Ball Lightning Book Review

As a boy chen we re offered no other name watches in helpless horror as ball lightning engendered by a powerful electrical storm incinerates his parents.

Ball lightning book review. Once ball lightning gets rolling this sci fi mind bender shines the novel is chinese writer cixin liu s first in english since his remembrance of earth s past trilogy. The book flap and reviews of ball lightning reveal little about the story or plot so i thought i d talk a little about that without giving too much of the game away. While you might have to slog through some sections liu s imagination and the technologies he invents were enough for me to keep turning pages and lovers of hard sci fi. The following is a story from rudolph herzog s collection ghosts of berlin translated by emma rault rudolph herzog son of werner herzog is an award winning writer and director.

The second book in that series the dark forest remains in my personal top three sci fi novels of all time and will most likely stay there for a very long time. In ball lightning the inexplicable and the eerie are simply elements that science has yet to explain. Cixin liu s ball lightning opens with a young chen witnessing his parents being incinerated by an unexplained sphere of energy and then follows chen as he delves ever deeper into the mysteries surrounding this inscrutable atmospheric phenomenon.

In 2018 the english version translated by joel martinsen was published in the us by tor books. Im a fan of cixin lius remembrance of earth past trilogy. And that series. A new science fiction venture from the award winning chinese author of the brilliant alien contact trilogy concluded with death s end 2016 whose readers hopefully learned to expect the unexpected.

Plus the fact that ball lightning is translated by joel martinsen the. Overall ball lightning is a flawed but ultimately intriguing novel. Ball lightning is a captivating subject for those who don t know its an atmospheric electrical phenomenon which displays as floating orbs from pea sized up to several metres. Throughout the book he takes time to examine the practical real world implications which of course do interupt the pace but provide fascinating distractions.

His obsession leads him into top secret laboratories and culminates in the accidental realization of a new form of military deterrence. 3 5 5 stars cixin liu greatly examined the effects of obsession science and weaponry in ball lightning. It should be noted that the author who claims to have personally experienced ball lightning discusses the book s genesis in the afterword which was originally released in. It should be noted that the author who claims to have personally experienced ball lightning discusses the book s genesis in the afterword which was originally released in.