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literarylover37's review against another edition
3.0
Dragged in places but a really interesting premise and unique book.
miszapp's review against another edition
3.0
The premise was great. Idea of the planet of children was so engaging. The beginning of the book was very interesting as the whole concept of such a cosmic impact giving limited time to save the mankind was truly great. The further you get in the book the harder it gets to stay engaged. Ending from my perspective was disappointing. We were left out without answers. Maybe we will get some extra chapters to this stories.
alongreader's review against another edition
3.0
A supernova right next door to Earth - cosmically speaking - showers the whole planet in deadly radiation. Only children's bodies can repair the damage in time. Everyone over the age of thirteen will be dead in less than a year from the incident.
As usual with translated books, the first thing; the translation. It's a strange one, this, because while the word for word translation is fine, no hang ups or odd phrases, it's still very clearly foreign, with different cultural mores.
I thought this would be an interesting read. I've always loved plague stories and especially child plagues. It sadly didn't live up. There's a lot of telling, far more narration than dialogue; the adults keep talking about how different the children's world will be, but they expect the children to literally pick up exactly where they left off; even considering the circumstances, the children are ridiculously adult. That's not counting the children who want to 'play' with high tech missiles because they're bored of shooting each other with machine guns, though.
It's not an awful read, but not the best either.
As usual with translated books, the first thing; the translation. It's a strange one, this, because while the word for word translation is fine, no hang ups or odd phrases, it's still very clearly foreign, with different cultural mores.
I thought this would be an interesting read. I've always loved plague stories and especially child plagues. It sadly didn't live up. There's a lot of telling, far more narration than dialogue; the adults keep talking about how different the children's world will be, but they expect the children to literally pick up exactly where they left off; even considering the circumstances, the children are ridiculously adult. That's not counting the children who want to 'play' with high tech missiles because they're bored of shooting each other with machine guns, though.
It's not an awful read, but not the best either.
nickstarr's review against another edition
2.0
1.5/5
Yikes. Don’t bother unless you’re a Liu Cixin super fan, and even then…
I loved the Remembrance of Earth’s Past series, but this book shares the same flaws magnified tenfold, and almost never hits the same heights. The basic premise is interesting, but it gets extremely bogged down in uninteresting tangents (or entire sections) and there are too many deus ex machina moments to count. The characters are dull and at best one-dimensional, and at times the consequences of the premise feel oddly under-explored. I would’ve been far more interested in reading about how day-to-day life was handled in such a strange future, but most of the book is devoted to national and then global politics, and IMO doesn’t even handle those topics all that well.
If I weren’t under the wire for my 2023 reading goal, I would’ve DNFed this about halfway through. Half a star for the few moments where his future skills shine through, but if this book interests you, I’d recommend just reading the plot summary instead.
Yikes. Don’t bother unless you’re a Liu Cixin super fan, and even then…
I loved the Remembrance of Earth’s Past series, but this book shares the same flaws magnified tenfold, and almost never hits the same heights. The basic premise is interesting, but it gets extremely bogged down in uninteresting tangents (or entire sections) and there are too many deus ex machina moments to count. The characters are dull and at best one-dimensional, and at times the consequences of the premise feel oddly under-explored. I would’ve been far more interested in reading about how day-to-day life was handled in such a strange future, but most of the book is devoted to national and then global politics, and IMO doesn’t even handle those topics all that well.
If I weren’t under the wire for my 2023 reading goal, I would’ve DNFed this about halfway through. Half a star for the few moments where his future skills shine through, but if this book interests you, I’d recommend just reading the plot summary instead.
phoenix0's review against another edition
3.0
I've always enjoyed reading Liu Cixin's books for the literally out of this world concepts and ideas that are so generously shared. Yes, the characters lack much development. Yes, there is a lack of details. However those are exactly what allows me to focus and completely enjoy the breathtaking results of Liu's imagination that was so generously shared. I utterly enjoyed playing out hundreds of other "What If"s from the rich field set out by Liu.
thebeesnies's review against another edition
2.0
While the concept was interesting, Supernova Era definitely didn't reach the heights of the Three Body Problem trilogy. I had to muddle through to the end.
winterreader40's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars
What happens when everyone over the age of 13 dies within a year after a supernova hits leaving children in charge of everything. The first part of the book focuses on the adults teaching the children how to work everything and detonating all the nuclear warheads in space, which turns out to be a good thing because children are tiny sociopaths.
The children go through many different "era's" as they adjust to their new world and what they think the world should become now that the adults are gone. A few are mature from the start but most are not and it's interesting to see what happens when you have to bow to the majority opinion of toddlers that think all things should be fun. Also the level of violence that occurs because live munitions are more fun is staggering. This was a really interesting story.
What happens when everyone over the age of 13 dies within a year after a supernova hits leaving children in charge of everything. The first part of the book focuses on the adults teaching the children how to work everything and detonating all the nuclear warheads in space, which turns out to be a good thing because children are tiny sociopaths.
The children go through many different "era's" as they adjust to their new world and what they think the world should become now that the adults are gone. A few are mature from the start but most are not and it's interesting to see what happens when you have to bow to the majority opinion of toddlers that think all things should be fun. Also the level of violence that occurs because live munitions are more fun is staggering. This was a really interesting story.
jwsg's review against another edition
3.0
The premise of Supernova Era is an intriguing one - what happens when a star eight light years away dies, showering the Earth with deadly radiation and only children below the age of 13 will survive the event? Adults in every nation busy themselves with the task of equipping children to with the knowledge and skills necessary to keep society running. But how will a society run by children - its logic and its rules - fundamentally differ from a society run by adults?
I found the first part of the book absolutely riveting (not to mention easier to grasp compared to the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, where most of the physics went over my head). But I struggled with the second half of the novel and the final section in particular, which details the descent into a sci-fi version of Lord of the Flies. I'm not sure if it's because I found the scenario a little too disturbing, because I found the plot and pacing less engaging at this point, or a bit of both.
I found the first part of the book absolutely riveting (not to mention easier to grasp compared to the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, where most of the physics went over my head). But I struggled with the second half of the novel and the final section in particular, which details the descent into a sci-fi version of Lord of the Flies. I'm not sure if it's because I found the scenario a little too disturbing, because I found the plot and pacing less engaging at this point, or a bit of both.