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3.21 AVERAGE
3.21 AVERAGE
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Cool premise, lots of thought-provoking ideas. Not plot heavy or character heavy, and has a slightly disjoint, allegorical feel.
Narratively not as strong as Liu's famous trilogy, the sociological thought-experiment contained in this book is stimulating.
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
A profoundly strange story that ultimately leaves too much left unsaid.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Supernova Era by Cixin Liu--Liu is at his best when he's writing about humanity's response to forces wholly outside their control. He has a good sense of instincts, primal and otherwise, which shape our collective and individual actions, and that allows him to write compelling sci-fi. Here, he imagines a supernova in relatively close proximity to us which has the unfortunate side effect of systematically killing off everyone over the age of 13. From there, perspective shifts to an almost Ender's Game format where the (possibly all precocious) kids run the show. Liu is increasingly baffling in his scope and focus as the book proceeds, but the thought experiment is a fun one which he draws to a not-so-natural conclusion. I'd say this book is fun, disturbingly delightful, and possibly the most Chinese-centric/specific of his longer books that I've read, even if America is more centered in this than any of his other works. Reading the Afterward makes clear Liu's thoughts and intents in this book, and they're touching, though perhaps more inscrutable to a Western audience. Thumbs up, even still.