Reviews

Earth Afire by Aaron Johnston, Orson Scott Card

bigbear73's review against another edition

3.0

Most people would probably rate this a 3.5-4...but I have a huge bias towards anything in Ender's world. Loved it.

scribejack's review against another edition

5.0

This book showcase's Orson Scott Card's ability to juggle multiple independent yet intertwining viewpoints in a way the first book in the trilogy only hinted at. Even halfway through this book, I knew it was going to be five star, but I never dared hope it would rival some of my other absolute favorites from the Enderverse. Can't wait to read book 3!

jackb's review against another edition

3.0

2.5 rounded up. I was disappointed with this one. It's up there with OSCs worst for me. After enjoying the first book I was surprised that this one fell so flat. The pockets of action were enjoyable and what I had been expecting but there was just too much filler around it. And I'm not having the cliff hanger ending. As has happened to OSC in the past he's been made to split a longer book into two, I get the feeling that has happened here.

morepagesplease's review against another edition

4.0

This was the book I've been wishing that Card would write ever since I finished Enders game.it wasn't a perfect read, but I thought it was darn good. Looking forward to the next one as this ended on a total cliffhanger.

readerreborn's review against another edition

5.0

This book showcase's Orson Scott Card's ability to juggle multiple independent yet intertwining viewpoints in a way the first book in the trilogy only hinted at. Even halfway through this book, I knew it was going to be five star, but I never dared hope it would rival some of my other absolute favorites from the Enderverse. Can't wait to read book 3!

ladynigelia's review against another edition

4.0

Of the OSC books co-authored by Aaron Johnson, this is the best. There were literally times in the other books when I stopped to say, "Really? THAT'S how you're doing it?" but this one flowed much better and felt more OSC.

I had read the comic book it's based on so I was expecting the major plot arcs (and the cliffhanger) but I definitely enjoyed this much more because of the detail added. I love comics, but they just don't have room for the depth that novels do.

shogins's review against another edition

2.0

I don't know why I keep reading these. I loved the original Ender books, liked the early Bean ones while starting to dislike them more and more that the series went on, but hated Ender in Exile. These prequels just feel like... tossed off, cash-ins.

karl2847's review against another edition

3.0

Earth Afire is, in my opinion, not as good as its predecessor Earth Unaware. There are still strengths and it is overall still worth a read, but there are definitely issues with this one.

One of the strengths of the previous novel was the complex and memorable characters. Those characters are still here and still memorable, but their complexity seems to have taken a back seat while everything they do exists to move the story along. Wit's story does connect a little more here, as I had expected, but he still feels almost unnecessary. The series isn't over yet, though, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he'll be more important in the final book of the prequel trilogy.

Mazer Rackham has more than just a cameo here, as he becomes one of the main characters. He has some great action scenes, but the character himself feels a little stilted. He doesn't seem nearly as interesting or complex as he does in the original book Ender's Game, and he seems almost identical to Wit. Everything Mazer does, I can easily picture Wit doing, and vice versa. The characters are too similar.

One issue in the first of the prequels was the amount of typos. The good news here: there are far less typos (still a few, but not enough to detract from the experience). Despite this, however, the stilted writing continues and it still doesn't feel quite like Card's writing. For example, if you ever read Card's reviews on Hatrack.com, he states several times how one of his least favorite things about action movies is when they use the line "Go, go, go!" because it's lazy writing. Now, I've never minded this, but I suppose I see his point. Regardless, Earth Afire uses this line several times. I can't help but wonder if Card was being lazy, or if it was the coauthor who wrote these. If it was Johnson, however, you would think that Card would have told him to change it, seeing how much he dislikes it. Who knows.

For those who wanted more of the actual Formic War in the first and didn't find it there, however, this is the book you've been waiting for. The war hits full swing here and it's just as sprawling and destructive as you'd hoped. It felt a little too much like a standard alien invasion story to me, but there are a few moments like the mountain of biomass and dead bodies that stand out as eerily memorable.

One last thing that bothered me about the book is that the technology that the characters have seems out of place to me because they don't exist in the books that take place later. Don't get me wrong, the Herc is certainly a unique and cool vehicle, but why would it exist here and not in the future afterwards? Perhaps the final book in the trilogy will explain it, but for now it bothered me a little.

In all, Earth Afire is an entertaining read, but probably one of my least favorite in the Enderverse so far.

rouver's review against another edition

4.0

So, good news & bad news for me. The bad news is that I didn't realize that this was book two until I came to review this. The GOOD news is that I loved it, I don't think it completely spoiled the first book, and that perhaps Card is breaking his streak of writing excellent 1st books in a series then kind of sucking with the subsequent books. Yay!

If you've read Ender's Game (and you SHOULD, people! How many times must I tell you?) then you know that Earth was attacked by giant space-faring insects. THIS is the story of that attack. (Spoiler: the Earth doesn't actually catch on fire, as you might be lead to believe). At any rate, it's fairly obvious what humans would do when faced with a giant ship from space...try to make friends with it, dither about in committees rather than gearing up to defend ourselves, hold tight to our prejudices against other countries, & try to make a profit on the whole thing.

The story follows several different characters...too many at the beginning, to my tastes...but they the story lines converge to a manageable number. It's set in the moderately distant future; space travel is common, mostly for mining purposes, the moon has been colonized, etc. A large alien ship comes through the solar system & parks itself in geosynchronous orbit...but to what purpose?

It has some good action, suspense, & you're not sure who will survive (except for the guy who is in Ender's game...but HOW will he survive?) A good read. Now I need to see if I already own the first book or I need to go & buy it.

I'm wondering if it would be more interesting to start with these prequels to Ender's Game, if you'd never read Card before. Kind of like trying to decide if you should introduce your kids to Star Wars with A New Hope or Episode 1. I'll have to wait until the 3rd book comes out to decide, I guess.

bluejeepbaby's review against another edition

5.0

I read the brunt of this all in one day. Just as good as the first book! And seeing the characters cross paths and come to realizations was like a hit to the chest. Hoping book 3 is just as good!