The Swarm (2016)
The Swarm is a 2016 space warfare book written by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston.
Earth survived the first Formic scout ship, but only barely, and only after the aliens scoured much of China to prepare the ground for their own kind. Now the scientists have the worse news: a mothership sits past the Kuiper Belt, and it is coming. Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston open the Second Formic War with a planet trying to become one fighting force overnight. A Hegemon rules the fractured nations, a Polemarch builds the International Fleet, and Mazer Rackham, young Bingwen, Victor Delgado and Lem Juke work against the human failings, greed, ambition, politics, that could lose the war before the enemy even arrives.
Quick answers
What is The Swarm about?
Earth survived the first Formic scout ship, but only barely, and only after the aliens scoured much of China to prepare the ground for their own kind. Now the scientists have the worse news: a mothership sits past the Kuiper Belt, and it is coming. Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston open the Second Formic War with a planet trying to become one fighting force overnight. A Hegemon rules the fractured nations, a Polemarch builds the International Fleet, and Mazer Rackham, young Bingwen, Victor Delgado and Lem Juke work against the human failings, greed, ambition, politics, that could lose the war before the enemy even arrives.
When was The Swarm published?
The Swarm was published in 2016.
Who made The Swarm?
The Swarm was written by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston.
Similar books
Explore The Swarm guides
The Swarm in our writing
A few thoughts on The Swarm
Readers who want the same grind of preparing a divided humanity for an unstoppable fleet should watch The Expanse, where politics between worlds is as lethal as any weapon. For the soldier's-eye view of an alien war that keeps resetting the odds, Edge of Tomorrow captures the desperation of learning to fight a smarter enemy.
Video games and films about mobilizing humanity against one alien threat
The Swarm opens with Earth learning a Formic mothership is inbound and no single nation, weapon or general can stop it alone. These share that same all-hands urgency: a turn-based defense against an invading force, a soldier reliving the same battle until the tactics finally work, a resistance fighting an alien occupation from the ground up, and a crew racing to understand a threat before the clock runs out.