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Usurper of the Sun
The mysterious Builders have brought humanity to the edge of extinction; can they be reasoned with, or must they be destroyed? Aki Shiraishi is a high school student working in the astronomy club and one of the few witnesses to an amazing event: someone is building a tower on the planet Mercury. Soon, the Builders have constructed a ring around the sun, threatening the ecology of Earth with an immense shadow. Aki is inspired to pursue a career in science, and the truth. She must determine the purpose of the ring and the plans of its creators, as the survival of both species - humanity and the alien Builders - hangs in the balance.
276 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
October 13, 2011
oy... i wrote a long review, and goodreads ate it. not this book's fault.
but i'm not prepared to rewrite. so, the gist:
1. there are no real humans in this book. only cardboard cutouts that prop up the plot.
2. the plot rocks, but is not treated with the full consideration it deserves.
3. i read through (skipping mightily) in the hope that the aliens would be worth the pages and pages of infodump. they aren't. they might have been, but the author didn't seem interested enough in them to detail them, and they are disposed of in fewer than 30 pages of the 272.
in short: if you really like geeky details, read it. if you like humans and potential alien cultures and science written to a non-scientist scale, skip it.
sorry, the original review was much better, and funnier, but technology ate both my humor and my patience.
but i'm not prepared to rewrite. so, the gist:
1. there are no real humans in this book. only cardboard cutouts that prop up the plot.
2. the plot rocks, but is not treated with the full consideration it deserves.
3. i read through (skipping mightily) in the hope that the aliens would be worth the pages and pages of infodump. they aren't. they might have been, but the author didn't seem interested enough in them to detail them, and they are disposed of in fewer than 30 pages of the 272.
in short: if you really like geeky details, read it. if you like humans and potential alien cultures and science written to a non-scientist scale, skip it.
sorry, the original review was much better, and funnier, but technology ate both my humor and my patience.
October 19, 2018
3.5, rounded up for being brazenly different. It’s a first contact story that would make an amazing anime, if only the animators would unleash their imaginations to override the disappointing alien descriptions in the book. After hunting an answer for 3/4 of the book, the final meeting was quite a let down in terms of visuals, even if the ideas were great. It needs an artist eye, not a writer’s.
What I liked: Hard SF where science is plausible, fact-checked and NOT written like a fucking manual. Intriguing premise, flawlessly led to completion. No plot holes. Some amazing images, at times I even felt that sense of wonder I thought I lost a long time ago. The aliens (as idea).
What I didn’t like: Utilitarian writing style. Cardboard characters (even the main hero is focused on a single thing, exploring the alien mystery, her life is as monotonous as can be). The aliens (as execution).
All in all, highly recommended if only to see how to craft a great plot that’s actually plausible and might lead some kids towards science.
What I liked: Hard SF where science is plausible, fact-checked and NOT written like a fucking manual. Intriguing premise, flawlessly led to completion. No plot holes. Some amazing images, at times I even felt that sense of wonder I thought I lost a long time ago. The aliens (as idea).
What I didn’t like: Utilitarian writing style. Cardboard characters (even the main hero is focused on a single thing, exploring the alien mystery, her life is as monotonous as can be). The aliens (as execution).
All in all, highly recommended if only to see how to craft a great plot that’s actually plausible and might lead some kids towards science.
April 9, 2019
I can understand why some people might dislike this book. But if you loved Arthur C. Clarke's "Rendezvous with Rama" I'm sure you'll love this book as well.
I was a bit shocked to discover the reduced number of reviews on this book, the countless criticisms and 1 and 2-star ratings surrounding this story. That's why I felt I should give my honest opinion about it.
This book narrates the first contact between humans and an advanced alien intelligence. It depicts Aki Shiraishi as the main character, a scientist consumed by questions: Are the aliens like us? Will they care? Can we coexist? What can they teach us?
The things that I really really liked:
The pacing of the narrative: the short "chapters" organized as journal entries and the reduced amount of unnecessary scientific jargon makes this book very easy to read.
As Ursula Le Guin put it: every science fiction novel is a thought experiment. This book is definetly that, it has a different take on how the encounter between two distinct civilizations would play out. It is unexpected and that's what I liked the most about this book.
Aki is a genuine scientist. As a scientist myself I can recognize that. Usually, scientists tend to be portrayed as arrogant and isolated creatures. Brilliant human beings that see themselves as better than anyone else. This is far from being realistic. Aki is just a person, consumed by a question and led by curiosity. She managed to remain humble even though her actions made her famous in the eyes of humankind.
The ending was genuine and interesting!
I was a bit shocked to discover the reduced number of reviews on this book, the countless criticisms and 1 and 2-star ratings surrounding this story. That's why I felt I should give my honest opinion about it.
