Supernova Era

The electromagnetic radiation and irradiated particles from a supernova event flood the Solar System and have a drastic effect on the Earth as it is determined that everyone aged 14 or over does not have the capacity to survive the resulting sickness! In a year only 13 year-olds and younger will remain on the Earth! It's Lord of the Flies on a global level but centred mostly on the new Chinese political elite and how they navigate the 'supernova area'.<br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1684436044i/34266124._SX540_.jpg" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br>Liu's dark yet almost impassively written (as a historical record), is a totally compelling read that I couldn't take my eyes off of. Liu began first writing this not long after the events in Tiananmen Square in 1989, he first published a version in 1991, and made continual tweaks and updates until the current version was first published in 2003. A book I enjoyed simply because of its audacious concept, it could have been better thought out, but I suppose that's part of the point, do we really have any idea how children would cope in an adult-less world? 8 out of 12, Four Star read.<br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1684436385i/34266132._SX540_.jpg" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>2023 read</b>

This is an interesting piece of speculative science fiction meant to answer the question: what if the world was run by kids 12 and under? I found that Cixin Liu’s answer was imaginative and made for a brisk read. I felt that the translation by Joel Martinsen was a bit stuff at times (much like his translation of Dark Forest which I felt was weaker than those of Ken Liu for <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/20518872.The_Three_Body_Problem__Remembrance_of_Earth_s_Past__1_" title="The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past #1) by Liu Cixin" rel="noopener">The Three-Body Problem</a> and <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/25451264.Death_s_End__Remembrance_of_Earth_s_Past__3_" title="Death's End (Remembrance of Earth’s Past #3) by Liu Cixin" rel="noopener">Death's End</a>). As for the scenario, and avoiding spoilers, I felt that it was too focused on China vs the US and a bit dismissive of - in particular - Africa and Australia which are never even mentioned. The other missing variable is organized crime which I feel would have a non-negligible and negative impact on the outcome. <br />Honestly, what Cixin Liu says in the afterword about there already being an AI city project in Baoding blew my mind as did his statements about the very real current impact of social media and internet on Chinese society which gives me a whole new perspective on this book to be honest. In fact, I would be tempted to suggest that the afterword should have been a preface because (a) it contains zero spoilers and (b) it truly does help someone that is not in China to see where his vision is coming from. <br />I hope that some of those reading this book and then this review and to the end will exchange with me in the comments because the whole book is incredibly thought-provoking. That being said, the character development is superficial at best (sort of explained and made excuses for in the narrator’s postface, Blue World) unlike the more complex characters of his great trilogy. I hesitated between 3 and 4 stars here, had 3.5 stars been an option...I rounded up based on the originality of the thesis and the strength of the afterword.<br /><br />Fino's Cixin Liu and other Chinese SciFi and Fantasy Reviews<br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2001737886?book_show_action=false&amp;from_review_page=1" rel="nofollow noopener">The Three Body Problem</a><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2001737901?book_show_action=false&amp;from_review_page=1" rel="nofollow noopener">The Dark Forest</a><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2001737924?book_show_action=false&amp;from_review_page=1" rel="nofollow noopener">Death's End</a><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2160451709?book_show_action=false&amp;from_review_page=1" rel="nofollow noopener">The Wandering Earth</a><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3025780859?book_show_action=false&amp;from_review_page=1" rel="nofollow noopener">Supernova Era"</a><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3058287023?book_show_action=false&amp;from_review_page=1" rel="nofollow noopener">Ball Lightning</a><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2256217008?book_show_action=false&amp;from_review_page=1" rel="nofollow noopener">The Redemption of Time (Fan Fiction approved by Cixin Liu)</a><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2107808726?book_show_action=false&amp;from_review_page=1" rel="nofollow noopener">Invisible Planets (Short Story Anthology)</a><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2015371117?book_show_action=false&amp;from_review_page=1" rel="nofollow noopener">The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories</a><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2015371116?book_show_action=false&amp;from_review_page=1" rel="nofollow noopener">The Grace of Kings</a><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2015371198?book_show_action=false&amp;from_review_page=1" rel="nofollow noopener">The Wall of Storms</a>

