Book Review: Of Ants and Dinosaurs by Liu Cixin

A satirical fable, a political allegory and an ecological warning from the author of The Three-Body Problem.
In a sunlit clearing in central Gondwana, on an otherwise ordinary day in the late Cretaceous, the seeds of Earth's first and greatest civilization were sown in the grisly aftermath of a Tyrannosaurus' lunch.
Throughout the universe, intelligence is a rare and fragile commodity – a fleeting glimmer in the long night of cosmic history. That Earth should harbour not just one but two intelligent species at the same time, defies the odds. That these species, so unalike – and yet so complementary – should forge an alliance that kindled a civilization defies logic. But time is endless and everything comes to pass eventually...
The alliance between ants and dinosaurs, was of course, based on dentistry. Yet from such humble beginnings came writing, mathematics, computers, fusion, antimatter and even space travel – a veritable Age of Wonder! But such magnificent industry comes at a price – a price paid first by Earth's biosphere, and then by all those dependent on it.
And yet the Dinosaurs refused to heed the Ants' warning of impending ecological collapse, leaving the Ant Federation facing a single dilemma: destroy the dinosaurs, destroy a civilization... or perish alongside them?

Liu Cixin isn’t one of my favorite authors (I didn’t enjoy The Three-Body Problem), but Of Ants and Dinosaurs was a present, and that worked well for one of the prompts of the book challenge I’m doing with some friends. It was also an interesting premise, so I decided to give Liu Cixin another chance.

Of Ants and Dinosaurs is a fable that makes us think of our own future. In an alternative Cretaceous period, both Ants and Dinosaurs have developed great intelligence and established a symbiotic relationship that helped both species reach their full potential. In the book, we see the rise and fall of the alliance between ants and dinosaurs, which raises questions about our own actions and our own destiny.

While I found this novella to be thought-provoking, I often thought it was terribly simplistic, with cardboard cutout characters and forced dialogue. I think it’s worth mentioning that there is a great majority of male characters, which doesn’t surprise me, as I found his writing in The Three-Body Problem to be misogynistic.

At times, the evolution and associations between both species reminded me a bit of some of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s novels, but while I found the worlds constructed by Tchaikovsky rich and detailed, Liu’s proposal felt superficial and childish at times. I think the idea was a really good one, but it lacked execution.

Story (Plot)
Overall:

lomeraniel

My name is Elena. Since I was a little child I loved science fiction and fantasy, and I can’t resist a good novel. In 2015, while wait I started to listen to audiobooks and I discovered the pleasure in being able to read while doing my daily tasks, so there’s always an audiobook playing on my phone. If you see me with my Bluetooth headphones on, please be gentle, I get easily startled.

I live with my boyfriend, which I met during my six-year stay in Belgium, four cockatiels, eight lovebirds, and a hamster in Madrid, Spain; and I like to spend my free time knitting and sewing while listening to audiobooks.