This book narrates the first contact between humans and an advanced alien intelligence. It depicts Aki Shiraishi as the main character, a scientist consumed by questions: Are the aliens like us? Will they care? Can we coexist? What can they teach us?
The things that I really really liked:
The pacing of the narrative: the short "chapters" organized as journal entries and the reduced amount of unnecessary scientific jargon makes this book very easy to read.
As Ursula Le Guin put it: every science fiction novel is a thought experiment. This book is definetly that, it has a different take on how the encounter between two distinct civilizations would play out. It is unexpected and that's what I liked the most about this book.
Aki is a genuine scientist. As a scientist myself I can recognize that. Usually, scientists tend to be portrayed as arrogant and isolated creatures. Brilliant human beings that see themselves as better than anyone else. This is far from being realistic. Aki is just a person, consumed by a question and led by curiosity. She managed to remain humble even though her actions made her famous in the eyes of humankind.
The ending was genuine and interesting!
November 7, 2014
This book wasn't overwrought with human emotion(which was there but not pandered to). It emphasised the larger picture....and yes it was a large stretch to make Aki present in every significant contact...but it did keep me as the reader engaged in the story. And I loved the larger story...our insignificance and the very embarrassing low level that we exist on in comparison to other intelligences.
December 19, 2012
This is the first book I've read with heavy science fiction elements, I did enjoy the story but I found the characters to be very poorly developed, often the narrative would be a little bogged down with scientific description and so character relationships are barely touched upon - I found Aki and Mark's relationship to be a big offender of this, it's not developed much at all and yet Aki frequently reflects upon it nostalgically as though the reader is supposed to understand her feelings.
I also feel the themes could have been explored further, the mystery of the Builders, the state of the Earth after the ring is constructed, the idea of A.I and the other degrees of intelligence, all of it could be expanded upon and delivered to the reader in a more interesting manner than how it's been written in the book. I expect the writing is a victim to the short length of the novel, detail in all areas is sacrificed.
Overall, pleasant but underwhelming.
I also feel the themes could have been explored further, the mystery of the Builders, the state of the Earth after the ring is constructed, the idea of A.I and the other degrees of intelligence, all of it could be expanded upon and delivered to the reader in a more interesting manner than how it's been written in the book. I expect the writing is a victim to the short length of the novel, detail in all areas is sacrificed.
Overall, pleasant but underwhelming.
February 24, 2018
I wasn't really thrilled with Hōsuke Nojiri's Usurper of the Sun. I love good first contact books, and I usually really enjoy Japanese science fiction. The book felt really flat, with a lot of telling and not a lot of showing. The book does have a really good first contact premise: the aliens send a much smaller, lighter probe at higher speeds to disassemble a near-sun object (Mercury, in our case) and use it to build gigantic solar-powered lasers to transfer energy to their ship and power down its engines. It's been done before by Vinge, Asimov, Stross. Hell, I did it for one of my novels. In this case, the laser platform is so big it blocks out enough of the sun and threatens the Earth's ecosystem, and the human beings have to fight the platforms. Our heroine, Aki, has spent her whole life studying them, and ends up on two different missions, one to the platforms, and eventually one to meet the aliens themselves. And that's where it gets disappointing.
There's a story about the filming Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, you know, the one about the whales, in which director Leonard Nimoy fought tooth and nail with the money people at Paramount to not have subtitles for the conversation between the aliens and the whales. The suits said that people would be mad they didn't know what the aliens and whales talked about; Nimoy thought that for the sake of the plot the audience didn't have to know, and that just as whalesong is mysterious to us now, the relationship between the aliens and the whales should remain mysterious to us then. I agree with Nimoy.
Unfortunately, Nojiri doesn't. There's an agonizing chapter toward the end of the book where the aliens basically give you an infodump. I won't reveal any spoilers, but it really let out a lot of the air of the book. Let's just say, you know those anime where the antagonist comes out and explains it all to you and it still doesn't help? Yeah... that.
The characters are pretty lifeless, mostly cardboard set pieces intended to convey information. The book has very few twists, and it mostly reads like "And then this happened, and then that happened, and then..." which is also pretty dull. In a lot of ways, Usurper reminded of Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet series, which sells and sells to someone, and the author tries to handle relativistic slower-than-light space battles as scientifically and accurately as possible, but which also has rather cardboardy characters and a droning, saw-it-from-a-million-miles plot structure.
Maybe it was the translator, but I don't think so. There are fine ideas in this book, two of the best of which are introduced and then are just ignored. It's an okay book, but that's all, just okay. In the hands of a great storyteller it would be awesome, but presumably a great storyteller would have better and more modern ideas.
