Earth Unaware by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston

Title:  Earth Unaware
Author:  Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston
Genre: Science Fiction
Length:  464 Pages
Weight:  0.5 lbs
Date of Completion:  May 11, 2013

Thoughts:

It is official official at this point:  I am a college graduate.  Now what am I supposed to do with myself?  Personally, I think I should just bury myself for days at a time with a book and ignore the rest of humanity.  I'm good at that.  Didn't get as much of that done this week as I would have liked, but work is stupid and decided to change our certifications.  Nothing says "I'm in the process of training my replacement so I can quit" quite like spending time and money to get a certification I'm not going to need in two months.  

At a recent jaunt in Barnes and Noble (as I obviously have no self control), I noticed a new Orson Scott Card book.  Naturally, I freaked out and it was added to my stack of books.  An unexpected purchase, but a welcome surprise.  While I know that this story, the history of the First and Second Formic Wars, which are the back story for Ender's Game, has already come out in the form of comics by Card and Johnston, I have to say that novels are always better.  Except when it comes to Superman.  I'm not  a huge comics fan, but I do have all of the Command School comics from Ender's Game.  It is one of the few sets I acquired for myself.  

Back to this book.  It is another 24 hour read, not because it is short or lacking in depth.  I read it all day at work.  Probably ignored my staff a little bit but hey....I hate working Saturdays.  They always go wrong and put me in a terrible mood.  At any rate, I found I was unable to put the book down.  I liked how Card, who has had this world in his head since the late 70s (conservatively) when Ender's Game was initially released as a novella, has been able to release the entire back story and history of the world in the pre-Formic era.  We start Ender's story with a society that already knows it is not alone in the universe.  They pulled all of the Formic technology, and it has been incorporated into the lives of all the characters.  In this book, however, we see the technological development of mankind, as well as the beginnings of change that come to the government and social structures when you begin to spread beyond the surface of the planet.  

Here, the process starts of unifying the world from a series of countries and factions to a singular body of humanity.  This will initially be completed by Peter Wiggin as the Hedgemon, and that is a book (the Hive and the Hedgemon) that I would love to have Card write.  I think it is interesting how it is an attack that challenges humanity, not a portion of it or a specific group but everyone who can call Earth home, to unite countries and ethnicities.  Sadly, I think this is the only way that it would happen in real life.  Look at what that type of tragedy does.  Think back to 9/11 and, more recently, Boston.  Those terrible attacks, which not only killed and injured many, also brought people together.  It gave them a cause to rally behind and reinforced the ties of their communities.  This is exactly what I believe we will see with the Bugger invasions.  

We are also introduced to Mazer Rackham.  Back in Ender's Game, we meet Rackham as he trains Ender to be a commander.  Card gives us a little information, but it is implied that the man who was responsible(?) for ending the Formic Wars and was kept alive through space flight until they found their next Captain was pretty damn important.  Though there was just a very, and I mean very basic introduction of the life that would build Rackham.  Mostly, it was an interesting side story of military operations.  When they do start on Mazer, that is something I look forward to in the next book(s).  

It was fun to see more with Aaron Johnston, who also worked with Card on Invasive Procedures (which I also have).  They seem to work very well together and I can't wait to see how they put this whole universe together.  I've been careful to stay away from spoilers, as I hope there are several friends who will read this book, but I did love the snide digs that Card made towards what can only be that universe's version of Youtube trolls.  Hilarious!  This book was already out in mass market paperback by the time I found it, so I am lucky enough to know that the next book comes out in July.  It better be before I leave!