This is “hard” science fiction at its best. It is an epic novel that combines the best of realistic science, actual Chinese history, and world-leaping fantasy. Over the course of the story, realistic nuclear physics, computer science, virtual reality, and extra-terrestrial communications are all seamlessly woven into a compelling narrative. Space and time hop back and forth. The story begins in the depths of the Cultural Revolution, when Chinese intellectuals were being rehabilitated, punished, or worse. “But burning was their fate; they were the generation meant to be consumed by fire.” The story soon shifts to forty years later and to physicists on the frontier of contemporary science. “Theory is the foundation of application. Isn’t discovering fundamental laws the biggest contribution to our time?” But there were also humans opposed to this scientific progress. “He believed that technological progress was a disease in human society. The explosive development of technology was analogous to the growth of cancer cells, and the results would be identical: the exhaustion of all sources of nourishment, the destruction of organs, and the final death of the host body.” On Earth, scientists start dying under mysterious circumstances. A secret society (or two) is revealed. Superpowers collaborate. There is also much philosophy interspersed with the hard science. “The more transparent something was, the more mysterious it seemed. The universe itself was transparent; as long as you were sufficiently sharp-eyed, you could see as far as you liked. But the farther you looked, the more mysterious it became.” As the mystery of this novel unfolds, the story envelops you even as the technical details of the science impresses.
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