There's a story about the filming Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, you know, the one about the whales, in which director Leonard Nimoy fought tooth and nail with the money people at Paramount to not have subtitles for the conversation between the aliens and the whales. The suits said that people would be mad they didn't know what the aliens and whales talked about; Nimoy thought that for the sake of the plot the audience didn't have to know, and that just as whalesong is mysterious to us now, the relationship between the aliens and the whales should remain mysterious to us then. I agree with Nimoy.
Unfortunately, Nojiri doesn't. There's an agonizing chapter toward the end of the book where the aliens basically give you an infodump. I won't reveal any spoilers, but it really let out a lot of the air of the book. Let's just say, you know those anime where the antagonist comes out and explains it all to you and it still doesn't help? Yeah... that.
The characters are pretty lifeless, mostly cardboard set pieces intended to convey information. The book has very few twists, and it mostly reads like "And then this happened, and then that happened, and then..." which is also pretty dull. In a lot of ways, Usurper reminded of Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet series, which sells and sells to someone, and the author tries to handle relativistic slower-than-light space battles as scientifically and accurately as possible, but which also has rather cardboardy characters and a droning, saw-it-from-a-million-miles plot structure.
Maybe it was the translator, but I don't think so. There are fine ideas in this book, two of the best of which are introduced and then are just ignored. It's an okay book, but that's all, just okay. In the hands of a great storyteller it would be awesome, but presumably a great storyteller would have better and more modern ideas.
March 18, 2018
Usurper of the Sun was a fantastic book that moves from the joy of discovery of an anomalous astronomical object discovered by the book's protagonist though supporting characters in a common goals in understanding the object's :purpose,it's origin,and the intelligence behind it. What unfolds is a look at what humankind considers intelligence and what may lie beyond or parallel to it while discovering all along we may not have all our questions answered in first contact with alien species or consciousness. Fascinating read!
March 23, 2013
This is a new book in Japan Foundation Library. Knowing nothing at all about the book was not an excuse for me to not borrow it…in fact, being new book as the main reason I borrowed it. It looks like a good book and I haven’t yet read sci-fi by Japanese author.
Usurper of The Sun had interesting story but VERY slow pace. The incredibly slow pace almost made me abandon the book…but my curiosity got the better of me. I continued reading with a lot of skimming.
Aki Shiraishi was a high school student when she first spotted a tower on Mercury. Her discovery made a lot of scientist interested with it and the tower made Aki became obsesses with it. Over the years, the tower grew into a massive ring around Mercury. Being so close to the sun, the ring caused sun blocking. The earth with its lack of sunlight was facing human extinction.
The scientist tried a lot of method to destroy the ring but the ring had its own defend mechanism. The world created UNSDF (United Nation Space Defend Force) which then sent a ship with four crews to figure out a way to destroy the ring. Aki was chosen as the Ringologist. But destroying the ring didn’t solve the problem because the Builders (the alien who made the ring) were coming to our solar system.
Like I have said above, the story is very interesting but Kousuke Nojiri wrote it in a boring way with too many scientific phrases. I like detailed sci-fi story like Crichton often wrote, but Crichton has a way to make science interesting… Kousuke Nojiri lacks of ability to keep the science interesting. Although I skimmed more than half of the book, but I still managed to follow the story. He needs to learn to make a more gripping story where each page is important to be read.
Continue reading> http://bokunosekai.wordpress.com/2013...
Usurper of The Sun had interesting story but VERY slow pace. The incredibly slow pace almost made me abandon the book…but my curiosity got the better of me. I continued reading with a lot of skimming.
Aki Shiraishi was a high school student when she first spotted a tower on Mercury. Her discovery made a lot of scientist interested with it and the tower made Aki became obsesses with it. Over the years, the tower grew into a massive ring around Mercury. Being so close to the sun, the ring caused sun blocking. The earth with its lack of sunlight was facing human extinction.
The scientist tried a lot of method to destroy the ring but the ring had its own defend mechanism. The world created UNSDF (United Nation Space Defend Force) which then sent a ship with four crews to figure out a way to destroy the ring. Aki was chosen as the Ringologist. But destroying the ring didn’t solve the problem because the Builders (the alien who made the ring) were coming to our solar system.
Like I have said above, the story is very interesting but Kousuke Nojiri wrote it in a boring way with too many scientific phrases. I like detailed sci-fi story like Crichton often wrote, but Crichton has a way to make science interesting… Kousuke Nojiri lacks of ability to keep the science interesting. Although I skimmed more than half of the book, but I still managed to follow the story. He needs to learn to make a more gripping story where each page is important to be read.
Continue reading> http://bokunosekai.wordpress.com/2013...
May 16, 2019
Rating to follow.
[edit] A few weeks after I finished it. 3.5 stars. I love the concept, but am not blown away by the characters or execution in particular.
Anyway, what struck me while reading: the plot of Usurper of the Sun feels like something I have read before. To be specific, it feels like a seriously abridged version of The Three-Body Problem. Or rather, The Three-Body Problem feels like an extended, much more detailed and hugely improved version of Usurper of the Sun.
