but Orson Scott Card wrote a horrible book this time. Listen, I loved Ender's Game, and even loved Earth Afire, but this book was a fail.

Where do I start? Card left a lot of loose ends untied. I'm going to start rambling (I'll try to keep it short):

#1. When Victor was leaving the ship for the first time, he adjusted and launched himself toward the return ship. Card says it took one hour to drift there. He wrote it so generally. "Oh, yeah. Victor launched himself and drifted for an hour toward the ship, and he landed right on target." How legitimate is that? It's almost impossible to aim yourself for an hour's worth of drifting. This is just a small sample of Card's unwillingness to tie together loose ends through the entire book.

#2. I loved the way Card portrayed child genius in Ender's Game, but it came off in this book as cheesy and superficial. All the MOP's remarks sounded so stereotypical.

#3. The way Card wrote all the conversations were stereotypical to the core. You could tell he was trying to refresh in everyone's mind the storyline, but he did it in conversations. He really needed to make a few explanatory paragraphs instead of shoving all his explanatory material into conversations.

#4. The lack of suspense killed me. Anyone who didn't know Despoina was a plant from the beginning is very ignorant.

#5. The offhanded way Card killed off some characters really annoyed me. He seemed to kill off characters just because he could.

#6. You know that time Wit went to the helm to turn off the gamma plasma? I thought it was stupid the way they casually and slowly worked through it . . . with Imala getting closer to death every second!

#7. Victor Delgado understood how to operate Formic ships way too easily. It's just very unrealistic.

P.S. I am looking forward to a break from this horribly written sci-fi. I think I'll read World Without End or The Brothers Karamazov. Yeah, that's what I'll do. I'm feeling more relaxed already. ...more

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Jun 04, 2014 Wendy rated it did not like it

Shelves: 2014-reads, ebooks, sci-fi

This book is what I was afraid of when I saw Aaron Johnston's name on the cover for this series. I had tried to read a collaboration of Card and Johnston before and it was terrible. While I was happily surprised with the first novel in this trilogy, each book has gotten worse. Perhaps because Card's involvement has decreased along the way? I don't know. But it's highly unusual for me to put down a book halfway in, especially if it's part of a series, and I did just that with this one for several This book is what I was afraid of when I saw Aaron Johnston's name on the cover for this series. I had tried to read a collaboration of Card and Johnston before and it was terrible. While I was happily surprised with the first novel in this trilogy, each book has gotten worse. Perhaps because Card's involvement has decreased along the way? I don't know. But it's highly unusual for me to put down a book halfway in, especially if it's part of a series, and I did just that with this one for several weeks and almost didn't return to it.

Why is it so bad? Let's see. The dialogue is laughable. Characters frequently address other characters by name repeatedly in a conversation. To remind us who is being spoken to, I guess, but nobody speaks that way in real life. The conversations also follow a formula over and over again with one person having an idea, another objecting, and the first person convincing the second why he is right. Tedious once you recognize it.

There is a battle section in the end which at least is more exciting than these repetitious conversations. But I found the battle not making total sense, with certain parts being dragged out and others skimmed over.

Slightly spoiler-y section:
(view spoiler)

If you are looking for a series that goes from the first Formic attack up until the way things are by the time Ender comes along, this series will disappoint. The end of this THIRD book still is not the end of the war, and I'm afraid there will be another trilogy of the second invasion. If there is, and Johnston's name is anywhere attached to it, I am staying far, far away. ...more

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Mar 12, 2016 Buck rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, wwend-2016, reviewed, reread, wwend-2017

This is the third in the First Formic War trilogy. It's really the third installment in a very long three part novel. It's fast moving, exiting, a fun entertaining read; not great literature, but it is well written. I read the first book, Earth Unaware, quite some time ago and a lot of the details had faded. I read the second, Earth Afire, immediately before reading Earth Awakens - that's the right way to do it.

This trilogy is a prequel to Ender's Game. Mazur Rackham, an important character in E This is the third in the First Formic War trilogy. It's really the third installment in a very long three part novel. It's fast moving, exiting, a fun entertaining read; not great literature, but it is well written. I read the first book, Earth Unaware, quite some time ago and a lot of the details had faded. I read the second, Earth Afire, immediately before reading Earth Awakens - that's the right way to do it.

This trilogy is a prequel to Ender's Game. Mazur Rackham, an important character in Ender's Game, is introduced in the first of these three books and plays a major role in the second two. There are a number of story tracks running simultaneously. His is one. As the story progresses, all the story tracks converge. Rackham is one of the primary heroes responsible for the defeat of the formics.

