Earth Afire

By: Orson Scott Card, Aaron Johnston

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

Length: 15 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

One hundred years before Ender's Game, the aliens arrived on Earth with fire and death. Earth Afire by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston 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.

©2013 Orson Scott Card (P)2013 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“The gifted Stefan Rudnicki leads a team of talented narrators who do an excellent job of keeping vivid and focused the two-dozen or so characters and multiple locations…Orson Scott Card remains a master storyteller, and each narrator is right there with him as he mixes hard science and psychological insights – right up to the cliff-hanger ending.” —AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award Winner

“With a stellar cast of narrators, this prequel to Card's sci-fi classic Ender's Game is a rollicking, rollercoaster ride of an adventure…From the very beginning of this audio edition, the almost nonstop action is delivered perfectly, keeping listeners on the edge of their seats. At the same time, the narrators manage to bring a large and diverse cast of characters to life with a sharply realized array of distinct voices and accents.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

great story!

riviting story and great narration. love the ending. could not wait to resume listening when I reached my destination.

Great, But Canadian are missing the first Book!!!!

Great, But missing the first book "Earth Unaware" for Canadian reader.

It seems to be available for US. Please fix this. I learned about it only after buying the second book.

Good trilling book, the story is not finish, looking forward for the next episode (if available in Canada).

Please don't forget the Canadian, and make sure that other book currently unavailable are made accessible.

Excellent story

Loved this as a prequel. Excellent character development. Looking forward to conclusion of Formic war 1.

Thank you!

A perfect example of how a man can do a young girl's voice without insulting most women. Well, I can only speak for myself, but he didn't squeak, and I might have excused it for that character.

As for story, if you read the Game/Shadow series, you're probably 90% sold. If you are looking at the second in this series, you've already decided. Enjoy!

A fun listen, might not stand on its own

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

For devoted readers of the Ender books, this is a fun listen for the history of the first Formic attacks. In terms of a standalone book, it was good, but not quite as good as some of Cards other books. It felt like it was building the whole time, but didn't quite climax. I am looking forward to the next book, this one ends when it was just getting really good.

Any additional comments?

Another listener complained about the voice actors, I have no idea what they were talking about. The readers were terrific.

A Novel For Those Who Love Family and Adventure

I was absorbed by the detail, fascinated by the very real people Card created, and enthralled that this story felt as if it could happen in real life. The multiple narrators were superb!!!

Great addition!

Narrator's were great, imagination makes the characters take shape.

Hearing this part of the story feels like connecting the dots in a massive puzzle I started a decade ago.

great addition to one of the best sagas

this is a great addition to one of the best sagas of a generation. I am glad Card decided to continue with the story of the Formec wars.

why did I get this book so soon?

What did you love best about Earth Afire?

now I have to wait! I started again with Ender's Game, but realized that since I last read the book that there are now more books in the series. Upon listening to earth unaware I was quite excited to listen to earth afire. Great book. I was quite upset when it ended at. cliff hanger, now I need to wait till the next book comes out. :( I would quite like to see where they take the story.

Mr. Card and Mr. Johnston, sooner would be better please.

Engaging

Get this book, but only if you have listened to Earth Unaware. Earth Afire could stand on its own, but it is better when you already know some of the characters. There are several plot lines and many characters in this book. Some characters like Victor and Mazer were introduced in the previous book. A major new character is Bingwen, a 10-year old Chinese boy who is wise beyond his years. I don't know how precocious Orson Scott Card was as a child, but it is clear he likes to write about extraordinary children. One plot line involving Rena and the other survivors of the El Cavador has no intersection with the other elements in this book. I prefer books where the story is resolved at the end, but this is the second part of a trilogy so the cliffhanger end is not a surprise.