Just thought that was fascinating. There is so much sci-fi out there. So many ideas that aren't new or unique. Books often end up being much of the same (even when they're not copies of each other) or entirely unique and creative. But the similarity in ideas and yet absolute distinctiveness in the execution of these two books is striking.
I'm not judging and/or concluding anything.
(To be clear, Usurper of the Sun was first published in Japanese as 太陽の簒奪者 in 2002, whereas the very first version of The Three-Body Problem (三体) was a serialisation published in 2006.)
[edit] A few weeks after I finished it. 3.5 stars. I love the concept, but am not blown away by the characters or execution in particular.
Anyway, what struck me while reading: the plot of Usurper of the Sun feels like something I have read before. To be specific, it feels like a seriously abridged version of The Three-Body Problem. Or rather, The Three-Body Problem feels like an extended, much more detailed and hugely improved version of Usurper of the Sun.
Just thought that was fascinating. There is so much sci-fi out there. So many ideas that aren't new or unique. Books often end up being much of the same (even when they're not copies of each other) or entirely unique and creative. But the similarity in ideas and yet absolute distinctiveness in the execution of these two books is striking.
I'm not judging and/or concluding anything.
(To be clear, Usurper of the Sun was first published in Japanese as 太陽の簒奪者 in 2002, whereas the very first version of The Three-Body Problem (三体) was a serialisation published in 2006.)
August 11, 2012
A short but interesting sf novel of First Contact, and dealing with intelligence's so far above our level, and so different, it's almost impossible to communicate with them. My rating would normally have been a bit lower due to characterizations that were a bit shy of being truly 3-D, but because the book was originally written in Japanese, I gave the author, and translator, the benefit of the doubt. I appreciated the concise writing style, taking a good idea and NOT turning it into grand space opera... very much appreciated!
July 27, 2010
The overall story is a fascinating one - an alien ring being constructed around the sun for no known purpose is blocking light to the Earth - but the execution falls somewhat flat. The characters in the book are all very flat and impersonable. The author nailed the science but just couldn't manage to fill the story with anyone I cared about. Still, compared to a lot of recent scifi, the story was thought provoking and kept me reading.
September 19, 2017
This is one of the most elegantly-written (and translated) books I've ever read. It tops Lord of the Rings for me. Bests Ender's Game. It's phenomenal.
I'm trying to convince my Hollywood big wig friends to make it into a movie. Maybe with Amy Adams as the lead.
A must read for any fan of excellent fiction.
I'm trying to convince my Hollywood big wig friends to make it into a movie. Maybe with Amy Adams as the lead.
A must read for any fan of excellent fiction.
November 24, 2017
A compellingly poetic first contact story, gleaming with tech savvy, digi-awareness, appealing human detail, and alien peril. Think Arthur C. Clarke meets Haruki Murakami, and gaze at Mercury in the sunset and sunrise with new awe.
January 20, 2018
I have read a few anthologies of short Japanese science fiction stories but this is my first full length novel. I can see why this book would not work for everyone. It is my first time reading Nojiri and I can't speak to the translation as I only read it in English. So lets keep that in mind up front. I can't speak for what was lost in translation and can only guess certain things.
Usurper of the Sun is a hard-sci-fi first contact novel that is international in scope but starts in Japan and follows Aki a Japanese woman through the discovery of alien life and a forty year journey to make contact. What we have is one of the best first contact novels I have ever read that is overflowing with ideas. As a space nerd myself I enjoyed that that the scope of space was not ignored the "Builders" are in a sense first discovered in ancient china when a star acts strangely in the sky. Of course it is hundreds of year later before we get answer to what happened.
The Story kicks off when Aki a young astronomy student in Japan uses the brief solar eclipse hitting Japan to train her telescope on Mercury while it is in conjunction with the sun. She sees a huge tower that appears to be constructed. Not only did someone build this tower but it appears it is being used to construct a more massive ring around the sun that will end up having the effect of blocking out enough light to disrupt the earth. This sets off a desperate mission to contact the builders and stop the earth from falling into a artificially created ice age.
This novel worked for me on several levels. As a space nerd I enjoyed how the book used real or very close to real facts about space, the solar system and astronomy. Nojiri played a bit with the ideas of space travel, skipped some huge chunks of travel but perhaps my favorite thing is how this novel told a first contact story over a long forty year process. The long span that the story is told over held the novel build to big reveals and make the pay-off work. This gives the first contact story a more realistic feeling, and it is hard to talk about this without spoilers for the third act but I thought he had a really interesting a creative take on aliens who existed in a way that was creative.