In Ender's Game, Rackham is a hero for having single handedly destroyed the formics many years earlier. But the way he did it then, isn't the way it happened in this trilogy, the first formic war. I had vaguely remembered from Ender's Game, that there had been two prior formic wars. And so there was. The end of Earth Awakens sets the stage for the next formic invasion. The IF (International Fleet) and the Hegemony have been established. (In Ender's Game, Ender is drafted by the IF, and later in the Ender series, in Speaker for the Dead, Ender's sociopathic older brother, Peter, becomes the Hegemon.) So, I knew that there must be more prequel to come, and sure enough Card and Johnston have written the first in a trilogy based on the second formic war - The Swarm. As far as I can tell, it will be published later this year. I'll wait till all three are available before I start it, but I do expect to read it. I guess I'm hooked.

Adendum:
I forgot that I had read this and I read it again. I kept wondering why it seemed so familiar . Did they repeat chapters from the previous book so we'd know what was going on in case we hadn't read book 2? No. I read it a year and a half ago. It had faded in my memory enough that I just didn't know that I had read it before. Anyhow, I enjoyed it. It's a good SF adventure. ...more

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Dec 02, 2014 Mona rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Another excellent book from Orson Scott Card .

The audiobook was expertly read by his usual cast of audio readers--Stefan Rudnicki, Emily Rankin,
Roxanne Hernandez, Arthur Morey, etc.

This picks up where the second book in the First Formic War Series, "Earth Afire" left off.

It's got the same cast of characters too, along with a few additions.

Victor Delgado and Imala Bootstamp have enlisted Lem Jukes' help to do a scouting mission to a Formic ship in Earth's atmosphere.

Mazer Rackham, Whit O'Toole ...more

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Jun 24, 2014 Dusty Anderson rated it it was amazing

Great trilogy from great authors. I love all of Card's Ender/Shadow books...though I'm not a fan of his other works. This series is just as compelling as the rest. If you haven't read the Ender series or the Shadow series, and you like scifi, you need to read all of these books! Start with this trilogy first, then Ender's Game...wonderful read...

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Dec 04, 2015 Louisiana36 added it

this one was good all good characters. enjoyed listening to the trilogy

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Sep 26, 2017 ★ℕłℂØℓҾ★ (Nix) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I have been on such a Sci-Fi kick after watching the movie Passengers with Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. I wanted more about people in space, spaceships, and terraforming planets. This series was so much YES! Despite the fact that the planet being terraformed in this instance was our own, by an alien species, I was riveted right through it all. I love getting Mazer's backstory here and in the second book. He was only mentioned briefly in the first book.

I love how these books connect so many ...more

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Oct 28, 2017 B.J. Richardson rated it really liked it

This is an adequate conclusion to the First Formic War series that provides more background for the famous and excellent Ender's Game. It continues on with the stories of all the heroes that are now familiar to anyone having read the first two books. I do like how a lot more of the action moved away from earth and back to space. I also like the continued character development of Lem Jukes.

That said, I do believe the transition from "we're all gonna die" to "lets go kick some alien butt" was far ...more

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Apr 03, 2017 Fredrick Danysh rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

This is the third book of the Formac series that precedes theEnder series. Earth is still under attack by the bugs as various groups try to find ways to defeat them. There are four stories within the story, each with its own cast which reduces the effectiveness of the overall story.

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Apr 14, 2018 Patricia Hamill rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2018, audiobook, borrowed, i-read-too-much, reviewed-by-me

This is quite an exciting story. The audiobooks are excellent.

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Aug 04, 2018 Chris Haak rated it it was amazing

Excellent conclusion to the first formic war. I hope they write more of these!

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Jun 12, 2014 Eric Allen rated it liked it

Earth Awakens
The First Formic War book 3
By Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnson

A review by Eric Allen

I already ranted quite a bit in my review of the previous book about my thoughts on Orson Scott Card's bigotry, so I'll spare you all this time around. Just know that I am very, very disappointed in him, and I am still boycotting his books. I did not pay for this book, it was an ARC that was provided by my publisher. I typically buy my own copies of books that I receive ARCs of to support the autho Earth Awakens
The First Formic War book 3
By Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnson

A review by Eric Allen

I already ranted quite a bit in my review of the previous book about my thoughts on Orson Scott Card's bigotry, so I'll spare you all this time around. Just know that I am very, very disappointed in him, and I am still boycotting his books. I did not pay for this book, it was an ARC that was provided by my publisher. I typically buy my own copies of books that I receive ARCs of to support the authors, but not this time.

The previous book ended with Victor on his way into the Formic mothership, and Mops having destroyed one of the Formic landers in China. We pick back up almost immediately afterward, which Victor's infiltration. When it goes horribly awry, he returns to the moon with a new plan, which he recruits Mazer Rakham and Mops to help him with. They must sabotage the Formic Mothership from within before the Formics in China can do more, irreparable damage, and kill more millions of innocent people. But this invasion may turn out to be only the beginning of a much larger conflict.

