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Song of Heaven: Chung Kuo Book 1 Kindle Edition

4.3 out of 5 stars 351

The year is 2085, two decades after the great economic collapse that destroyed Western civilization. With its power broken and its cities ruined, life in the West continues in scattered communities. In rural Dorset Jake Reed lives with his 14-year-old son and memories of the great collapse. Back in 2043, Jake was a rich, young futures broker, immersed in the datascape of the world's financial markets. He saw what was coming, and who was behind it. Forewarned, he was one of the few to escape the fall. For 22 years he has lived in fear of the future, and finally it is coming ; quite literally ; across the plain towards him. Chinese airships are in the skies and a strange, glacial structure has begun to dominate the horizon. Jake finds himself forcibly incorporated into the ever-expanding "World of Levels" a global city of some 34 billion souls, where social status is reflected by how far above the ground you live.
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Total Price: $48.91
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"One of the masterpieces of the decade."  —Washington Post

"The achievement of a master world-builder."  —
Omni

"Imagine a collaboration between James Clavell and Frank Herbert and the result might be something very much like Chung Kuo . . . smart, involving, entertaining."  —
San Francisco Chronicle

About the Author

David Wingrove is the Hugo Award–winning coauthor of The Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction, and the coauthor of the first three books in the Myst series.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004IK8MAI
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Corvus; Main edition (February 3, 2011)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 3, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1177 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 449 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 out of 5 stars 351

About the authors

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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
351 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2011
Like some of the other reviewers I came to Wingrove's spectacular Chung-Kuo series after about half the books were already in print and then waited for a new one each year. This is a spectacular series and I am pleased to death that they are being reworked, especially for Kindle.

I was drawn first to the books because of his inclusion of Wei-Chi or Go as the game is more commonly known worldwide. This is a territorial control game with two rules and one exception, played on the intersections of a 19 line by 19 line board. It is played with white and black stones. You might think that as simple as this sounds, two rules and one exception, the game would be easily mastered. Think again. It is the most complex strategy game in the world, no computer program can yet beat a skilled amateur. Unlike chess which focuses on moving pieces of different powers to dominate the center and kill the opposing king, in Wei Chi all the pieces are of equal value whose power comes from collaboration and the end result is coexistence.

So the genius inside Wingrove's series despite the overt central dominance of China is the long term strategic game in which power can be built from the edges, not necessarily in the center.

Son of Heaven's spinning out of the collapse of the West, which he makes all to eerily real here in 2011, is a great kickoff for the series. You have to look at the long game and the placement of the characters (stones) in his plots. I'll re-read it all just for the pleasure of it and I sure hope that after the second prequel they will just plop the other eight books right onto Kindle so I can have the delight of watching him place the stones on the board.

Thanks Mr. Wingrove for the restart, I am sorry they were out of print for so long, they deserve the same sort of attention that Dune or Lord of the Rings received. I often tell people that cash is the sincerest form of flattery and so I am happy to tell the publishers and Mr. Wingrove that you'll get my cash as soon as another installment appears for my Kindle.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2011
I read the original eight books, and although they vary in quality they were all good, usually inspired and often very exciting and engaging. The closest comparison for me would be Stephen Donaldson's Gap series. If that series left you emotionally drained then it is likely you will enjoy this series.

And now we have the rewrite, including the prequel, of which this is the first book, of two that are prequels and sixteen that are rewrites/republication of the original eight and presumably two more to conclude the series, in the way he wants to rather than the well reported publishing requirements.

It starts slow. This is unusual for David Wingrove, more often than not he throws you into a scene that is tense with action or emotion, and then builds. I did not like it and the first section of the book (what 80-100 pages) took an interminably long time for me (I read about 10 other books while doing it) before something worthwhile happened. the writing is not bad, in fact his style is very easy to read, the plot just dragged at first.

There are some major problems with this book (that do not apply to the series). First and foremost is the unbelievable shortsightedness of the main character in respect to his friends issue. This is set up at the beginning of the book, but Wingrove continually misses good times to correct this and so we have to wait before we finally have resolution to such an obvious plot device. It also takes a long time for the point of the book to become apparent, and when it does I was not always convinced of the characters actions being true to that character, or how that character changed, again a departure for Wingrove. The other complaint I have is that Wingrove is very good at creating different characters with different motivations, but here there is too much solipsism, too many characters feeling similar, feeling like they have the same joys as the author, and that too is a departure. I suspect that the writing was too close to home, when he writes in the Chinese world there is less there of his teenage years to write about nostalgically.

Once the market part is well under way we get what I have come to expect from Wingrove, fast paced action and twists and turns, highly charged emotional moments and events turning on a dime. He does this well, and when he gets going the pages just burn up. Wingrove is unusually sparing in this book. The body count felt lower than usual, and much of the evil that happened was hinted at rather than front and center.

You know the ending, the Chinese are coming, this is not a spoiler it is the point of this book, to tell of their coming. He eludes to the US being dead, suggests reasons for why so few blacks survived in parts of Chung Kuo, and we see the primal form of what will eventually become Chung Kuo and the Seven Dragons.