I know some will probably see the characters as flat, and that is perhaps the only weakness here. Outside of Aki the other characters in this book do not get much attention. That is a valid complaint, but for me the ideas and the story were good enough to carry the book. That being said Aki was strong enough of a character that I felt I knew here and was rooting for her that is all we can ask after all. Sure it could have been better but I still loved it enough to give the novel a full five star review. Those interested in creative idea expanding Sci-fi shoulod read it. Readers who want to check out sci-fi from other cultures NEED to read this.
Usurper of the Sun is a hard-sci-fi first contact novel that is international in scope but starts in Japan and follows Aki a Japanese woman through the discovery of alien life and a forty year journey to make contact. What we have is one of the best first contact novels I have ever read that is overflowing with ideas. As a space nerd myself I enjoyed that that the scope of space was not ignored the "Builders" are in a sense first discovered in ancient china when a star acts strangely in the sky. Of course it is hundreds of year later before we get answer to what happened.
The Story kicks off when Aki a young astronomy student in Japan uses the brief solar eclipse hitting Japan to train her telescope on Mercury while it is in conjunction with the sun. She sees a huge tower that appears to be constructed. Not only did someone build this tower but it appears it is being used to construct a more massive ring around the sun that will end up having the effect of blocking out enough light to disrupt the earth. This sets off a desperate mission to contact the builders and stop the earth from falling into a artificially created ice age.
This novel worked for me on several levels. As a space nerd I enjoyed how the book used real or very close to real facts about space, the solar system and astronomy. Nojiri played a bit with the ideas of space travel, skipped some huge chunks of travel but perhaps my favorite thing is how this novel told a first contact story over a long forty year process. The long span that the story is told over held the novel build to big reveals and make the pay-off work. This gives the first contact story a more realistic feeling, and it is hard to talk about this without spoilers for the third act but I thought he had a really interesting a creative take on aliens who existed in a way that was creative.
I know some will probably see the characters as flat, and that is perhaps the only weakness here. Outside of Aki the other characters in this book do not get much attention. That is a valid complaint, but for me the ideas and the story were good enough to carry the book. That being said Aki was strong enough of a character that I felt I knew here and was rooting for her that is all we can ask after all. Sure it could have been better but I still loved it enough to give the novel a full five star review. Those interested in creative idea expanding Sci-fi shoulod read it. Readers who want to check out sci-fi from other cultures NEED to read this.
June 10, 2020
As a fan of hard sci-fi, Usurper of the Sun is a modern example of hard sci-fi done right. The science is largely based on plausible existing technology or extensions of existing technology, and the time scales are thoughtfully constructed as to make it seem as plausible as possible (movement in space conducted on the order of months and years rather than instantaneously, for example). I especially appreciated the opening of the book which takes a brief second to describe how humans of the past would view an alien race's activity from afar.
I've seen a few people in the reviews here comment that the characters are without depth, but I would argue that that is not true here. Rather, Nojiri gives us as much of the characters as we need to comprehend the story itself without getting bogged down in needless emotions or extraneous plot points. I found myself caring for the major characters and did not find their descriptions lacking at all.
If you're a fan of hard sci-fi at all, Usurper of the Sun won't disappoint. I hope to read more of Nojiri works in the future.
I've seen a few people in the reviews here comment that the characters are without depth, but I would argue that that is not true here. Rather, Nojiri gives us as much of the characters as we need to comprehend the story itself without getting bogged down in needless emotions or extraneous plot points. I found myself caring for the major characters and did not find their descriptions lacking at all.
If you're a fan of hard sci-fi at all, Usurper of the Sun won't disappoint. I hope to read more of Nojiri works in the future.
May 2, 2020
Buku yang menarik, saya suka detail ilmiahnya seperti jurnal ilmiah dan konsep kontak Alien nya yang gak Biasa Bukan seperti cerita fiksi ilmiah biasa yang Alien datang ke bumi memakai UFO tapi disini Alien ngirim Neumann probe ke Merkurius untuk membentuk semacam dyson Sphere dan disusul Armada Para Alien Builder, Para Alien builder bagus dalam sifat mereka dapat feel alienya contohnya ketika mereka mengacuhkan Pesan manusia karena pemrosesan data atau kesadaran mereka berbeda dengan Mahluk hasil evolusi seperti manusia, cuman ya sayang nya dari penokohan disisi manusia kayak kurang gitu, terlalu kaku, saya ngeliat dialog tiap karakter kayak gak hidup, Penuh detail ilmiah bagus tapi harus di sertai juga dengan penokohan yang bagus , mungkin kalau dipoles sedikit lagi buku ini jadi buku fiksi ilmiah yang sempurna
October 15, 2025
This is the type of book that fits some hard science elements in with a really outlandish and impossible situation. An oversimplified premise is that aliens try to lasso our sun, and top scientists put their best "cold fish" on the case. At least the author literally describes the main character in those exact words. The characters have admittedly no personality but the science can be fun if you don't "um actually" it.
