The Swarm (Second Formic War Series #1)

by Orson Scott Card, Aaron Johnston

Overview

Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston return to their Ender's Game prequel series with this first volume of an all-new trilogy about the Second Formic War in The Swarm.

The first invasion of Earth was beaten back by a coalition of corporate and international military forces, and the Chinese army. China has been devastated by the Formic's initial efforts to eradicate Earth life forms and prepare the ground for their own settlement. The Scouring of China struck fear into the other nations of the planet; that fear blossomed into drastic action when scientists determined that the single ship that wreaked such damage was merely a scout ship.

There is a mothership out beyond the Solar System's Kuiper Belt, and it's heading into the system, unstoppable by any weapons that Earth can muster.

Earth has been reorganized for defense. There is now a Hegemon, a planetary official responsible for keeping all the formerly warring nations in line. There's a Polemarch, responsible for organizing all the military forces of the planet into the new International Fleet. But there is an enemy within, an enemy as old as human warfare: ambition and politics. Greed and self-interest. Will Bingwen, Mazer Rackam, Victor Delgado and Lem Juke be able to divert those very human enemies in time to create a weapon that can effectively defend humanity in the inexorable Second Formic War?

THE ENDER UNIVERSE

Ender series
Ender’s Game / Speaker for the Dead / Xenocide / Children of the Mind / Ender in Exile / Children of the Fleet

Ender’s Shadow series
Ender’s Shadow / Shadow of the Hegemon / Shadow Puppets / Shadow of the Giant / Shadows in Flight

The First Formic War (with Aaron Johnston)
Earth Unaware / Earth Afire / Earth Awakens

The Second Formic War (with Aaron Johnston)
The Swarm / The Hive

Ender novellas
A War of Gifts / First Meetings

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765375636
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/30/2018
Series:	Second Formic War Series , #1
Pages:	528
Sales rank:	132,099
Product dimensions:	4.10(w) x 6.70(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

ORSON SCOTT CARD is the author of the international bestsellers Shadow of the Giant, Shadow Puppets, Shadow of the Hegemon, and Ender's Shadow, and of the beloved classic of science fiction, Ender's Game, as well as the acclaimed fantasy series The Tales of Alvin Maker. He lives in Greensboro, North Carolina.

AARON JOHNSTON is the coauthor of The New York Times bestselling novels Earth Unaware, Earth Afire, and other Ender's Game prequel novels. He was also the co-creator and showrunner for the sci-fi series Extinct, as well as an associate producer on the movie Ender’s Game. He and his wife are the parents of four children.

Hometown:

Greensboro, North Carolina

Date of Birth:

August 24, 1951

Place of Birth:

Richland, Washington

Education:

B.A. in theater, Brigham Young University, 1975; M.A. in English, University of Utah, 1981

Website:

http://www.hatrack.com

Editorial Reviews

07/11/2016
Card and Johnston continue to flesh out the early years leading up to the events of Ender’s Game with this first installment of the Second Formic War trilogy. Following 2014’s Earth Awakens, humans have beaten back one invasion from the alien Formics and are preparing for the larger onslaught yet to come. A sprawling cast works on numerous fronts to develop the weapons, technology, and tactics to defend Earth, but they’re often stymied by bureaucracy, corruption, and self-serving, ambitious leaders. The real mystery, however, is what exactly the Formics are attempting to accomplish in the asteroid belt, and whether humankind’s best and brightest, including Mazer Rackham and Victor Delgado, can figure it out in time. The authors carefully construct their story on a solar system–wide scale, the numerous plot threads unspooling at a leisurely speed while still maintaining tension. Despite this being a military piece at heart, the action is often overshadowed by long explorations of scientific developments, discussions of morality and philosophy, and bureaucratic obstructions, such as Mazer’s court-martial at the hands of a hostile superior officer. It’s a solid continuation of the ongoing epic, moving all the pieces into place for the next entry. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

2016-06-01
A second prequel trilogy to the child-warrior Ender's Game series (Earth Awakens, 2014, etc.) opens. This time the invading alien Formics get serious.Previously, the Chinese army, assisted by corporate and international military forces, defeated the first invasion of Earth, but only, scientists ascertain, because it was executed by a single scout ship charged with wiping out the local life forms and replacing them with Formic-compatible ones. But now the colossal mothership commanded by the Formics' Hive Queen, lurking beyond the solar system's Kuiper belt, gears up for a real fight. It's a situation that fascinates, certainly, but so would any plausible existential threat. The narrative—far too much bureaucratic and domestic padding interspersed with far too infrequent, though sensational, action sequences—unfolds chiefly through the viewpoints of the same leading characters of the first trilogy. Mazer Rackham wants to develop microgravity tactics and equipment to fight the Formics in space, but all his superiors care about, he finds, is advancing their own careers and fortunes. Child soldier Bingwen, Mazer's colleague in the previous books, suffers uncomplainingly under the brutal training regimen of his new commanding officer. Space miner Victor Delgado, his ship commandeered by the new multination International Fleet, heads into deep space to investigate suspicious Formic activity on a remote asteroid. And industrialist Lem Jukes tries to develop weapons capable of penetrating the indestructible hulls of the Formic ships. Meanwhile, they share intelligence in defiance of the absolute information blackout decreed by the solar system's new totalitarian rulers. Here, and elsewhere, the auctorial voice with its militaristic edge veers unpleasantly close to propaganda. Trading heavily for verisimilitude on material established years ago by Card but just about worthwhile for series fans.

Kirkus Reviews