The story of the second Formic invasion of Earth continues, picking up where The Swarm left off. This one occurs entirely in space, not on Earth. The book follows a diverse cast as they fight back against the invaders - Bingwen, hero of the previous book, Mazer Rackham, Victor Delgado and Imala and to a lesser extent, Lem Jukes. There is very little traditional military action here, of all of the characters only Mazer is actually a military officer, Bingwen is only 14 and isn't even a trainee. However everyone has a part to play in this vast fight. Very interesting and well done. ( )

I enjoyed the story. It gave me a perspective on the problems that certain militaries have when officers are promoted on the basis of family connections and not on the basis of organizational skills or combat effectiveness. What was disturbing was the proposed method of weeding these individuals out of key spots. the story also gives insight into how the chain of command can promote creativity on the one hand and stifle if not choke off the flow of information and ideas up to the people that need the information. I thought the idea of not being allowed to mention the idea of a Hive Queen mirrors what's happening with our linguist battles over climate change and global warming. Both the repression of the idea of Hive Queen and Climate Change in the face of mounting evidence are ludicrist. The story has plenty of action to offer the reader. There is both political and economic manuvering for the shape of the world after this war ends and the next one begins. The story uses its battle sequences to illuminate major plot points. While this book may not be great ground shaking literature, it was a fun summer read. It does a good job of contributing to the overall series My biggest complaint about this story is more about style as opposed to substance. There is a tendency to want to jump from the middle of an action sequence to another less exciting event supposedly happening at the sometime. I find this highly annoying. ( )

The story was enjoyable enough to keep me reading to the end. Yet I felt like I had read some of the dialog before . The story has the feel of a rehashing of the Swarm. ( )

Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston’s The Hive continues the story of the Second Formic War prior to the events of Ender’s Game. In it, they depict Bingwen and Mazer Rackham visiting a Zero G training facility that serves as a forerunner to Battle School in Ender’s Game. At one point, Mazer remarks, “What ships do in zero G is not unlike what marines do in the Battle Room. In fact, learning maneuvers as a platoon in the Battle Room is akin to moving as a squadron of ships through space. Same principles. I’d go so far as to say that mastering combat in the battle Room is a good education in Fleet warfare” (pg. 195). Meanwhile, Victor Delgado has discovered that the Hive Queen is building something large in the solar system. Unfortunately, the International Fleet is faring poorly due to the Formics’ use of hollowed-out asteroids as false targets to expend the Fleet’s resources while the Formics develop other structures above and below the ecliptic. The Formics also created stealth technology that allows them to move their ships and asteroids for resources through the solar system undetected. Lem Jukkes continues growing into someone who wants to save humanity rather than simply run a profitable company, but finds the political issues he must face particularly disheartening. Imala and Rena Delgado, Victor’s wife and mother, are traveling into deep space in the Kuiper Belt to investigate a structure, but similarly face complications. They discover that the Fleet’s overriding focus on the war has created an opportunity for pirates to claim the outer reaches of the solar system, threatening the asteroid miners working there and creating future obstacles for the Fleet beyond Neptune.

Overall, Card and Johnston’s work on the Second Formic War continues to entertain and enlighten just as the First Formic War trilogy did, however some of the new tactics they describe the Formics using test the idea from Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead that the Formics did not realize humanity was sentient until the end of the Second Formic War. Humanity may have a different type of sentience than Formics, but surely an advanced species such as the Formics would recognize humanity’s response to their tactics as indicative of sentience. That said, the Formics experimentation on humans may allude to the Hive Queen beginning to suspect humanity’s sentience (pgs. 364-368). Further, Mazer dreams of the Hive Queen in a moment that appears to foreshadow the psychic connection the Formics later formed with Ender (pg. 194). Following this book, Card and Johnston plan a third and final book about the Second Formic War: The Queens, due at a later date. It will be interesting to see how they conclude this era of Ender’s Game prequels and lead into the world as it appears in Card’s original novel. Card will also publish The Last Shadow, the final book in the Shadow Saga that will link back with the Ender Series, in October 2021. ( )

Túl sok meglepetés nem ért a könyvet olvasva. A második előzménytrilógia sem igazi trilógia, hanem egy hosszú könyv három részre vágva, így most egy könyv közepét olvashatjuk. A történeten haladtunk előre, a háborús helyzet nem túl jó, bár úgyis előre tudjuk mi lesz a háború vége. Bingwen továbbra is sokat szerepel, és Mazer lesz egyre fontosabb. A több szálon futó cselekményt remélem a következő kötetben sikerül összehozni, mert jelenleg eléggé külön történeteket olvashatunk Victorról és Lemről. Lehet, hogy csak eddig nem figyeltem oda rendesen a sorozat eddigi könyveinél, de hirtelen mintha sokkal erősebb lett volna az IF-en belüli alkalmatlan kapitányok kritizálása. ( )