I thought the ending was a little bit of a cop out, in the same way that the lame ending of Abyss keeps it from being totally incredible start to finish. The character finally shows an emotional side in the very end, but it felt like it was out of nowhere. I would have liked to read more of that. It was a very minor touch and didn't take away from the progression of the novel, so I think it would have been easy to have more of that without making things too drawn out.
I thought the ending was a little bit of a cop out, in the same way that the lame ending of Abyss keeps it from being totally incredible start to finish. The character finally shows an emotional side in the very end, but it felt like it was out of nowhere. I would have liked to read more of that. It was a very minor touch and didn't take away from the progression of the novel, so I think it would have been easy to have more of that without making things too drawn out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 21, 2025
This book feels like a cross between Contact and Three Body Problem. It covers a 35 year period (2006-2041) between the discovery of an alien structure on Mercury to the encounter with aliens.
The focus of the book is on "hard science" - it discusses advanced technology, xeno-psychology (debate about how aliens might think very differently from us), philosophy, AI and more. It could be argued that the human element is somewhat lost because of this, but this is potentially realistic given the world-changing impact of the alien structure and its implications.
I would have liked a bit more focus on the societal impacts of such a momentous shift in humanity's view of its place in the universe, but overall this was a strong SF novel for those who like their science undiluted.
The focus of the book is on "hard science" - it discusses advanced technology, xeno-psychology (debate about how aliens might think very differently from us), philosophy, AI and more. It could be argued that the human element is somewhat lost because of this, but this is potentially realistic given the world-changing impact of the alien structure and its implications.
I would have liked a bit more focus on the societal impacts of such a momentous shift in humanity's view of its place in the universe, but overall this was a strong SF novel for those who like their science undiluted.
September 5, 2018
This book is, above all, hard SF. So, there's lots of science in it that readers interested in a light space opera might not like. The character interaction at the beginning seemed a bit juvenile to me, but in later chapters the character interaction improved and seemed more natural, expanding on their emotional states. I found myself getting a little tired of the science, looking forward to the plot. The concept of the aliens was fairly unique. All in all, I liked it; it was a fairly fast read though not a page-burner, and the book was not overwhelmed by detailed explanations of everything. It seemed to be about the right length for what it did (272 pages).
March 22, 2020
Great hard science-fiction ideas--but not enough character development. The first 20% of the book could be skimmed--the blurb says it all and the emotional import of the character development of Shiraishi is practically nonexistent; however, treatment of her character development does get a little better as the story progresses.
Aside: The three parts were originally short stories published in S-F Magazine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-F_Mag..., which, in turn, is published by Hayakawa Shobo (by which many Seiun award-winners for Best Foreign Novel are published).
Although a shallow romance, distant POV, and summary instead of scenes make for a rough read, Maxwell's Demon, nanomachines, and non-FTL drive deliver a convincing hard-SF first-contact story.
Aside: The three parts were originally short stories published in S-F Magazine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-F_Mag..., which, in turn, is published by Hayakawa Shobo (by which many Seiun award-winners for Best Foreign Novel are published).
Although a shallow romance, distant POV, and summary instead of scenes make for a rough read, Maxwell's Demon, nanomachines, and non-FTL drive deliver a convincing hard-SF first-contact story.
November 9, 2021
It was a good reading.
I liked the approach the writer took - only analyse the possible situation from know facts - which is very limited but realistic.
The book is not perfect but I enjoyed reading it. If you are a "hard science fiction" lover then you will probably like the book as well.
-----Spoiler Alert------
Interesting plot but the ending is a bit too sudden and a bit too "perfect". I don't really believe that an intelligent species which ignored humans because they consider themselves as superior/different kind would just leave solar system out of kindness.
And recreating a human being, they probably can do (i wonder how could they preserve memories) but why would they do it?
I liked the approach the writer took - only analyse the possible situation from know facts - which is very limited but realistic.
The book is not perfect but I enjoyed reading it. If you are a "hard science fiction" lover then you will probably like the book as well.
-----Spoiler Alert------
Interesting plot but the ending is a bit too sudden and a bit too "perfect". I don't really believe that an intelligent species which ignored humans because they consider themselves as superior/different kind would just leave solar system out of kindness.
And recreating a human being, they probably can do (i wonder how could they preserve memories) but why would they do it?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 28, 2017
Reads like a kid's first novel published on the web, boring and frustrating. The immature writing is structural, far deeper than a bad translation could produce. There is no dramatic flair or relatable character building and the few interesting scifi ideas would be easier to read in a spreadsheet. The worst book I have finished in a long time.
