Earth Afire (The First Formic War, Band 2)

by Orson Scott Card (Autor)

Other authorsAaron Johnston (Autor)

2014

Status

Available

Publication

TOR BOOKS (2014), 528 pages

Description

One hundred years before Ender's Game, the aliens arrived on Earth with fire and death. This is the story of the First Formic War. Victor Delgado beat the alien ship to Earth, but just barely. Not soon enough to convince skeptical governments that there was a threat. They didn't believe that until space stations and ships and colonies went up in sudden flame. And when that happened, only Mazer Rackham and the Mobile Operations Police could move fast enough to meet the threat.

User reviews

LibraryThing member Jthierer

I chose a three star rating for this book because, honestly, I can't decide if I enjoyed it or not. On the pro-side: the plot is interesting enough and there are just enough main characters that you don't get sick of them but not so many that you need a glossary to keep track of who's who. The

technology is just advanced enough that you believe this is happening in the future, but not so advanced that it feels out of reach. On the con side: The character of Bingwen makes absolutely no sense. In no universe should this child be permitted to follow a soldier into battle. On top of that, he lectures Mazer in dialogue that feels completely unrealistic for even a hyper-precocious young child. Also, the frequent emphasis on traditional gender roles among the mining/scavenging characters feels out of place to me. The book's characters harp on how people living in deep space can't just replace things and everyone has to pitch in to ensure survival...but as soon as there's trouble the women are herded onto another ship with all of the children and captain's are expressing shock when another ship turns out to be led by a woman. It just doesn't seem to make sense in their all for one ethos to have certain activities so rigidly separated by gender.

So, I will probably read the third book to see how things end, but I'm definitely hoping the dialogue gets better if nothing else.

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LibraryThing member buffalogr

This book really is a 'tweener. None of the books in the Formic Wars series stands on its own...the story just continues. It's a good story but still hasn't come together. For example, the future hero, Mazer Rackam still bounces around outside the limits and demonstrates potential heroism. The

bureaucracy reacts in it's usual way for those who make waves. The fat cat capitalist continues to present himself in the best light, while giving lip service to the current situation. Where's book #3?

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LibraryThing member vsnunez

2nd prequel to "Ender's Game" develops the back story of what happened in the first "Formic War." There will be a third book; the book makes no sense without reading "Earth Unaware" first. It's a quick read, fast-paced with lots of action. Great for reluctant readers who won't mind the lack of

depth in the characters. Interesting story, these are definitely not "E.T." -type aliens, more of the engulf & devour kind.

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LibraryThing member clark.hallman

Earth Afire is the second volume of The First Formic War series written by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston. The series is a prequel to the very popular Ender’s Game, which won the Nebula Award for best novel in 1985 and the Hugo Award for best novel in 1986. In Earth Unaware, the first volume

of the First Formic War series, a group of asteroid miners in deep space are attacked by the Formic ship and its insect-like aliens. The miners attempt to stop the ship and try to warn Earth that the ruthless aliens are on their way. In Earth Afire, the second volume of the series, the Formic ship reaches Earth. Occupation forces of the vicious insectoids land on Earth in seemingly invulnerable vessels. The Formics are not interested in communicating or negotiating with humans. They are only interested in killing humans and transforming the environment of planet Earth to make it their home. This book picks up where Earth Unaware ends and some of the same surviving characters play leading roles in a desperate and gruesome struggle to survive against the overwhelming Formic technology and brutality. It is an action-packed violent story that pushes the reader to the brink of despair, because it also includes a very human story that reveals terrified people struggling to survive and trying to help each other. Card and Johnston weave several subplots into a complex story that includes human greed and power struggles, political conflicts that decrease the ability for humanity to effectively fight the Formics, and much interesting futuristic scientific and technical description and discussion dealing with space travel and warfare. I enjoyed this book very much and I recommend it to any science fiction reader, but especially those who enjoy military or alien-invasion science fiction. However, potential readers should know that this is volume two of a planned three-volume series and this book leaves many unresolved storylines. I am eager to read the next volume.

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LibraryThing member labdaddy4

A fast & easy read - fills in the back story to Ender's Game and the rest of the book in that series. The story continually jumps from one story line to another.

LibraryThing member jmourgos

The sequel novel to Earth Unaware is Earth Afire.

None of the books of this series (going on #3 in June 2014) stands on its own. But the overall writing style, shifting from scene to scene and seeing them merge at the end works well with Card’s and Johnston’s style of writing.

Earth Unaware

introduced us to Victor, a kid who is very smart with mechanics, who works as part of a family of miners light-years from Earth.

Earth Afire leaves the Fathers & Fathers theme and goes into God knows what!

Story & Plot:

Victor finally makes it to Earth, hacked into a “quickship” not built for human habitation and makes it to Luna with video proof of alien invasion. As expected, no one believes him.

What makes the Victor character so obnoxious is his attitude towards others. When he is finished berating people for not believing him, he becomes the victim, discussing the death of his family to the Formics. He blames Lem, the son of the Juke Corporation giant, for much of this.

To make a long story short, Victor and Imala (an accountant we met) meet Jukes for some help. Rather than get the help, Victor immediately goes into a tirade, insulting the very people he needs. He does this again with Lem, calling him out as a murderer when they need Lem’s help! Other characters try to shut him up to this reader’s annoyance.

