Reviews

Supernova Era by Cixin Liu

dieguisimo's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No

4.0

greppel's review against another edition

2.0

Für mich der bisher schwächste Roman von Liu Cixin, obwohl mich die zugrunde liegende Idee wirklich faszinierte. Die Erde wird durch eine Supernova von einer gewaltigen Strahlenwolke heimgesucht, die dazu führt, dass alle Menschen über 13 Jahre sterben werden. Fortan werden die Kinder weltweit darauf vorbereitet, wie sie künftig die Welt weiterzuführen haben. Schließlich tritt der Tag ein, an dem die letzten Erwachsenen sterben und die Kinder halten sich nur kurz an die Dinge, die ihnen von ihren Vorfahren aufgetragen wurden. Es folgt die Schilderung über eine neue Gesellschaftsordnung, die sich hauptsächlich am Spaß orientiert.

Leider wird es dann ziemlich langweilig. Das sogenannte Supernova-Zeitalter gliedert sich in verschiedene Zeitabschnitte und wird weitestgehend aus der Sicht des dreiköpfigen chinesischen Regierungsteams beschrieben, manchmal auch aus der Sicht des US-amerikanischen Pendants. Immer wieder gibt es Einschübe, in der eine potenzielle zukünftige Geschichtsschreibung die Geschehnisse einordnet und beschreibt. Das hat mir eingangs große Hoffnung gemacht, dass wir am Ende einen größeren Überblick bekommen, wie sich die Welt entwickelt hat. Diese wurden enttäuscht, die Handlung bleibt leider (den kurzen Epilog ausgenommen) in der Zeit unmittelbar nach dem Versterben des letzten Erwachsenen verhaftet. Dabei macht sich Langeweile breit, das Potenzial der spannenden Idee wurde nicht annähernd ausgeschöpft.

Ich lese häufig von Vorwürfen an den Autor, er glorifiziere in seinen Romanen China als die in allen Belangen überlegene Weltmacht. Diese Kritik kann ich nur als absoluten Schwachsinn bezeichnen, so hebt er nicht zuletzt in diesem Roman an mehreren Stellen die militärische Übermacht der USA hervor. Klar ist, als chinesischer Autor schildert er die Welt aus chinesischer Perspektive. Das ist für mich sogar einer der Hauptgründe, warum ich seine Erzählungen und Romane so spannend und bereichernd finde. Auch wenn mich Kugelblitz und Supernova nicht begeistern konnten, werde ich auch zukünftige auf Deutsch erscheinende Werke von Liu Cixin mit großem Interesse lesen.

c_jansson's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

adonalssium's review against another edition

2.0

Buena premisa, mala ejecución .

ficygerna's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

darkskybooks's review against another edition

3.0

There are some really interesting sci-fi concepts coming out of China at the moment, and Cixin Liu is pretty much the author leading the field there. This is one of his earlier works, and not as well regarded as his more famous ones (ie The Three Body Problem).

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.

vineela0705's review against another edition

2.0

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.

recreationalhobbyist's review against another edition

3.0

What a interesting & intriguing plot. A star in space burns out & causes catastrophic damage on Earth, the most devastating being that everyone over the age of 13 will die, leaving the entire world to be ran by children.

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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theshleester's review against another edition

3.0

Interesting concept. The more the story progressed, though, the less believable I found it - and this from someone who is very happy to suspend disbelief when reading!

I was bothered by some of the details. The cut off for 13 year olds seems incredibly precise, but people aren't machines, we develop at slightly different rates. So where are the 14 and 15yos who actually survived? What about the 11 and 12yos whose bodies couldn't recover from the radiation? It's just too neat.

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.

I actually don't get why the Chinese kids said yes to the territory trade - they seem to be losing a lot and getting nothing out of it.

And I feel like I'm lacking in a real conclusion. What happened to these characters?!

It started strong, and I enjoyed the first half - but the second half was increasingly disappointing. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Death of parent, and War

horaklukas's review against another edition

3.0

Začátek dobrý, pěkně se to rozjelo a já měl pocit, že to bude tak skvělé jako Problém tří těles, bohužel stredni část, kdy se kniha dostane k zevrubnému popisování americké a čínské válečné výzbroje a jejího používání, prostě celá válka na Antarktidě, mě opravdu nudila.

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