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Supernova Era

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Supernova Era

Written by: Cixin Liu, Joel Martinsen - translator
Narrated by: Feodor Chin
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About this listen

An NPR Best Book of the Year - 2019

"Feodor Chin is the perfect narrator to deliver this story.... His voice is clear and precise, even when providing stellar accented inflections for the Chinese dialogue. Overall, a perfect balance of appropriately didactic storytelling and an engaging narration is geared to fascinate listeners." (AudioFile Magazine)

From science fiction legend Cixin Liu, the New York Times best-selling and award-winning author of The Three-Body Problem, comes a vision of the future that unfolds like Lord of the Flies on a global scale in Supernova Era.

In those days, Earth was a planet in space.

In those days, Beijing was a city on Earth.

On this night, history as known to humanity came to an end.

Eight light years away, a star has died, creating a supernova event that showers Earth in deadly levels of radiation. Within a year, everyone over the age of 13 will die.

And so the countdown begins. Parents apprentice their children and try to pass on the knowledge needed to keep the world running.

But when the world is theirs, the last generation may not want to continue the legacy left to them. And in shaping the future however they want, will the children usher in an era of bright beginnings or final mistakes?

©2004, 2019 Liu Cixin; Translation copyright by China Educational Publications Import & Export Corp., Ltd. (P)2019 Macmillan Audio Hard Science Fiction Military Science Fiction Fiction China Imperial Japan Astronomy Russia
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I couldn't stop listening to this after I started it. very satisfied with it.

Interesting story, captivating writing

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Narration was incredible and the story was captivating. The story has the scope of the Dark Forest or Death's End, but condensed to the size of 3BP. I still liked Dark Forest more but this is a classic as well.

Magnificent

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I read Three Body Problem and really enjoyed Cixin Lui's way of writing. It was one of the best books/stories, I've ever read. I thought this would be a good book to read as well, and the start of the book confirmed my thoughts. I was excited about the story, something slightly thought provoking, something that would be similar to the TBP universe. However, the book turned into a war story. I didn't find much rhyme or reason with the change of story. While I would agree with certain aspects of how the world would turn out after the supernova era, I simply could not agree with the direction of the story line.

If you like a mix of a dystopian future and war stories, this might be your thing. If not, you can safely skip this book.

I should add, the narrator was awesome and did an amazing job.

Great start, average finish

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Absolutely loved three body problem and the whole trilogy, even liked a lot of Bao Shu's fan sequel. Dove into this after the promise it was "as epic".... not even close. A lot of it was nice but it simply didn't have the scale or imagination as the other books, and I was completely unable to suspend disbelief. The entire (spoiler) war bit was boring, took forever, and didn't make any sense. Very disappointed.

NOT Three Body Problem.

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I listened to this novel because I am a big fan of Cixin Liu. This novel is not like the Three Body Problem; however it is excellent in a different way.

How would society continue to work if only children were left? That is the main question. In a way, the novel describes an extraordinary catastrophe, similar to that of the Black Plague; where society needs to develop a new paradigm for its existence.

I found parallels with Lord Of The Flies, Childhood's End, and to an extent to 2001: An Space Odyssey.

Nonetheless, the author gives his original twists and perspectives from the different characters in the novel; so it becomes a story of humanity and not necessarily the history of nations.

The performance is of the narrator is very good and entertaining.

An interesting thought experiment!

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A little bit fantastical but entertaining nonetheless. I'm wondering if the level of violence is realistic in this situation.

Lord of the Flies Sci-Fi

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Cixin Liu is one of the most imaginative sf writers ever and I have enjoyed greatly other books of his (3 body pblm, ball lightning). This book has brilliant ideas, but the writing is sentimental and kitschy quite often and there are some sections exhausting in their detail. It might have been more effective as a shorter story. The narration is OK, but lacking in portraying any emotional depth.

Brilliant ideas marred by average writing

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I could not wait to be finished the book. In fact, I could not finish it as the whole plot and story were just plain boring.

Boring

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Pure CCP propaganda for the social credit system and the millions of CCTV cameras China has. Trying to show a dystopia future where it would be good to be 24/7 monitored because humans cannot take care of themselves.

CCP Propaganda disguised as a Novel

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Coming from the author of 3 body problem I was quite disappointed.
The premise is really interesting, but the children act based on pure logic and megalomania are not believable, that's basically the whole book.
What freaking 12 year old endures winter's climate on a nonsensical bloody game? How all the military behaves like veteran soldiers without breaking ranks?

Makes no sense

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