Earth Unaware

By: Orson Scott Card, Aaron Johnston

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Stephen Hoye, Arthur Morey, Vikas Adam, Emily Janice Card, Gabrielle de Cuir, Roxanne Hernandez

Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

A hundred years before Ender's Game, humans thought they were alone in the galaxy. Humanity was slowly making their way out from Earth to the planets and asteroids of the Solar System, exploring and mining and founding colonies.

The mining ship El Cavador is far out from Earth, in the deeps of the Kuiper Belt, beyond Pluto. Other mining ships, and the families that live on them, are few and far between this far out. So when El Cavador's telescopes pick up a fast-moving object coming in-system, it's hard to know what to make of it. It's massive and moving at a significant fraction of the speed of light.

But the ship has other problems. Their systems are old and failing. The family is getting too big. There are claim-jumping corporates bringing Asteroid Belt tactics to the Kuiper Belt. Worrying about a distant object that might or might not be an alien ship seems…not important.

They're wrong. It's the most important thing that has happened to the human race in a million years. This is humanity's first contact with an alien race. The First Formic War is about to begin.
Earth Unaware is the first novel in The First Formic War series by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston.

©2012 Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston (P)2012 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“The somber basso voice of Stefan Rudnicki and two well-chosen players march through the story, with a young man's voice particularly effective in segments featuring the angst-ridden teenager. This is an outstanding job, with more to come.” —AudioFile Magazine

“As the narration passes from character to character, the talented cast... easily keeps listeners intrigued with skillful characterizations that feature unique voices, accents, and dialects. And by the time the huge alien ship arrives and the story kicks into high gear, listeners will be utterly captivated by this exciting adventure.” —Publishers Weekly

Great story with poor narration

I listened to this book after having listened to Ender's game (would have been better to start chronologically though). Towards the end the story really caught me. What I didn't like were the many narrators and hearing multiple narrators for the same characters did take away from the story. I would prefer to have read the hard copy.

Earth unaware

This book is just amazing!!! The story, the performance, it all came together absolutely perfectly.

Excellent Prequel to Ender's Game

I always wanted to read about the beginning of the Formic war that takes place prior to Ender's Game. Orson Scott Card has delivered a wonderful account of the events leading up to the war here in Earth Unaware. As always Mr Card is able to create very believable characters that drive the story. The science is bit contrived and the technology described for the asteroid miners does not always hold together or even make sense (in one scene a space craft is "stopped" so repairs can be made then re-accelerated again). But overall I really enjoyed the story and I am looking forward to next book from Mr Card in this current series. Yes, Earth Unaware ends just when things are about to get very interesting for Earth.

Excellent book

I really enjoyed the book. At times I was a tiny bit bored and it seemed to be dragging on, but the rest of the book made those rare moments with it.

Good Precursor

This story was a great lead in to the war but I have to say it is frustrating in parts particularly the beginning lead in I was just cringing at the idea of what Victor was now expressing... I just wanted to go alright alright I get it now please stop pushing the flood waters over the dam and let's move on with the story. If you like the Enduro stories you will like this story... I just hate it when we get left in a lurch... I had to buy more credits to continue the series now vs waiting for another month for a new credit

A good prequel to Enders Game

If you could sum up Earth Unaware in three words, what would they be?

I liked it!

What did you like best about this story?

Enders Game is one of the best all time sci-fi stories ever written, according to me. Card does a good job of filling in the blanks and fleshing out the foundation upon which Enders Game can now sit on.

I enjoyed the story-scape Card painted for us in this book, setting the stage for Ender's Game. I could feel and see the story happening as I listened. I knew the characters and cared about them and interacted with them.

If you liked Enders Game, these prequels are essential, and in my opinion better than the sequels were.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Stefan Rudnicki is one of my favorite narrators. Card uses him a lot and he is part of the story......I expect the Stefan Rudnicki voice when I hear a Card book......it wouldn't be right without him!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Nearly did.....listened to this book and the second in the series over a three or four day period.

Ender fans, THIS is for you!!!

I can't say enough about this chapter in the Ender saga! This is true to the saga, no doubt about that!!!

Schedule 1 Narcotic

I listened to all 14 hours of this book in two days. It starts out slow, but once the narrative gets into your system you won't be able to stop. Your family will find you curled up on your front porch with a rubber band around your arm and a needle pumping Earth Unaware directly into your veins.

A prequel to one of the most famous science fiction novels of all time, Earth Unaware details the events leading up to The First Formic War. The tension slowly builds until it is so thick you could climb it like a staircase. A finely crafted universe will engross and envelop you completely. An array of memorable characters grant you multiple perspectives into the events. You will share their terror, celebrate their bravery, feel their pain.

The narration is the weakest element of this audiobook. The book is narrated by an ensemble cast, but not in the way you might think. You won't have a conversation between X and Y where one narrator reads X's lines and another reads Y's lines. Instead, one narrator reads each chapter that takes place from X's perspective and another reads each chapter that takes place from Y's perspective. This is jarring and I found myself taking a few minutes to adjust each time the book switched narrators.

Eventually there are more perspectives than narrators and you start to get narrators re-used for different perspectives, which is even more jarring.

For the most part, the narrators are not masters of their craft. They are passable, but not exceptional. Most of them have very limited range, unable to use distinctive voices for different characters. Several tend to use strange accents for their characters; one in particular sounds a little too close to Droopy the cartoon dog. The narrator for Victor is almost fine, except that when he's reading narration (as opposed to voices) he tends to slowly drop his pitch over the course of each sentence, as if he is perpetually disappointed.

These aren't Card's most interesting characters - some of them tread a little close to having stock personalities - but I think that works with the narrative because it shows us ordinary people in extraordinary situations.

Books like this are read over and over and over.

You will definitely enjoy it!
It will have a strong appeal to the under 25. I have read it at least three times now.

While it does have a relationship to the Ender series it is not part of that series. Orson Scott card has always delivered value in his writings and this is no different. You will enjoy.

Critics are a dime a dozen. I guess I'll be one. I don't like how this book or series was broken up. It ended in the wrong spot. I think the publisher was trying to make it like a television series trying to leave at a cliffhangers. You actually caused a different problem. I guess money is money to them.

Just part 1

What did you love best about Earth Unaware?

This is the start of the war that plays out in the Ender series, must read for the fans

Would you listen to another book narrated by the narrators?

Can't blame the narrators, but I really really do not like it when a book has more than one. Please stop that, Mr. Card.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Cliffhangers

Any additional comments?

I really don't like it when the actor-reader is changed mid-book. I understand there are different viewpoints and story-lines, but I really appreciate one actor-reader to play out the book: he/she own it, it is his/her performance. As a listener, I have to get use to a reader, and learn to appreciate their reading cadence. Don't want to go through that multiple times.

This is not a stand-alone book! In other series, every book is a story by itself, with bigger arc across the series. Not this one. Except for the people that die, no story-lines are resolved and it abruptly ends with a cliffhanger for all of them.