Review first posted on <a href="http://www.fantasyliterature.com/reviews/supernova-era/" rel="nofollow noopener">Fantasy Literature</a>:<br /><br />Chinese science fiction author Cixin Liu has had a successful career in China for many years, winning China’s prestigious Galaxy Award nine times. But it wasn’t until 2014, when his 2007 novel <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/20518872.The_Three_Body_Problem__Remembrance_of_Earth_s_Past__1_" title="The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past #1) by Liu Cixin" rel="noopener">The Three-Body Problem</a> was first published in English, that he became well-known outside of Asia. Since then, some of his earlier novels, like <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/32076670.Ball_Lightning" title="Ball Lightning by Liu Cixin" rel="noopener">Ball Lightning</a> (originally published in China in 2004), have been translated and published in English. This one, <i>Supernova Era</i> (published in October 2019, originally published in 2003 in Chinese, but written even earlier, in 1989) is one of Liu’s earliest works. a stand-alone novel in which a natural disaster leaves the children of Earth alone and in charge of everything, from transportation to weapons of mass destruction.<br /><br />Sometime in the near future, a massive star only eight light years away from Earth, previously hidden from our view by a cloud of cosmic dust, explodes into a supernova. When the high-energy particles and electromagnetic radiation from the so-called Dead Star hit Earth eight years later, it briefly lights up the entire sky before leaving behind a rosette-shaped nebula that can be seen day and night. It also leaves a dose of radiation that, humans soon figure out, has irreversibly damaged the chromosomes of all humans over the age of thirteen, who will die in ten to twelve months. But in younger children and, apparently, all plants and animals, the damaged chromosomes will repair themselves and there will be no short- or long-term ill effects.<br /><br />The first chapter of <i>Supernova Era</i>, which relates all of the scientific details relating to the supernova, is the only real hard science portion of the novel. The remainder is a social science novel, exploring the ways in which societies and individuals react to the pending death of all the older teens and adults, desperately trying to pass on their knowledge and skills to the children, and the events that occur — and their effects on various nation’s societies and on our world generally — once the adults have died and the children are in charge.<br /><br />In fact, the hard science underlying <i>Supernova Era</i> is improbable, if not impossible, and difficult to swallow. A near-Earth supernova would in fact be disastrous, but <a href="https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/supernove-distance" rel="nofollow noopener">the likely effects</a> would be severe damage to the ozone layer, our atmosphere, and the ocean. This is the first and largest of the novel’s improbabilities that you just need to roll with, and I had a difficult time with it. I’d be reading along and every so often my brain would interrupt my reading to ask, what about all the animals? Why aren’t there any mutations? Aren’t children’s cells actually MORE susceptible to radiation damage than adults’? (<a href="https://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=safety-hiw_03" rel="nofollow noopener">Yes, in fact they are.</a>) But I believe the real answer is, Liu just wanted to tell a story where children have to take over the running of society, worldwide. And with that story he succeeds quite well.<br /><br />In many ways <i>Supernova Era</i> is an allegorical type of tale. It was inspired, per Liu’s afterword, by the Tiananmen Square protests in June of 1989 and by a dream he had that same night of children marching to war under a blinding blue light. Liu compares humanity to orphans who are unable to find their parents’ hands, groping in the “endless darkness of the cosmos.” Despite a (perhaps unwarranted) optimistic conclusion, much of <i>Supernova Era</i> is quite grim. War is treated like an Olympic contest, with a motto of “Sharper, Fiercer, Deadlier,” a result of our videogame-influenced age. The children who lead nations display the stereotypical weaknesses of their culture: Americans are violent and inclined to escalate conflict; the Vietnamese prime minister proposes that the war games include a “guerrilla war” contest (he’s voted down by the other nations’ representatives); Japanese children kill whales indiscriminately, using depth charges.<br /><br /><i>Supernova Era</i> lacks the intense creativity of <i>The Three-Body Problem</i> and is a more typical science fiction tale. It was early days yet in Liu’s writing career, and that shows. On the positive side, if you had difficulty following the REMEMBRANCE OF EARTH’S PAST trilogy, this one is much easier to comprehend. Liu spins an interesting tale here, with ample food for thought.<br /><br /><b>Initial comments: </b>ARC received from publisher ... well, actually it's on sale as of today, so I guess it's not an ARC any longer. RC? :) Cixin Liu had such fascinating ideas in <i>The Three-Body Problem</i> that I'm really interested to see what he has to say in this one.

Let me be honest here: we need to accept one major handwavium dance move to enjoy this novel. That being said, if we just go ahead and accept the basic premise that CHILDREN under 13 are naturally resistant to catastrophic radiation exposure, or at least they'll heal up when all the adults around them die off, then we've got a pretty great early dystopian nightmare.<br /><br />The nearby supernova going off, close enough to do more than annoy and far enough away to not just kill us all, is an awesome macro-scale starter for any kind of SF novel.<br /><br />Ok, so after that? We've got a pretty awesome setup for a kids-rule-the-world SF worldbuilding extravaganza.<br /><br />The adults tried to do everything they could to prepare these kiddos, of course, but human nature gets the best of us all.<br /><br />It's PLAYTIME. The old world was BORING, after all. <br /><br />It's also almost like Liu Cixin was told to write a YA novel back in 2003 and he nodded sagely, snickered under his hand, and went about writing the ultimate coming of age novel.<br /><br />Only this YA went ahead and killed off the majority of humanity gave us one of the most horrific wars ever created in the spirit of fair play.<br /><br />Wow. <br /><br />Now what I'm saying here is: the ideas are freaking awesome, explores a ton of great avenues, and horrifies the freaking hell out of me. The characters are not all that fantastic, but this SF is very much in the spirit of old-school SF masters who want to run hard with the ball.