Don't expect light and fluffy, certainly do not expect anyone to live, and don't bet on who will die, because Wingrove is ruthless in adhering to his plot and will rape, beat, slice up, kill, torture and burn anyone, anyway he sees fit for the plot, and he will cuddle, kiss, cajole, give sexual favors to, raise up, financially reward for the same reason. Characters usually respond in kind to their nature, and there will be many a joyous moment as someone who should survive does, and those who should fail do, but there will be just as many times when you wonder where the author can go having killed or allowed to succeed someone who truly did not deserve it or is critical to the plot. When that happens expect only that the plot you thought you were following just took off with a whole new set of directions.

If Wingrove gets back into his groove this will be a very entertaining ride, the next book will probably decide whether I continue or wait for the last books to see how he wanted to end it.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2013
This book blew my socks off. I've heard Wingrove compared to Frank Herbert and was totally dubious, as I felt Frank Herbert was one of the greatest visionaries of an alternate future ever to exist, with a lesser requirement of suspension of disbelief necessary to lose ones self in the depths of the story.

David Wingrove certainly is in the same class as Herbert, and I never hoped to find someone who could develop a story as deep and well as Herbert or Tolkien, but this guy has a gift of foresight and for assembling the words to keep a slow reader like me burning through the pages. I read this book in 3 days, where I normally take my time and read a book over a week or 2.

Awesome writing, awesome premise and story.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2023
Love to the original printing. This seems like a prequel. I'll read the series and with hold my judgment until then.
Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2012
I read most of the Chung Kuo series years ago, so I was excited to learn that it was being re-released in a new format. I downloaded and read this prequel and I have to say that it does a great job setting the scene for what is to come. Plus the characters and the setting in Southern England are well drawn.

But here is my complaint. When will we be able to read the next book. Apparently no version of it is available on the US Amazon site. Paperback and Kindle versions of the book are available on the UK Amazon site, but not to American readers. Does anyone know what the gameplan is for the US?
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Top reviews from other countries

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Micah white
5.0 out of 5 stars Here I go again
Reviewed in Canada on October 30, 2018
I read the original series in the 90s and it was a mad affair. I like the mix Chinese culture and sci-fi. I don’t think there’s much else like it. If you like long sagas like Dune you will like this book. I find the author has some quirks thematically but he can really spin this yarn.
E. Pengelly
5.0 out of 5 stars Where it all began
Reviewed in Australia on September 13, 2018
I can’t wait to revisit the world of Chung Kuo and this first entry certainly did it justice. The setting was perfect, places and names that are yet to become familiar. This is essential reading for those returning to Chung Kuo and for those that are new - keep going - this is one of the true masterpieces of sci-fi fantasy.
DCM
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in France on July 31, 2013
Decouverte d'un nouvel auteur a travers ce livre. L'idee est originale, le scenario prenant, et les personnages sont bien construits. Je me suis precipité sur le 2eme tome.
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13thDuke
5.0 out of 5 stars A grim introduction to a possible future
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 1, 2011
Unlike others, I have had no exposure to the Chung Kuo series of books previously. I was looking for a SciFi read and stumbled across this, so I think my view will differ from those who have had that previous exposure to Wingrove's epic work. I had read that it was up there with Asimov's Foundation series and Herbert's Dune series - and that was good enough for me.

We are introduced to Jake Reed as a survivor in rural Dorset, living within a community that gets by through farming and trading. Those of you familiar with Terry Nation's 
Survivors  may recognise the battle to make ends meet in an environment devoid of technology. This setting is some 20 years after the world's technology ceased to be, and the community have got pretty used to getting by. The first third of the book is all about that community and how it works.

The next third goes back in time to when Jake was a trader in a virtual mareketplace called the Datascape. It is an AI world where stocks are represented by buildings, colours and smells that assualt the senses. It details his life, and how the world, both real and virtual, works - the haves and the have-nots. It is a world where social wellbeing seems to be broken, where the rich live in protected enclaves and the poor have to survive on their own as second class citizens. The Chinese then destroy this system in a matter of days. We learn about the shock it is to the establishment when it happens, and that there is an intelligence out there far greater than their own (think of the Mule in Asimov's Foundation series for a comparable example, perhaps).

The final third of the book shows us how everything changes when the Chinese finally come to Britain and begin to subjugate it. Jake also become aware of the complexities and the gestation period twenty years ago when all the Chinese agents were put in place to destroy Western civilisation.

The book deals a lot with how humans can be incredibly cruel and sadistic when under stress, or when they think they have total power and control. Yet is also shows that there is hope in humanity. It's bleak, but peppered with enough to hope that "everything works out in the end".

There are 20 books planned for this series, so if you read this be prepared to be in it for the long run.

I thought it was an excellent SciFi novel, and I look forward to reading the next instalment. Some have said the scenario is a little too fantastic, but I found it digestible. The Chinese are rapidly becoming a super power in today's economic climate and the book takes this domination and tweaks it with a "what if some nutter wanted China to dominate the world" scenario. It's not a million miles away from the Cold War SciFi from the middle part of the last century.

Highly recommended.
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Steve T.
5.0 out of 5 stars Chung Kuo / SF Series
Reviewed in Canada on November 19, 2020
Brilliant series!!
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