Earth Awakens, Orson Scott Card
Earth Awakens, Orson Scott Card
24 Rating(s)
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Earth Awakens

Author: Orson Scott Card, Aaron Johnston

Narrator: Stefan Rudnicki

Unabridged: 14 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/10/2014


Synopsis

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; everyone expected that First Contact, if it came, would happen in the future, in the empty reaches between the stars. Then a young navigator on a distant mining ship saw something moving too fast, heading directly for our sun.

When the alien ship screamed through the solar system, it disrupted communications between the far-flung human mining ships and supply stations, and between them and Earth. So Earth and Luna were unaware that they had been invaded until the ship pulled into Earth orbit, and began landing terra-forming crews in China. Politics and pride slowed the response on Earth, and on Luna, corporate power struggles seemed more urgent than distant deaths. But there are a few men and women who see that if Earth doesn't wake up and pull together, the planet could be lost.

THE ENDER UNIVERSE

Ender series
Ender’s Game / Speaker for the Dead / Xenocide / Children of the Mind / Ender in Exile / Children of the Fleet

Ender’s Shadow series
Ender’s Shadow / Shadow of the Hegemon / Shadow Puppets / Shadow of the Giant / Shadows in Flight

The First Formic War (with Aaron Johnston)
Earth Unaware / Earth Afire / Earth Awakens

The Second Formic War (with Aaron Johnston)
The Swarm / The Hive

Ender novellas
A War of Gifts / First Meetings

About Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card is best known for his science fiction novel Ender's Game and its many sequels that expand the Ender Universe into the far future and the near past. Those books are organized into the Ender Saga, which chronicles the life of Ender Wiggin; the Shadow Series, which follows on the novel Ender's Shadow and is set on Earth; and the Formic Wars series, written with co-author Aaron Johnston, which tells of the terrible first contact between humans and the alien "Buggers." Card has been a working writer since the 1970s. Beginning with dozens of plays and musical comedies produced in the 1960s and 70s, Card's first published fiction appeared in 1977--the short story "Gert Fram" in the July issue of The Ensign, and the novelette version of "Ender's Game" in the August issue of Analog. The novel-length version of Ender's Game, published in 1984 and continuously in print since then, became the basis of the 2013 film, starring Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Hailee Steinfeld, Viola Davis, and Abigail Breslin. Card was born in Washington state, and grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He served a mission for the LDS Church in Brazil in the early 1970s. Besides his writing, he runs occasional writers' workshops and directs plays. He frequently teaches writing and literature courses at Southern Virginia University.He is the author many science fiction and fantasy novels, including the American frontier fantasy series "The Tales of Alvin Maker" (beginning with Seventh Son), and stand-alone novels like Pastwatch and Hart's Hope. He has collaborated with his daughter Emily Card on a manga series, Laddertop. He has also written contemporary thrillers like Empire and historical novels like the monumental Saints and the religious novels Sarah and Rachel and Leah. Card's work also includes the Mithermages books (Lost Gate, Gate Thief), contemporary magical fantasy for readers both young and old. Card lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Kristine Allen Card. He and Kristine are the parents of five children and several grandchildren.

About Stefan Rudnicki

Stefan Rudnicki is an award winning audiobook narrator, director and producer. He was born in Poland and now resides in Studio City, California. He has narrated more than three hundred audiobooks and has participated in over a thousand as a writer, producer, or director. He is a recipient of multiple Audie Awards and AudioFile Earphones Awards as well as a Grammy Award, a Bram Stoker Award, and a Ray Bradbury Award. He received AudioFile’s award for 2008 Best Voice in Science Fiction and Fantasy. Along with a cast of other narrators, Rudnicki has read a number of Orson Scott Card's best-selling science fiction novels. He worked extensively with many other science fiction authors, including David Weber and Ben Bova. In reviewing the twentieth anniversary edition audiobook of Card’s Ender's Game, Publishers Weekly stated, "Rudnicki, with his lulling, sonorous voice, does a fine job articulating Ender's inner struggle between the kind, peaceful boy he wants to be and the savage, violent actions he is frequently forced to take." Rudnicki is also a stage actor and director.

About Aaron Johnston

AARON JOHNSTON is the coauthor of The New York Times bestselling novels Earth Unaware, Earth Afire, and other Ender's Game prequel novels. He was also the co-creator and showrunner for the sci-fi series Extinct, as well as an associate producer on the movie Ender’s Game. He and his wife are the parents of four children.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Laura on April 01, 2014

MORE MAZER RACKHAM! MORE MAZER RACKHAM! I would like more of a focus on Mazer Rackham ;)......more

Goodreads review by Jim on June 26, 2014

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 h......more

Goodreads review by Mandy on June 27, 2014

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!......more

Goodreads review by Eric on June 16, 2019

Earth Awakens The First Formic War book 3 By Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnson A review by Eric Allen 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 inf......more

Goodreads review by John on June 22, 2014

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......more


Quotes

“The sections that feature highly intelligent, self-reliant children--Card's trademark--are as excellent as ever; elsewhere there's plenty of solid action, well-developed characters....Another solidly engrossing installment, where the aliens are really just a sideshow: What we're witnessing is how and why Ender's child armies came to be.” —Kirkus Reviews on Earth Afire

“While the reader knows who wins the war, the fate of the engaging characters in this story is up in the air. Thirty-five years after he introduced Ender to the world, it's great to see that Orson Scott Card is still making magic in this imaginative world.” —New York Journal of Books on Earth Afire

“The pacing and the vivid action scenes will satisfy hard-core military-SF buffs. At the same time, the characters and the ethical foundations under them are at the high level we have come to associate with Card. Laying their own foundations under Card's Ender Wiggins saga, the Formic Wars promise to add to Card's already high reputation and to his collaborator's as well.” —Booklist, starred review on Earth Afire

“Card and Johnston explore human ignorance and compassion through a tapestry of galactic warfare in the second volume of the Formic Wars trilogy.... Social upheavals and political ineptitude are realized through rich characterization and brisk action.” —Publishers Weekly on Earth Afire