The good? The ending is pretty exciting and action packed, and the book is relatively well written. I am still completely baffled over the fact that Orson Scott Card can write such wonderful characters and imbue them with such humanity, understanding, and diversity, while being so intolerant of those who are different from himself. It makes no sense to me. This was a pretty good ending to the trilogy that ties up loose ends and gives a pretty good teaser for the Second Invasion. Old school Ender fans will know what that is. A lot of the way the world is set up in Ender's Game comes about at the end of this book. It shows the origins of the battle school (sort of) where the triumverate of Polermark, Strategos, and Hegemon came from, and so on.

The bad? About two thirds of this book doesn't really have much reason to exist. It's just filler that ultimately leads nowhere. I don't really care about the survivors of El Cavador. They played their part in the story, and they're not doing anything interesting enough, or relevant enough, to justify how much of the book is spent on them. I don't care about know-it-all Chinese orphans who contribute exactly nothing to the plot but yet take up half of the book for some reason. Especially Chinese orphans that are eight years old and talk like they're forty. Seriously, read like ANY of this kid's dialog and tell me if you've EVER met a kid his age that talks like this.

There just wasn't enough of the story left to justify a third volume. So the writers got out the padding and used it liberally. In my opinion, the relevant parts of this book could have easily been added to the end of the second volume for a much tighter and more enjoyable ending without so much pointless padding.

In conclusion, this is an adequate ending to the trilogy. It gets the job done, teases with the Second Invasion, and ties things in better with Ender's Game. However, it gets bogged down in superfluous subplots that don't really go anywhere and don't really serve much purpose except to pad the word count. The authors tried to stretch for a third volume, but in my opinion they stretched too little story too far and it ended up being a book that is largely made up of boring, irrelevant padding. If you enjoyed the first two books in the trilogy, you'll probably enjoy this one, it wasn't a bad ending, it just had a lot of pointless filler that really didn't need to be there. As I always say, a good story can be told in a single page if that's as long as it needs to be. You take away from it by adding more.

Check out my other reviews. ...more

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Feb 15, 2017 Oliver rated it liked it · review of another edition

Earth Awakens is a Sci-Fi thriller set in the future when a threat to Earth is presented in the form of an alien species called the Formics. They are first spotted by an asteroid mining clan. However, the alien craft is spotted too late, and in order to warn Earth, a miner named Victor must travel under harsh conditions, alone, in order to reach Earth in time. In this edition, the battle forged between the two sides ends when humans destroy the formic ship deemed, “the mothership” with the help ...more

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Oct 29, 2013 Dana Salinger rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, audio-book

This book felt like a total money grab. I really don't think that the telling of the first formic war warranted 3 books. I think he could have done it in two and told a much tighter story (and don't even get me started on how it's ghost written). I have such immense love for the Ender series and the Shadow series that anything written in this universe is a must read for me. However, this really didn't live up to those two other series. And OMG I can't believe there's going to be another triology ...more

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Feb 09, 2016 Cody rated it really liked it

I first have to admit that I don't read books to think about themes and hidden meanings and social commentary. I read to experience good stories. While reading After Earth I thought about this book 80% of the time, then 10% on other prequel and 10% on the effects on the rest of Ender's Game.

This is a great story and it wraps up this prequel trilogy nicely. So often as a kid I read books and wished I knew all the back story and rest of the story. Card has treated us readers extremely well in thi ...more

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May 06, 2014 Jake Cohen rated it liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 01, 2015 Cale rated it liked it

I realized something about Card's writing fairly early on in this book - everyone's a genius. Everyone's a Mary Sue, able to do exactly what needs to be done, and conflict is almost invariable resolved through reasonable conversation. It's weird for that to occur in the middle of a war. But then the war isn't really the focus of this book - instead it is finishing the stories of the characters from the previous novels, who are of course indispensable in concluding the conflict, but don't really ...more

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Aug 08, 2014 Xander Kennedy rated it really liked it

Basically, everything I have written regarding the first two books in the "First Formic War" series would apply here. I am easily hooked in this sci-fi universe with characters that flawed in little ways but grand a pure in the important ways. My biggest surprise was that this book seemed to set things up for further stories. I really expected this to be a tidy little self-contained (even as it clearly related to the Enderverse) trilogy, but "not so" screams the final pages of Awakens. I began t ...more

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About Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card

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Orson Scott Card is the author of the novels Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, and Speaker for the Dead, which are widely read by adults and younger readers, and are increasingly used in schools.
Besides these and other science fiction novels, Card writes contemporary fantasy (Magic Street, Enchantment, Lost Boys), biblical novels (Stone Tables, Rachel and Leah), the American frontier fantasy series Th ...more

Other books in the series

The First Formic War (3 books)

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Quotes from Earth Awakens

“Sometimes you have to trust people enough to let them succeed and love them enough to let them fail.” — 4 likes

“Why do we persist in this divided idiocy? Because the world is full of prideful bastards, that’s why. Everyone believes they’re smarter than everyone else, more capable than everyone else, more justified than everyone else. Humility went extinct a long time ago.” — 4 likes

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