Earth Awakens: The First Formic War, Book 3

This is the third book in the series, with (I suspect) at least one more coming (more on that in a bit).First, however, with some analysis of what's really going on with the design of the series. If you look at the "Graphic Novels" that are being sold, you will see a bit of a trend. The Graphic Novels are actually compendiums of comic books! These were (I'm speculating here) most likely plotted out by Orson Scott Card (OSC) and then completed by other contributors. These comic books have then provided a storyboard for the books that we are seeing on this topic. So, the story is already out there & the authors & publisher saw a way to re-monetize the story!Second is the fact that it's now not purely an OSC production, but a collaboration of OSC, the comic book contributors, and the second name on the books. Therefore, the sequence is being released as the authors can expand and flesh out the characters.OK. That said, what about this book? Bottom line, it is an improvement. There is some expansion of the horizons & some better character development. The military is still ineffective. The politicians are nowhere to be seen. The heroes are all over the place. And the Bugs are still spraying their version of Roundup!The problems with the book are fewer than in the previous two books. Here's my take:1) Character titles: The Chinese Captain is promoted to Major and then still referenced as a Captain.2) The Alien space ship is penetrated by Victor (who retreats). Later he seems to have a much broader knowledge of the ship than his initial adventures would explain.3) The space battle physics fails some of the basic tenants of Newtonian Mechanics. My reference here is Lem Jukes in the dogfight. You just can't maneuver in space like that. Well, you can, but it would consume a heck of a lot of fuel!I'll give the book a large grain (no a whole shaker) of salt on many of the technical topics because it is, after all a science FICTION book.Final note. This isn't a trilogy. More books are to come (reference the last chapter)! This isn't a spoiler as the setup for this is actually hidden in Ender's Game. This book doesn't get to the climax/closure explained in Ender's Game.

I pre-ordered this book but forgot the date it would be delivered. When it suddenly "showed up" on my Kindle app, I started in on it right away. Within a few pages, I found myself thoroughly enjoying being immersed in OSC's world where kids can be military heroes and solve complex problems in international diplomacy. The character I most enjoyed was surprisingly Lem Jukes. Of course Bingwen and Mazor are near the top of my list as are anyone they come in frequent contact with. I recommend reading this after reading the first two books in the First Formic War series: (Earth Unaware and Earth Afire). It's not important to read the Ender or Shadow series first. In fact, it might even make more sense to read the Formic Wars series first even though they came out most recently.As I look back, things developed the way I expected them to from the beginning of the First Formic War trilogy right through to the formation of the International Fleet in Earth Awakens. It's not clear to me how much OSC or Aaron Johnston wrote but it is clear OSC put his stamp on this book and it read as well any of the books in the Ender series or the Shadow series.Spoiler (sort of)...Is it a spoiler when you already know the Formics are coming back? So now I'm pretty sure there are at least 4 more OSC books in the pipeline. The Second Formic War trilogy which ends with... wait for it... Mazor Rackham taking out the queen. Then there's that final installment that should tie the Ender Series and Shadow Series together and explain what happens with that planet that released the Descolada against the inhabitants of Lusitania.

I have enjoyed this series, I read Enders game a long time ago and thought this might be interesting, It was.

And of course I've ordered "Swarm" because I still need to find out what Mazer Hackam did that so inspired the characters in "Enders Game". He was an inspiring character in this book but there must be more...

The books following Ender's Game has always been favourite books of mine. The First Formic War series felt like a fresh re-take compared to the last books published in the original time line, in particular I enjoyed the fist one, Earth Unaware.Earth Awakens covers how the first Formics were defeated as well as the political games on Earth leading the coalition against the Formics. The political games are focusing on the driving forces behind the scene, driving forces that was more of personal motivation than by the need to form alliances to beat the Formics.Everything is observed trough the eyes of a few main role players but never through the master minds behind the plans. As a reader one is always aware of the outcome and the fact that at least Mazer Rackham will survive so the reading is to answer the questions how and why things turned out the way they did. As usual in the Ender series we are following the bright and talented persons and as usual the grown-ups are the ones acting stubborn and narrow minded. I would not recommend the First a Formic War series unless the reader is familiar with at least Ender's Game and preferable some of the other books in the Ender series where the political plays in Earth are explained and the reasonings of the Formics.The surprising thing with the book was that I always kept waiting for the main attack made by Mazer Rackham but it never came. In the few last pages the explanation came.. There is still room for another book but I don't see that it really will add anything compared to what is already known. A few things were left un answered like the fate of Mazer Rackham and Bigwen.

It's difficult to talk much about this final instalment of the 1st Formic War without giving away too many spoilers, but most fans of Orson Scott Card's work will already know the eventual outcome from reading the "Ender's Game" series of books and from the film.The interest in this series has been finding out what happens next to all the new characters created and now well established. So of course we know what happens to Mazer, although how he came to head the fleet and what experiences prepared him are the subject of this series. But the other characters, like Victor, his family, Bingwen and the Jukkes etc. are all now a big part of why this becomes gripping and why you want to carry on reading.This final instalment is full of cliffhangers and I loved the way you can read it in short chunks with chapters following the different characters - but often leaving them in trouble. The unifying thread is Mazer's combat unit who are also well-drawn, but inevitably suffer the most casualties.Apart from this, we also learn more about the "Formics" and this is one of the most interesting aspects of this trilogy - we get to discover a species that is completely alien in every way - more advanced technologically, but also primitive and brutish - unconcerned for individual lives and with simplistic but effective machines/devices. This is a very good "realisation" of how we would discover an alien species and come to terms with it.This has been a very enjoyable and well-paced trilogy and I am looking forward to more! Given that this is called the "First" war, it's no surprise that while this comes to a very satisfying conclusion and all loose ends are tied up - it hints at the next phase of the conflict and bigger battles to come. I shall certainly be reading.

This book was a little disappointing. Previously characters followed reasonably "realistic" storylines but in this book things got a bit silly and not at all believable.Without putting in spoilers all I can say is that previously characters fitted into the plot naturally. However by this book all sorts of unlikely hoops were jumped through to involve some key characters as the main players in the story.Better to have sidelined someOf them untilLater in the series , or killed them off, and introduce more characters who couldBelievably achieve what needed to be achieved.However will push on and hope things improve in the next book

I don't know, definitely different from all previous books (except the fact that thet main character is a small genius boy) .It seems a very boyish book. you have astronauts, aliens, marines, prince (sry, the son of the biggest corp) , a tough hot chick, a sensible (probably hot) girl. What it doesn't have from previous books are: politics, evil genius and a not-that-complex grand plan.

Another great OSC novel. If you like the Ender's Game universe, you'll be reading this series too, and this book concludes the trilogy brilliantly. If you don't know about Ender's Game, read the short story first, than the novel, then its sequels, then the shadow trilogy or this series... enjoy.

Completely satisfying conclusion to the first Formic war trilogy, a great book and the third of three brilliant additions to the Ender series that any fan will love.Can't wait for the books on the second invasion! (Which they'd better be writing right now!)