Reviews

Earth Unaware by Orson Scott Card

strawverri's review

4.0

I havent opened it yet it has been sitting on my self for over 3 weeks... I can't start i cant because then I will have to wait forever until I get another dose! and what if I am disappointed?! so many mixed reviews!

natalie_mcw's review

3.0

Good book. Fun first third of the backstory to Ender's Game. Good characters. Couldn't decide between 3 and 4 stars. :)

dda9's review

3.0

As a big fan of "Ender's Game" and the "Ender's Shadow" series, I was really looking forward to this book. I enjoyed it, but not as much as I was expecting. Orson Scott Card has created a compelling world for this story but the story moved slowly at times. Part of the problem was that "Earth Unaware" follows several story lines. Some of them don't seem to relate to the main thread of the story. After reading an intriguing chapter about one of the main characters, the next chapter would revolve around people or a story arc that didn't pertain at all to the main plot. Having already read "Ender's Game" I knew that those subplots would eventually be interwoven, but it taxed my patience nonetheless.

Despite my dislike of the storytelling style, I enjoyed the book enough to read the rest of the trilogy. I largely attribute this to the brilliance of the previously written books. I don't want this review to be too negative because I did enjoy it. It just didn't grip me like "Ender's Game" did.

Anyone who enjoyed "Ender's Game" would probably enjoy this one as well.

erikajay's review

3.0

Things I enjoyed:
-The first Card book I read was Ender’s Game, so it’s nice to go back and see humanity’s first interaction with the aliens.
-I love that the future has different corporations (and families) running space.
-There is a variety of nationalities that we come in contact with.
-Concepción Querales. She is an honest and fair leader, but she will also do what needs to be done for her crew.
-The audiobook was well done and was fun to listen to.

Things I didn’t enjoy:
-All the chapters dealing with Wit O’Toole. Obviously his role was being set up for the following books, but I just found his chapters uninteresting and I think there were far too many of them.
-Jukes. He is a terrible character. He’s extremely selfish and has daddy issues that he needs to sort out.

tylerruddhall's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

It was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the space combat and the long term planning involved in strategizing. The characters were good enough but I was mostly there for the action. It also felt a little anticlimactic but the way it ended fits with the title of the book. Spoiler alert: Earth is now aware.

protoman21's review

4.0

A great start to a new series in the Ender Universe! I immediately connected with the characters and the world that Card and Johnston have fleshed out for the die hard Ender fans. You can tell that these are the events that lead to his story without it being predictable and boring because of it. The characters and events on El Cavador drew me in the most, but I liked getting to see Lem's perspective as well. Wit's story felt completely disconnected from the rest of the story of space mining and the threat of the alien spaceship, so that partially led me to care about it a little less and be disappointed when one of his chapters came up. It almost felt like Card was trying to slip a few chapters of his Empire series into his Ender series. I'm excited to see more of Mazer, so that too was a disappointment that he was only briefly in one chapter and then dismissed. Overall I am excited with the beginning of this series and where it is going. I think I'll like it even more once all parties start to interact with each other.

katricia's review

adventurous tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

hivequeen's review

4.0

This book is definitely a must-read if you enjoy other books in the Enderverse. It was a really interesting take on the beginning of the war; I loved the fact that the story line revolved around miners rather than soldiers. Card and Johnston tied the story back to the Ender's Game story line, but in a more subtle and roundabout way than I was expecting.

Spoiler

By having the miners find the Formics ship, a whole different side of the war was revealed. People that just wanted to protect themselves and their family putting their lives on the line for the human race as a whole.

It continued the idea from the Ender's Game series that the most capable, brave, and smart people are often the ones that you would never expect to have those traits. First there was Ender and his fellow students at Battle School, now there is Victor, willing to risk anything to help humanity.
While I did enjoy reading the stories of the miners, the corporates, and the soldiers back on earth, there was one character that I wanted to hear much more about:

Spoiler

Mazer Rackham. The authors stuck him in there for a chapter or two, then he disappeared just as quickly. I would love love love to find out more of his backstory, so I'm hoping to see more of him in the second book.

Overall, I thought it was great. It could have tied back a little bit more to the Ender's Game series in some places, but maybe that will happen in the second book!

drprd's review

3.0

2.5. the writing is ok, but the pace is to slow. Plus, I don't think they got the physics right or some key details are unclear at least.

christina_likes_to_read's review

3.0

Honestly, I was disappointed in this book. I thought the story line lagged in places and it didn't hold my attention the same way the original Ender series did. It wasn't awful. It just wasn't as good as I had hoped.