The story ends with a rather ambitious plot of getting onto the Formic’s mother ship, currently orbiting the Earth. Most of this part is anticlimactic and “stay tuned next book folks.” Annoying.

Conclusion:

Earth Afire has some positive aspects to it: Governments complaining about their image to the world or afraid to act or let others help, which gives the Formics time to invade; the paranoid Lem who thinks his father is two-faced but often exhibits the same characteristics as his father; Colonel Wit, who leads a crack team of soldiers and attempts to make inroads in stopping the invasion despite his orders from above not to interfere; and Imala, a smart gal with not a lot of people skills.

Victor was the most ambitious character at Earth Unaware, but becomes a know-it-all, sarcastic brat in Earth Afire. Here’s hoping the next book vindicates him as he somehow makes it aboard the mothership!

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LibraryThing member LarryGerovac

Love the characters that Card develops in his stories. I think he did a better job on this book 2 in the Formic Wars than he did on book one. It had action from beginning to end. Card has found a good balance... not too much detail, leaves it to the reader to fill in instead of wasting pages trying

to describe a scene. The Enders series is still my favorite.

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LibraryThing member mahsdad

Book 2 in the First Formic War Trilogy. As such, if you haven't read the first book, then just move along and go read the first one.

This continues where the first book left off. Victor, the deep space miner sent on a suicide trip back from the belt to the moon to notify humanity of the alien

threat. He makes it, only to be met with skepticism; "Aliens, what alien?" Mazer Rackham is leading a New Zealand special forces team that is testing a new military vehicle that runs off of a new gravity drive. As he and his team are sent to train the Chinese military, the Formics arrive and attack Earth, in China (what are the chances). Then the crap hits the fan.

Pretty standard David vs. Golith battles. A ragtag group of humans against a vastly superior alien army. Card is definitely tailoring things ultimately land where they are supposed to in the later Ender series, morally, politically and technologically. Most signification, I think, is that Mazer befriends and protects a young Chinese boy. This boy's thoughts and feelings telegraph the idea of children being willing and able to fight.

A good series so far, I look forward to finishing it. (And staring on the Second Formic War trilogy, that just started up.)

8/10

S: 6/26/16 - F: 7/15/16 (20 Days)

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LibraryThing member orkydd

'Earth Afire' begins where 'Earth Unaware' left off, bringing the battle to earth. The tale covers desperate attempts to raise alarm, failed attempts to make peaceful contact and describes the Scouring of China, through the eyes of another of OSCs precocious children. We get to know Mazer Rackham

much better, but don't lose contact with Victor Delgado as he makes a last desperate effort to attack the giant mothership. (Will have to wait until next June to see how that turns out!)

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LibraryThing member mainrun

Right after I finished the first book of this trilogy, I saw some of the Independence Day movie. I am not sure which one borrowed from the other, but there were similarities - remote control flights bringing craft into 'base; nuclear bombs having no effect; the aliens; etc. It made me a bit

disappointed in the first book, that bled into this book, the second in the series. Also, killing off El Cavadore and not killing off other characters/ships were not good decisions. This book was not as enjoyable as the first book, but I did sign the last book in the trilogy, Earth Awakens out of the library right after finishing. 344 members; 3.66 average review; 4/25/2017

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LibraryThing member Cataloger623

Earth Afire :First Formic War Series Book 2. This is second book in the series that tells the story of the initial invasion of Earth by ant like creatures called the Formic's. I have not read Ender’s Game in over 30 years and not kept up with the follow on novels. I am coming at this as

essentially a newbie. I had a great deal of fun reading this book. Its pacing kept me interested. I cared for the characters. I particularly enjoyed the fact that this was not an American centered story. The characters come from all over the Earth and space. The story takes place in space and in China. It follows the lives of the main families in Earth Unaware, the first book in the series. The events that happen to them have a realistic feel. Its depiction of what a space based culture will be was believable. It does a good job of showing the horrors of war while not being graphic.

This story like a second act in a 3 act play does not stand well on its own. It literally ends in the middle of a major plot development. You will have to the third book in the trilogy to get the whole story. Fortunately the last book in the series Earth Awakens is available.

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LibraryThing member crazybatcow

I (typically) really enjoy Orson Scott Card's work. I did not enjoy this book. It was work to get through. I see now as I am writing a review that it was written jointly with some fellow named Aaron Johnston... well... that might explain it. This is not typical Card, other than the focus on the

boy-genius who can save the world (a usual Card protagonist).... the story is whiny, the characters non-distinct and the plot... really doesn't go anywhere. It is also a full-on cliff hanger (assuming you can make it to the end of the book, it is definitely a struggle to do so, and there is no reward that makes it worth the slog).

The narration is not very good either - they alternate readers, but not based on characters or plot, just randomly. One of them places emphasis at very odd points. Overall, very disappointing - story was boring AND it had an abrupt ending. (I know I previously called it a cliff hanger, but that would imply there was some suspense that would make you buy the next one... there is no suspense, the story just stops mid-stroke and there is no resolution) - I guess you have to buy the next book to see how it ends, but usually I expect books (even those trying to develop cliff hanger suspense) to have a beginning, a middle and an end. This had a middle.

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LibraryThing member claidheamdanns

Oh man! What a place to end this book! So glad I’ve already downloaded the next one!

Great story, and great performance on the audiobook version, available on Audible.com.

With my car dead, I haven’t had as much time to listen to audiobooks, so it’s taken me quite awhile to finish this one: 2

months!

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