Kadomi reviewed Son Of Heaven by David Wingrove
Review of 'Son Of Heaven' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
Chung Kuo was first released in the 90s, as an 8-part series. I remember often holding the books in my hands at the book store, because the covers looked intriguing. I have a love of Asian-flavored fantasy, and so a China-centric SF series seemed interesting. I didn't read a lot of SF at the time though, and never picked it up. Apparently, the end was rushed based on publisher demands and now almost 25 years later, the author decided to re-write the series, in TWENTY short novels. Ambitious. Possibly flawed plan because the new publisher might already be pulling out again after 8 books.
Nevertheless, I picked up the first book of the recast series. The first two books are prequels of the original series, set in the years 2045 and 2065. Our hero is Jake Reed who lives in a post-apocalyptic England 20 years after the Collapse. Large parts …
Chung Kuo was first released in the 90s, as an 8-part series. I remember often holding the books in my hands at the book store, because the covers looked intriguing. I have a love of Asian-flavored fantasy, and so a China-centric SF series seemed interesting. I didn't read a lot of SF at the time though, and never picked it up. Apparently, the end was rushed based on publisher demands and now almost 25 years later, the author decided to re-write the series, in TWENTY short novels. Ambitious. Possibly flawed plan because the new publisher might already be pulling out again after 8 books.
Nevertheless, I picked up the first book of the recast series. The first two books are prequels of the original series, set in the years 2045 and 2065. Our hero is Jake Reed who lives in a post-apocalyptic England 20 years after the Collapse. Large parts of the book describe his life in rural England near Dorchester, his life with his son, him being a widower, and to some degree his blue balls. Seriously, more time than ever necessary is spent on romantic feelings and mourning and shame of wanting to boink your sister-in-law than I ever want to read outside of a romance novel.
In flashbacks, we learn more about the Collapse and how Jake used to be a 'login', a cyberspace broker, who watched the world market collapse and the world fall to pieces. 20 years later, the ones who brought the Collapse about are ready to pick up the pieces and re-create the world in their image: the Han, the Chinese. Here's where finally a bit of SF enters the picture, as the Chinese bring back the technology.
I enjoyed the flashbacks of the Collapse, and the underlying premise of it all. I think it could be incredibly interesting to see how this story continues, but I seriously hope that it will involve far less romance crap as the story goes on. I didn't care much for Jake, but I did like Jiang Lei, the Chinese general sent to conquer England. Also, I hope we will get far more interesting villains than the cardboard villain Wang.
Overall, underwhelming start, and I think I'll spend some time reading other books first before picking up book 2.
2.5 stars