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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
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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

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What listeners say about Earth Unaware

Overall ratings

  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3,991
  • 4 Stars
    1,441
  • 3 Stars
    327
  • 2 Stars
    98
  • 1 Stars
    45

Customer reviews

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5 out of 5 stars
By Robert on 06-27-19

grate book

Love it thank you Orson Scott Card Grate Book I look forword to reading more.

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5 out of 5 stars
By Gary Kretzer on 04-17-19

great beginning to a series

I love this book, and the various narrators that were involved. great job introducing all of the various characters for the entire series

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4 out of 5 stars
By Eli on 06-17-19

Good Book but cliffhanger ending

Great story but switched narrators too much for the same characters which I wasn't a fan of

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5 out of 5 stars
By Adam on 07-06-21

loved it.

not sure who Aaron Johnston is but this was a satisfying read. love Vico. good job all around. can't wait to read the sequel.

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5 out of 5 stars
By AND on 02-16-21

I really enjoyed this first back story to ender's

I enjoyed the performance in the story to this early backstory to enders game. I look forward to hearing more in the series.

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5 out of 5 stars

well rounded narrative, great book

I am bias to Orson's books. the changing of the narrators based on who's viewpoint was happening was fantastic.

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5 out of 5 stars
By Aaron on 09-17-12

A great new edition to the Ender series!

Any additional comments?

If you are a fan of the Ender series then you will be thrilled to read about the days before Ender's struggle began when the human species still thought it was the only sentient life in the universe.

That illusion is shattered in this exciting new chapter to the Ender saga!

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5 out of 5 stars
By Danny Moody on 04-24-21

Well written prequel

I’ll be honest, I was hoping for more about Mazer. But what we got is an interesting story out in space about first contact with the Formics. The characters are believable and the world creation is excellent. I’m very interested in a sequel for this book. The full cast narration brings excellent value to this audiobook, too.

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5 out of 5 stars
By Amazon Customer on 07-21-21

Phenomenal

I find myself waiting for "Earth Now Aware?" ... how would you follow a piece such as this? I'd certainly like for him to try.

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5 out of 5 stars
By Clay Munson on 11-11-21

Enderverse 1

Looking forward to continuing on in the Enderverse. Great to hear some of the characters already start to form.

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