'Like Ursula K. Le Guin rewriting The Lord of the Flies for the quantum age' NPR
'Cixin Liu is the author of your next favourite sci-fi novel' WIRED
Eight years ago and eight light years away, a supermassive star died.
Tonight, a supernova tsunami of high energy will finally reach Earth. Dark skies will shine bright as a new star blooms in the heavens and within a year everyone over the age of thirteen will be dead, their chromosomes irreversibly damaged.
And so the countdown begins.
Parents apprentice their children and try to pass on the knowledge they'll need to keep the world running.
But the last generation may not want to carry the legacy of their parents' world. And though they imagine a better, brighter future, they may not be able to escape humanity's dark instincts...
Head of Zeus * Science Fiction
05 Aug 2021 * 448pp * £8.99 * 9781800248960
REVIEWS
'A unique blend of scientific and philosophical speculation, politics and history, conspiracy theory and cosmology'
George RR Martin
'A marvellous mélange of awe-inspiring scientific concepts, clever plotting and quirky yet plausible characters'
TLS
'Wildly imaginative, really interesting ... The scope of it was immense'
Barack Obama
'China's answer to Arthur C. Clarke'
New Yorker
'A milestone in Chinese science fiction'
New York Times
Author
Translator
Joel Martinsen
Joel Martinsen is the translator of The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu and (with Alice Xin Liu) of The Problem With Me, a collection of essays by Han Han. His translations of short fiction have appeared in Pathlight, Chutzpah, and Words Without Borders. He lives in Beijing.