Helpful Score: 3
Science Fiction Book of the Century?! Maybe..., January 7, 2006
Reviewer: Pugs (San Francisco, CA)
Underappreciated science fiction masterpiece; on par with Dune or Foundation. Probably the most ambitious exercise in imaginative world-creation ever attempted; Wingrove manages to pull it off with ease. But what really sets Chung Kuo apart is that it is so entertaining while still grappling with important religious, social, historical and philisophical issues. Jump in, and be prepared for a wonderful ride that you will not soon forget.
Reviewer: Pugs (San Francisco, CA)
Underappreciated science fiction masterpiece; on par with Dune or Foundation. Probably the most ambitious exercise in imaginative world-creation ever attempted; Wingrove manages to pull it off with ease. But what really sets Chung Kuo apart is that it is so entertaining while still grappling with important religious, social, historical and philisophical issues. Jump in, and be prepared for a wonderful ride that you will not soon forget.
Helpful Score: 2
This book is HUGE. The futuristic, dystopic world drawn is intense and complex, interesting and ... repulsive at times. The characters are both various and also complex, like the world itself. I loved the futuristic side of this book, as well as the complexity and the multiple conflicts, but I could have done without the graphic sexuality. It kept me from reading the rest of the series, which I'm sure are equally fascinating.
A remarkable work chock full of details and characterization as Wingrove practices the art of world-building. There are few who come close to his talent, although Frank Herbert of Dune fame is most often mentioned. Highly recommended.
" The year is 2190. China has once again become a world unto itself and this time its only boundary is space...
The world is City Earth, ruled by the Seven, China's new kings.
Beautiful, controlled, sensual, this high-tech society is rushing toward war between the forces of West and East, between the rebels who hunger for change and the overlords who demand stability, between the very powers of darkness and light...
An epic that draws us into a... world so real, so complete that we become denizens of the new Middle Kingdom, touched by longings we never imagined...driven by forces as ancient as man's first breath"
Book is in good cond.
The world is City Earth, ruled by the Seven, China's new kings.
Beautiful, controlled, sensual, this high-tech society is rushing toward war between the forces of West and East, between the rebels who hunger for change and the overlords who demand stability, between the very powers of darkness and light...
An epic that draws us into a... world so real, so complete that we become denizens of the new Middle Kingdom, touched by longings we never imagined...driven by forces as ancient as man's first breath"
Book is in good cond.
