Earth Awakens

April 7, 2014
Philosophical inquiry and harshly realistic descriptions of war reverberate throughout Card and Johnston’s third Formic Wars novel (after Earth Afire), a pulp-inspired alien invasion scenario that continues the prequel series to Card’s bestselling Ender’s Game. Shortly after Maori spaceship pilot Mazer Rackham’s bold attack against Formic invaders, engineer Victor Delgado and bureaucrat Imala Bootstamp camouflage a shuttle to allow them to investigate a Formic ship, backed by enigmatic industrialist Lem Jukes, while war heroes Mazer and Capt. Wit O’Toole are enlisted in the Chinese army. As industrial greed and cultural misunderstanding spread, Lem tries to stop his father’s deadly vanguard drones from attacking the ship where Victor is about to find a revelation—or death. Will Earth finally fight back, and at what cost? Card and Johnston intensify their complex intergalactic mythos with emotional intensity and widening thematic scope. Everyday desires are as deadly as the Formics’ flesh-eating acid in this collision of space opera and big-bug epic. This breakneck thriller is a dark and lively addition to the Enderverse.

Stefan Rudnicki and 11 other narrators perform this prequel to ENDER'S GAME. Earth and Luna are deeply involved in a war against the Formics, a terrifying alien enemy. The military is slowly learning how to combat their weapons, which include a goo that destroys all humans with a touch or a breath. Rudnicki becomes a fully credible Mazer Rackham as he and his crew fight Formics on Earth and their comrades battle the Formic mothership orbiting the moon. The cast believably expresses the suspense and the characters' terror. Listeners, beware: You won't be able to stop listening until the last word resonates in your ears. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine