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Son of Heaven (Chung Kuo Book 1) by [Wingrove, David]

Son of Heaven (Chung Kuo Book 1) Kindle Edition

by David Wingrove (Author)

52 customer reviews

Book 1 of 8 in Chung Kuo (8 Book Series)

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The brand-new prequel to Chung Kuo, a masterwork of future history standing alongside Herbert's Dune and Asimov's Foundation 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 '43, 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 toward 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. Here, under the rule of the mighty Tsao Ch'un, a resurgent China is seeking to abolish the past and bring about world peace through rigidly enforced order—but a civil war looms, and Jake will find himself at the heart of the struggle for the future.

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Length: 449 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Page Flip: Enabled

Complete Series

Chung Kuo (8 Book Series)

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Product details

File Size: 1155 KB
Print Length: 449 pages
Publisher: Corvus; 1 edition (September 1, 2012)
Publication Date: September 1, 2012
Language: English
ASIN: B009Z777Z0
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

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Enabled

Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Screen Reader: Supported

Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

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3.9 out of 5 stars

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Michael Russell

A fresh new stone on the board

May 3, 2011

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

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.

10 people found this helpful

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enjoyable, eastern utopian experiment

January 1, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I read the original series, minus the last book, which I was not aware of until recently. This "pre-quel" volume slows things down a bit, backs the story up a century or so, and gives us some deeper character development that has brought a new level of enjoyment to the series for me.

Part of the enjoyment of this series has come from the utopian aspects of the world Wingrove creates. While being familiar with Western utopias, Wingrove explores an eastern version of it, and over the course of the series charts its eventual demise. We witness through the minds and lives of the characters the creation and corruption of a vast world-spanning eastern utopian state, which, because of the flaw in human heart, as well as the desire for freedom, is incapable of creating a perfect society. As in all such schemes, in the first several volumes we see massive genocide and the destruction of goodness that does not fit the new schematics of eastern perfection. Very engrossing for these reasons.

Warning, Wingrove likes to throws occasional sexually explicit moments into the series, as well as some extreme violence, though this particular volume lacks the later. If that's not your cup of tea.... These scenes fit the story, but could have been left to being mentioned indirectly. Not for younger readers.

Overall I enjoyed the read and am excited the series is coming out in a new longer and developed manner.

The graphics on the cover are nice though the spine cracks over time.

One person found this helpful

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June 7, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

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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Fine but well traveled beginning.

August 22, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I immensly enjoyed reading the first half of Chung Kuo when I found it in paperback twelve or so years ago. I never got to read the second half because the books were extremely hard to find. Which means when I heard that David was going to revise the work and release it again I was excited. I was even more excited when I found out that he was going to write a two volume prequel to start the series off properly.

The first volume is Son of Heaven, and it is a good by the numbers end of civilization story. The characters are compelling and wonderful, though a few do only rise slightly above sketches reminiscent of Dickens. David strong point is human interaction and he true to form through most of the novel. The only time that I felt a phoniness to the interactions was during the flashback where he tried to portray a crass, self centered, almost greedy Jake that just didn't quite come off as genuine.

Also not genuine are the James Bond level understanding of covert operations that Jake suddenly develops during that same flashback.

The best parts of the novel, are the setting up of the neo-pastoral life that comes to England after the crash. Not too much Mad Max, but just enough to keep me believing what was portrayed on the page.

Because this is a set up novel, it is difficult to pull off and still be completely original, Wingrove straddles this line well borrowing just what he needs to provide the reader with a well crafted if at times familiar novel.

2 people found this helpful

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