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

Fantastic

Haven't heard a good book like this in 7 years. So great that I am as addicted to this as I am games. I even prefer this over my music while at work.

Awesome story

Do yourself a favor and just get it; it is really a good story. #Ender

Good overall, needs an editor. B

Suffer through the first chapter, the story is worth it, but mighty verbose in many places. A competent editor would have made it a much better story.

I was not going to allow myself to like this book.

Guess what? I was dead WRONG. This grabs you & won't let go. Read it.

Wow!

OSC is amazing and his story sucks you in and doesn’t let go! I admit I was relatively bored with the Ender series beyond the amazing original Enders Game, although I absolutely adore the Enders shadow series. This book had me listening nonstop start to finish! Audible is gonna have some more of my money this month I h guess to buy more credits for the remainder in this series

An incredibly exciting experience!

This is the chronological beginning of the Enderverse and much like previous tales this one dose not disappoint, rhe story is thrilling and extremely well written!

I own this book on paper and digital, now audible

I'm insane and read all Orson Scott Card's books (I'm sure I'm not even close) I recommend all of them. I'm sure if he did a crossword on the toilet while taking a dump, I'd read that. good luck

wow

I loved reading this book. my mind was blown listening to it! a must have!

Good addition to the Enderverse

What made the experience of listening to Earth Unaware the most enjoyable?

Filling in the backstory from the First Formic War

What other book might you compare Earth Unaware to and why?

Ender's Game

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

Mazer Rackam performed by Stefan Rudnicki

Any additional comments?

The narrators pronouncing some of the in-universe words or names differently than other narrators was off-putting.

Nice prequel.

Where does Earth Unaware rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It is one of the best books by Mr. Card.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Earth Unaware?

Spoiler: in the end when the main character reached moon.

Any additional comments?

It's a must read for all Ender's game fans.