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Earth Awakens  By  cover art

Earth Awakens

By: Aaron Johnston,Orson Scott Card
Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki,Stephen Hoye,Arthur Morey,Vikas Adam,Roxanne Hernandez,Emily Rankin
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Publisher's summary

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

©2014 Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston (P)2014 Macmillan Audio

What listeners say about Earth Awakens

Average customer ratings
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Sets the Stage for Ender's Game

What did you love best about Earth Awakens?

Powerful ending, gets you charged for the Second Formic War! Keep in mind, there is still one more war before Ender - but the story concludes with a believable resolution and connects some of the dots between a pre-Formic era and that of Battle School.

What did you like best about this story?

Seeing Mazer develop and witness his initial recognition of the unique value that (gifted) kids can provide. Some of the tenets of Battle School gain their origin in this book.

Which scene was your favorite?

When the band was finally all together. After two novels of parallel story lines I was eager for them to be in the same room planning for an attack. All history of "only being a free miner" or a "corporate snake" is at last left behind with all focus on a high risk mission.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Lem's holo to Victor; after all they had been through together and against each other - admitting that he truly appreciates and respects him.

Any additional comments?

Love the conclusion to this story arc. Being former military, and having directly worked with several other countries militaries, the bureaucracy is totally believable. I know the science is probably a bit much for academics to accept but if you have read the other 15-ish books in this series you should be beyond that. There are two reasons that this story did not get 5 stars: 1. There's only so many times that I can hear "I can't let you risk your life" and actually believe it. The characters are always in dire situations and I'd think by the time it's do-or-all-humans-die it's total war time and everyone is all-in, just accept the help and MOVE!2. I have been to China and know how prideful and protective a society/government they are, but the thought that they would STILL not ask for help after millions of their civilians are butchered by aliens is a stretch. If nothing else at least the Russians and maybe the North Koreans would be welcomed.

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7 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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this series is going downhill

the actual writing still feels like OSC, but the imagination put into this book doesn't feel remotely close to the first ender series. it's at the point where despite reading the original and a few of the shadow series books, i'm not even sure i'll listen to book #4. :(

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6 people found this helpful

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Cards first failure

Once you get past all the inconsistencies that are being retconned in, you are left with a predictable overdramatic melodrama that drags more than it moves. There are character death scenes that are so drawn out as to cause the listener or reader to pull a kavorkian and help put the damn character down. This final installment of the first formic war is not only the weakest end perverse book to date, but the weakest book Card has ever been a part of. its not the worst I've ever read or listened to, but damn it might make bottom 10.

the audio performers if they are going to try accents should try to at least keep them consistent, but that is just one piece of what made for a sloppy audio performance. this was just plain bad.

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A masterpiece! One of my favorites

What did you love best about Earth Awakens?

The book is full of the type of characters that you can really cheer for. Sound minds face seemingly insurmountable challenges and their solutions are so wise, you can almost learn life lessons from them. O ya, and there is a ship load of thrilling action.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Mazer Rackam is my hero. (So is Col. Graff but he isn't in this book.) He is tough as nails, teachable as a child, innovative as Ender, and yet he still develops and progresses in the book.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

Lem Dukes' voice is something special. His oily self righteous personality is all over his voice.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There were quite a few heart wrenching cliff hangers of especially potent strength. And at the chant of WE ARE THE SONS OF U.D.T.... I am so glad I chose to get this as an audiobook.

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    1 out of 5 stars
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he pronounces silent h"s

Horrible narration., heavy breathing, some are robotic, other finish every single sentence with a sigh, other narrator pronounces silent h's. great story, awful narration.

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Another great one

I've listened to the whole Ender/Bean series and this 1st Formica war series is a must.

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Save your money

This trilogy was a joke. It barely even mentioned the formics and shouldn't even be a precursor to Ender Games. It was a boring long narrative about nothing. Why just China? Characters that were so laughable and contrite...you know what I can't even begin to explain my disdane for this trilogy. Damn my need to finish what I started or else I would've chucked this series half way through book one...it was immensely boring af. I wish someone had reviewed honesty and saved me my money and brain freezes. Just don't...

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What's with the voice "ACTING"?

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Fire the producer of the vocal actors. Please. The overly emotional read of Victor's character is unbearable and comically bad. Also, WTH is up with OSC ripping of Spielberg's facination with child characters? Great premise, awful execution.

Would you be willing to try another one of the narrators’s performances?

NO.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment.

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Good read but not his best

Orson Scott Card is one of my favorite writers, but in these books, he seems to be giving his cowriter too much room to screw it up. Don't get me wrong, this is a must read for all Ender readers and its pretty good. But here's the main issue, although all of his books are a little loose with the science, in these three books, science is thrown out the window in places to add drama. There is plenty of Drama with the bugger invasion without upsetting readers who recognize when the science if off.

The books are great and I look forward to the next set where Mazor confronts the Bugger fleet but there are some inconsistencies you won't find in Cards earlier Ender books. Also, most of the narrators add to the book but some of the narration is overly dramatized and it can be a bit annoying.

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Ender is Joseph Smith

This author doesn’t really know how to write original content. All of his stories are copied directly from LDS church history and the Book of Mormon. In the Enderverse, all he had to do was swap out names, change the date and add some aliens, and presto!! He has an award-winning bestseller. Orson Scott Card claims that he doesn’t use his novels to preach for his religion, but once you understand his source material, you realize that he absolutely is.
I grew up in the Mormon church, and I can understand now why my parents only allowed me to read books written by Mormon authors.
It’s because authors tend to write about what they know. And a true believing Mormon will try his best to only expose himself to Mormon-sanctioned content.
So it’s not really surprising that the Enderverse only seems to contain stories that are propagated by LDS propaganda.

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