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3.21 AVERAGE
3.21 AVERAGE
The Supernova Era postulates the question what would happen if the world were run by 13 year olds? The answer follows along the lines of Lord of the Flies/Battle Royale but with an underlying somewhat propagandist undertone. The first 3rd of the book dealing with the preparations for a new world populated only by children is a fairly measured treaty into what response adults might take knowing they will all die within a year leaving the world to just their kids. The last 2/3rds is a much more dystopian, dark and bloody imagination of what kids might do if they are allowed to treat the weapons of adults as toys. It is just the right side of believable, which makes it scary enough as a concept.
The main issues with this book come from the underlying propaganda messages (China vs US) and the stilted translation. This book is definitely told with a slightly haughty cultural superiority of tone which is somewhat offputting. On the translation side, all translations suffer, but this one does seem somewhat detached, which doesn't help draw the reader in especially well.
An interesting read, but with flaws.
Liu Cixin's hard science fiction stories are incredibly futuristic. Each story is a thought experiment, meticulously charted, transporting readers across galaxies. They have always been my favorite. I was impatiently waiting to lay my paws on his latest work, Supernova Era. The premise of an adult-less planet is akin to that of [b:Childhood's End|414999|Childhood's End|Arthur C. Clarke|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320552628l/414999._SY75_.jpg|209414] , one of my all-time favorites.
I am mightily disappointed with this book. The beginning of the story, with the miniature world concept, was promising. The social and psychological impact of an extra-terrestrial catastrophe had me eagerly turning the pages. Caste system was brought back. Then the UN meeting happened and everything went [b:Lord of the Flies|7624|Lord of the Flies|William Golding|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327869409l/7624._SY75_.jpg|2766512] way. And it wasn't even chilling or barbaric as in LOTF. The turn of events were plain inexplicable and illogical. The political interactions and Davey especially reminded me of [b:Animal Farm|170448|Animal Farm|George Orwell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1325861570l/170448._SY75_.jpg|2207778]. Was this book meant to be a satire? If so, I couldn't connect to it.
Liu Cixin's novels leave no phenomenon unexplained. I'm disheartened by how the author concentrated on the anthropological effects and ignored the scientific ones.
- Mutations in flora and fauna were observed immediately after the supernova explosion. What happened later? No aftereffects?
-I'm no expert in biology, but shouldn't mutations or other disturbances dis balance the ecosystem and cause further consequences? Normally, I would have overlooked the oversight, but the author generally describes such outcomes in great depth.
-How did the countries with no Big Quantum fare in the suspension period? Why are there no other instances of Big Quantum across the world?
-When America and China exchanged their territories, Big Quantum would have come under American government's control. What would it do with such computing power? Or would the game obsessed government pay no heed to the technology?
But the book had some beautiful quotes and philosophy.There are figures showing that in five thousand years of civilization, there’s been a total of just one hundred and seven years of genuine peacetime.
So true.
PS: What about a Pope, and a Dalai Lama? And religion itself.
Now I cannot comment on the science part of this novel with relation to the Dead Star that travels to Earth that creates the supernova event, or the explanation of the event damaging the DNA of those over the age of 13. Suspension of disbelief is important to me when reading because books bring you into world where anything is possible and this is one of those novels.
The adults are left to teach the children as much as they can about everything from driving to running the power station to running the government. The one thing that took me out of the story a bit is that I felt the kids dialogue didn't sound a lot like how 11 & 12 years old would talk, but then again, they did get thrown into becoming adults quite soon. I think maybe the fact this is a translated novel might be another reason.
What the adults imagine the world the children will run is a world of peace & harmony. And we soon find out what really happens if children were left in charge of running the entire world.
I really enjoyed this book. Sci-fi is not my usual genre, but it was an entertaining read & the plot was unique. I found myself wanting to read more about the children's world & how they continue to progress when it ended.
*Thank you to BookishFirst & Tor/Forge Books for the advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.*
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I also want to know what happened with the supercomputer. It saves the day when everyone's losing their minds (proper deus ex machina), it runs the virtual Assembly, and then we never hear about it again. Presumably the US kids inherit it. Why doesn't that bother anybody?
The language felt clunky, which irritated me throughout - not sure how much is the author's voice and how much is the translation.
Last chapter and epilogue felt boring, confusing, unnecessary and anticlimactic. Whatever the point was, I missed it.
It started strong, and I enjoyed the first half - but the second half was increasingly disappointing.
Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Death of parent, War
Možná je autorova představa o světě v kterém vládnou děti bez dospělých položena na reálných základech ohledne dětské psychiky, ale já se se nemohl v průběhu čtení zbavit dojmu, že je tam cítit zaujatý postoj.
Konec knihy celkový dojem nezhoršil ani nevylepsil, celkem rychle se to četlo, nijak extra jsem z toho nadšený nebyl, ale možná jsem měl jen prostě přehnaná očekávání
Regardless, this book was overall pretty enjoyable, but there were some major plot leaps near the end. For example, there was no explanation for how
Essentially a supernova event that was caused by a dying star has wrecked havoc on earth, including severe radiation, which those that are over the age of 13 are unable to recover from. This book describes what would happen, mostly from the viewpoint of Chinese children. I thought it was such a great read however I do think it should have been longer. There was quite a bit that could have been fleshed out further.
