Publishers Weekly
★ 10/04/2021
Climate change is the least worrying threat in this earth-shattering (literally) collection of 11 brilliant tales from Hugo Award winner Liu (The Three-Body Problem). In universes indifferent to humanity—filled with pragmatically minded, planet-stripping dinosaurs (“Devourer”), or where gods look to move back in with their offspring (“Taking Care of God”)—survival depends on those people brave or noble enough to take the long view, even if it takes 2,500 years to reach a new solar system, as in the title story. Despite the hardships Liu throws at his characters, he cushions his rougher truths with a wry humor; the elder humans in “For the Benefit of Mankind” pilot spaceships that “looked like an intergalactic cold-relief capsules,” and “Curse 5.0” pokes fun at Liu’s own sci-fi ambitions. While built around a hard-science outlook that acknowledges the bleakness of humanity’s chances, these stories also feature a lot of the heart and hopefulness that draw readers to science fiction in the first place. Liu conjures a sense of wonder while grounding his tales in well-wrought characters. This is a masterwork. (Oct.)
From the Publisher
Liu conjures a sense of wonder while grounding his tales in well-wrought characters. This is a masterwork.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“The passion in Liu's writing becomes an unstoppable force. These are the stories that really leap off the page and stick with you long after you’re done.”—Tor.com
“This audacious and ultimately optimistic early work will give Liu's English-reading fans a glimpse at his evolution as a writer and give any speculative fiction reader food for deep thought.”—Shelf Awareness on Supernova Era
Praise for the Three-Body trilogy:
“Wildly imaginative.”—President Barack Obama
“The War of the Worlds for the twenty-first century . . . Packed with a sense of wonder.”—The Wall Street Journal
“A breakthrough book . . . A unique blend of scientific and philosophical speculation, politics and history, conspiracy theory and cosmology.”—George R. R. Martin
“Tackles politics, philosophy, and virtual reality in a story that moves at a thriller's pace.”—The Washington Post
“Evokes the thrill of exploration and the beauty of scale.”—The New Yorker
“Stunning, elegant . . . A science fiction epic of the most profound kind.”—NPR
NOVEMBER 2021 - AudioFile
Narrators Feodor Chin and Greg Chun deftly narrate this collection of short stories from one of the most evocative science fiction writers in the business. All of these imaginative works highlight humanity’s will to survive and unquenchable thirst for discovery. Chun’s beautiful delivery of the title story perfectly portrays a boy who is growing up in an era of extremes: The sun will soon destroy Earth, so humanity must move the entire planet or perish. Chun gives the character a sense of numb acceptance at the unimaginable tragedies around him, but with an edge that illuminates his numbness as self-preservation. Yet beneath the fear and uncertainty, both narrators capture a poignant undercurrent of hope in each story, making them all profound and memorable. N.H. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
