Overall an engaging read. I burned through this fast and kept me hooked the first book was kinda a slow start giving a lot of hype and buildup which definitely wasn't wasted in this book. While I found it engaging and cool to read I found he would seem to go a bit much on the relationships. Such as the relationship between Imala and Victor. He often seems to force the relationship between the two. I know I can be best friends with the opposite sex and not ever think that there's this deeper underlying connection that could possibly be leading to marriage. It is kinda the same thing as in the first book where Victor and Janda seemed to have this relationship. Once it was made noticed to Victor their relationship seems too close he all of a sudden seems to have this "aha" moment where he is like "yep how could I not have seen that this relationship had this deeper connection leading to marriage." To me I think a person would still feel more insecure about their feelings and emotions where they are like "huh? We were just friends! But wait? Maybe?... I am no longer sure". Mr. Card gives Victor this dialogue but it happens within the span of a couple of minutes. No one can in two minutes reach a rational conclusion in that tight a frame. Normally I don't nit pick about this sort of thing but it underlies every character's thoughts and emotions to others. I understand he is trying to get us to understand the turmoil but characters need a bit of time to process and reach their own logical reasoning. So this got a bit annoying which is why it isn't a four star. 3.5As usual, the prolific Orson Scott Card (whatever one thinks of his politics) writes a terrific science fiction yarn. Although he is best known for "Ender's Game", most of his many other books are excellent also. The settings and technology are realistic, well thought out, and meticulously described.The story is gripping, and the characters are vividly imagined, believable, and completely alive.The full cast audio with the usual Orson Scott Card readers (Stefan Rudnicki, Emily Rankin (Card's daughter), Arthur Morey, etc.) was well read and well produced.The only reason I can't give this an unreserved 4 is that the pace seemed a bit slow at times.As is usually the case with Card's books, there are multiple plot lines involving people of diverse cultural and social backgrounds.This is the second book in the First Formic War series, and it picks up where its predecessor, "Earth Unaware" left off. The Formics are a terrifying insectoid species with technologically advanced space ships. They are giant ants and they ruthlessly terraform any area they invade to make it conducive to the survival of their species. They also mindlessly kill off anyone who happens to be in their way.Victor (Vico) Delgado, a free space miner from the Kuiper Asteroid Belt (beyond Pluto) and the survivor of a Formic attack which destroyed his Venezuelan family's mining ship, El Cavador, and killed several members of his family, is still imprisoned on the moon on trivial charges, after making a nine month journey alone to warn Earth of the impending danger of a Formic invasion.Imala Bootstamp, a former lunar bureaucrat, takes up his cause and manages to free him and bring his evidence to the attention of employees of Juke Ltd. They finally get the information out to Earth, past all the skeptics who have been censoring it, but it is almost too late to be of any use.Meanwhile, Victor and Imala take up their own private battle against the Formics.In another subplot, Rena Delgado, Victor's mother, who has survived with the women of El Cavador on a WuHu ship (WuHu is a commercial shipping outfit that is Juke Ltd.'s competitor), wants to get the women off the WuHu ship, as she feels their presence there is becoming increasingly precarious. Mazer Rackham, the heroic Maori soldier who is a minor but important character in "Ender's Game" (he is Ender's teacher), plays a more primary role here. Mazer is stranded in China because the military sent him there on a six month exchange. But the Formics invade (and decimate) southern China, and Mazer almost doesn't make it. He does, though, and ends up in the company of an extraordinary Chinese boy genius, Bing Wen.Another plot thread involves the MOPS (Mobile Operations Police) who are in China to help out in the Formic War. Their unit is headed by the courageous Captain Wit O'Toole.In still another subplot, Lem Jukes, the son of Ukko Jukes, the head of the huge mega-corporation Jukes Ltd., wants to get out from under his dad's domination. But Victor and Lem have already encountered each other (in "Earth Unaware") and it wasn't under the best of circumstances). Anyway, without revealing spoilers, I can say that a couple of these plot threads eventually converge. But---one must really read the whole series in order to understand what's happening here. It helps to have read other Orson Scott Card books too, although it's not necessary.I have to hand it to Orson Scott Card. He continues to crank out an amazing number of books. But he's not just after quantity. His books are always high quality, well written works. Also, Card's best characters are always decent people with good hearts. This tends to win the reader's affection for them. I just hope Card keeps creating. He never ceases to surprise me. The man's a science fiction story machine.
What do You think about Earth Afire (2013)?
Continuation of the new formic wars prequel series. A real page turner. What will Victor do now?
—simmers
Great Book. Anyone who is a fan of sci-fi or the Ender series at all should read these books.
—amrhanai
all cliffhanger ending but it works. I can't wait to read part 3.
—axy