December 10, 2020
Interesting premise and a decent execution. Almost four stars for me, but it didn't quite hit it. The scenes about the origin of consciousness and related were neat, and not just dry academic spewing, which was nice.
December 23, 2017
An exceptional hard science fiction book about first contact ... one of my favorite of the genre.
September 4, 2023
A bit more hard sci-fi than I usually like, but the ideas and plot were really fun. The comparison made on the front cover to Arthur C. Clarke is definitely appropriate.
June 15, 2014
Interesting concept. Sayangnya cuma itu. Eksekusinya terlalu formal, scientific, nyampe aku jadi bertanya-tanya, "sebenernya ini aku lagi baca novel? Jurnal Ilmiah? berita di koran? Atau apa sih?"
Penulisannya terlalu impersonal(apa ini kata-nya ya? :va). Karakternya nggak berasa "hidup" sama sekali. Lebih kayak tokoh dalam sebuah cerita dengan tugas yang udah ditentukan secara jelas dan personality yang 'kamu itu begitu ya'. Titik. Aki Shiraishi, tokoh utama, yang menjadi karakter central novel ini pun begitu. Setelah dia dijabarkan sebagai seorang geeky-or-nerdy-or-whatchamacallit yang penasaran dengan the Builder setelah menjadi salah satu orang pertama yang menyadari munculnya keanehan di Merkurius, dia... udah. Selain kemaniakannya, nggak keliatan pandangan Aki untuk urusan lain. Hal ini juga berlaku untuk Raul, sebagai another freak#plaked. Sementara karakter-karakter selain mereka berdua, terlalu tidak berkarakter untuk bisa disebutkan.
Romance(maybe I shouldn't call it romance) yang jadi selipan pun bener-bener keselip, seolah maksa pengen bikin Aki keliatan lebih punya kehidupan selain sebagai seorang scientist yang curious. Actually, mungkin malah bikin dia kerasa lebih freak lagi kali ya.
Kesampingkan soal itu, aku cuma bisa bener-bener merasa tertarik pas bagian awal(joshikousei yang punya fokus itu charming) dan akhir(ohyay, motto the Builder pasti 'Ignorance is bliss'). Sementara tengah-tengahnya... egh... it's hard. Kayak yang kubilang di awal, semacam baca jurnal ilmiah atau berita di koran mengenai suatu peristiwa. Spare this nonsense pls...
Dan setelah selesai baca, liat afterwordnya.. ahh.. maan... pantesan aja. Ternyata ini awalnya dari tiga shortstory yang dipublikasikan di sebuah majalah scifi toh. Dari tengah-tengah aku baca, kok ngerasanya rushed(dengan tetep slow) banget. Kayak konsep yang belum selesai dikembangkan.
Yah... it's okay, I guess.
Penulisannya terlalu impersonal(apa ini kata-nya ya? :va). Karakternya nggak berasa "hidup" sama sekali. Lebih kayak tokoh dalam sebuah cerita dengan tugas yang udah ditentukan secara jelas dan personality yang 'kamu itu begitu ya'. Titik. Aki Shiraishi, tokoh utama, yang menjadi karakter central novel ini pun begitu. Setelah dia dijabarkan sebagai seorang geeky-or-nerdy-or-whatchamacallit yang penasaran dengan the Builder setelah menjadi salah satu orang pertama yang menyadari munculnya keanehan di Merkurius, dia... udah. Selain kemaniakannya, nggak keliatan pandangan Aki untuk urusan lain. Hal ini juga berlaku untuk Raul, sebagai another freak#plaked. Sementara karakter-karakter selain mereka berdua, terlalu tidak berkarakter untuk bisa disebutkan.
Romance(maybe I shouldn't call it romance) yang jadi selipan pun bener-bener keselip, seolah maksa pengen bikin Aki keliatan lebih punya kehidupan selain sebagai seorang scientist yang curious. Actually, mungkin malah bikin dia kerasa lebih freak lagi kali ya.
Kesampingkan soal itu, aku cuma bisa bener-bener merasa tertarik pas bagian awal(joshikousei yang punya fokus itu charming) dan akhir(ohyay, motto the Builder pasti 'Ignorance is bliss'). Sementara tengah-tengahnya... egh... it's hard. Kayak yang kubilang di awal, semacam baca jurnal ilmiah atau berita di koran mengenai suatu peristiwa. Spare this nonsense pls...
Dan setelah selesai baca, liat afterwordnya.. ahh.. maan... pantesan aja. Ternyata ini awalnya dari tiga shortstory yang dipublikasikan di sebuah majalah scifi toh. Dari tengah-tengah aku baca, kok ngerasanya rushed(dengan tetep slow) banget. Kayak konsep yang belum selesai dikembangkan.
Yah... it's okay, I guess.