Chinese 'lord of flies' didn't fulfil the expectations: quite boring despite author's attempt to thoroughly describe society without adults. Also in this book the propaganda of 'China being the supreme in everything' is annoyingly visible. But if you liked Liu Cixin other novels you may find this one interesting.

Few years back, I kept hearing about <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/7624.Lord_of_the_Flies" title="Lord of the Flies by William Golding" rel="noopener">Lord of the Flies</a> being a masterpiece, so eventually it made its way on my reading list. It turned out to be a disappointment and to this day, I still don’t know why it is so praised.<br /><br /><i>Supernova Era</i> is pretty much <i>Lord of the Flies</i> in a different setting. Except for a couple of brilliant ideas, ones which I recognized being later developed masterfully in <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/20518872.The_Three_Body_Problem__Remembrance_of_Earth_s_Past__1_" title="The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past #1) by Liu Cixin" rel="noopener">The Three-Body Problem</a>, I’m sorry to say that the book was a tedious read for me.<br /><br />I would have liked the focus on technology and the development of the existent AI/virtual world with the help of children’s ideas, but instead the focus was on the political side and its games of power. My imagination failed me to see as possible all those children taking their roles as presidents, prime ministers and generals of war.<br /><br />If you plan to read it, my suggestion is to read the author’s epilogue first; you will understand the writing reason behind the novel and maybe you’ll enjoy it more.<br /><br />However, I’m glad I read it; having now read all Liu Cixin’s translated works in English, I could see how his skills improved with each of his works to culminate with the masterpiece that is <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/189931-remembrance-of-earth-s-past" rel="nofollow noopener">Remembrance of Earth's Past</a>.

this was literally like that episode of fairly odd parents when all the parents disappeared lol it was so much fun

Whoa...I haven't read such an obvious piece of propaganda since probably the Cold War. Written by a Chinese author, it's obviously very clear whose side he is on (even in this SciFi world). Here are some examples: Chinese children leaders are wise, smart and are thinking about the future, while the children leaders of the other countries act just like children; It's the "evil" America that starts Global War Games, but it is the Chinese children that end it! Another example (and considering the history between Japan and China it's the one that really stood out to me) - it's the Japanese children that are eating a whale alive (literally, chopping off pieces of meat while it is still breathing), but it's the Chinese child that saves a cat in a dangerous snowstorm (anyone heard of Yulin Dog Meat Festival? Anyone?). I also found it very funny leaders from China (who is the world's worst polluter in real life) are demanding actions from international community to protect natural resources. <br />The novel is also very male centered and chauvinistic. There are only TWO female characters: one of the three Chinese leaders (who is always second if not third to her male comrades) and the other is a girl who was originally US Secretary of State, but was eventually elected US President (and only because she looks like Shirley Temple). The very first time we see new US President she is very busy - filing her nails and plucking her eyebrows. Really? Couldn't help yourself there, could you Mr. Liu Cixin?<br />On top of that, there were SOO many issues with the actual story. NONE of it made ANY sense whatsoever, despite the insane amount of scientific info dump!<br />Oh, and the best part - this piece of garbage is blurbed by Barack Obama as "Wildly imaginative". LMAO, why I am not surprised that he would say that?

First, thanks so much to Tor Books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review! <br /><br />Supernova Era was originally published in 2003 in Chinese, and is now being translated into English! This book presents a rare case for me in which it's obvious how much the author loves space and technology and it becomes contagious. His descriptions are long, thoughtful, and sometimes intense!<br /><br />Essentially a supernova blast occurs and the radiation is enough to eventually kill off the entire population of Earth......except kids aged 13 and under can heal their chromosomes. How do you hand a whole planet off to kids? How does their society develop? Are they playing war games or trying to claim a continent? Plus, holy cripe, think of all the fallout once the adults die and things start fluctuating!<br /><br />Liu does a brilliant job with these questions and more in this novel. Some parts have long, drawn out explanations of sciencey things that made me tune out, but his writing is phenomenal. The only thing that threw me off was the epilogue, what the cripe was that? Were they on the moon? Who was writing it? I'm going to just forget I read it<br /><br />The majority of Supernova Era happens in the present tense, although there are some notes where it mentions future historians, and the epilogue confirmed that the book was a bit of a historical document... but again I found the epilogue entirely confusing.<br /><br />I definitely recommend the book for all sci fi fans, it releases on 10/22!

I am appalled.<br /><br />And also bored.<br /><br />But mostly appalled.