July 15, 2015
Here is some solid, enjoyable hard sci-fi. "Usurper" is undeniably a love letter to the work of the great Arthur C. Clark. I see so many of the concepts explored in his novels incorporated here:
-From the Space Odyssey series: the mysterious tower (monolith) on Mercury, the ambiguous supercomputer named Natalia, the transformation of the sun/planets, and he even referenced 3001 in the epilogue.
-From the "Rama" series: Unbelievably powerful and mysterious aliens entering solar system, humanity struggling with how to deal with them.
-From "Childhood's End": the idea of aliens which have a "collective consciousness" which is the ultimate form of existence.
Nojiri took all of Clarke's ideas and spun them into a very readable, well paced, and thoughtful novel. It was very fun to read.
A lot of the serious sci-fi novels I have read recently are hurt by amateurish writing, since the authors usually have scientific backgrounds instead of literary. Nojiri has a technical background as well, but his writing seems pretty respectable (which might be in part to the efforts of the translator as well). Reviewers complain about flat characters but I didn't think it was much of a problem myself, since this book is mainly idea driven.
I also really appreciated how hard Nojiri tried to follow actual physics during the scenes in space. This book contains the most realistic space battles I have read to date.
This is definitely worth a read! I only gave it 4 star though because, though it was fun and took Clarke's ideas and gave them a fresh contemporary update, it also didn't really do anything I haven't read before. Which I don't blame the book for; first contact stories might be THE subject most written about in all of sci-fi. But still, a solid 4 stars.
-From the Space Odyssey series: the mysterious tower (monolith) on Mercury, the ambiguous supercomputer named Natalia, the transformation of the sun/planets, and he even referenced 3001 in the epilogue.
-From the "Rama" series: Unbelievably powerful and mysterious aliens entering solar system, humanity struggling with how to deal with them.
-From "Childhood's End": the idea of aliens which have a "collective consciousness" which is the ultimate form of existence.
Nojiri took all of Clarke's ideas and spun them into a very readable, well paced, and thoughtful novel. It was very fun to read.
A lot of the serious sci-fi novels I have read recently are hurt by amateurish writing, since the authors usually have scientific backgrounds instead of literary. Nojiri has a technical background as well, but his writing seems pretty respectable (which might be in part to the efforts of the translator as well). Reviewers complain about flat characters but I didn't think it was much of a problem myself, since this book is mainly idea driven.
I also really appreciated how hard Nojiri tried to follow actual physics during the scenes in space. This book contains the most realistic space battles I have read to date.
This is definitely worth a read! I only gave it 4 star though because, though it was fun and took Clarke's ideas and gave them a fresh contemporary update, it also didn't really do anything I haven't read before. Which I don't blame the book for; first contact stories might be THE subject most written about in all of sci-fi. But still, a solid 4 stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 6, 2014
On a scale of 1-10, I'd give "Usurper of the Sun" a 2 or perhaps 3. So it's not THAT bad, but given the Goodreads ratings system 1 out of 5 stars = I didn't like it, and that's the truth with this book.
It's a first contact story with an interesting twist: what do you do when an alien race seems so indifferent towards you that you don't know whether it's hostile, friendly, or neither?
However intriguing the premise might be, the actual way in which the story is told is atrocious. Housuke Nojiri is a terrible writer - style-wise. He narrates and narrates and narrates in very long static info-dumps of the most boring kind. Also given the fact the novel is very tech-savvy (it's HARD sci-fi) this almost feels like I'm reading a textbook on astronomy and space travel rather than a work of fiction.
The style is as dry and terse as it gets, and the characters are very poorly developed. They're not even characters: rather, they're empty vessels with the most basic of personalities whose only purpose is to occasionally give an interesting philosophical/social/psychological insight into a specific issue. Some of these are quite engrossing and even fascinating, for sure. But these same insights or observations - the way they were written - could've easily been exposed in some scientific article.
And that's what "Usurper of the Sun" really is: a scientific exposition parading as (poorly written) novel.
It's a first contact story with an interesting twist: what do you do when an alien race seems so indifferent towards you that you don't know whether it's hostile, friendly, or neither?
However intriguing the premise might be, the actual way in which the story is told is atrocious. Housuke Nojiri is a terrible writer - style-wise. He narrates and narrates and narrates in very long static info-dumps of the most boring kind. Also given the fact the novel is very tech-savvy (it's HARD sci-fi) this almost feels like I'm reading a textbook on astronomy and space travel rather than a work of fiction.
The style is as dry and terse as it gets, and the characters are very poorly developed. They're not even characters: rather, they're empty vessels with the most basic of personalities whose only purpose is to occasionally give an interesting philosophical/social/psychological insight into a specific issue. Some of these are quite engrossing and even fascinating, for sure. But these same insights or observations - the way they were written - could've easily been exposed in some scientific article.
And that's what "Usurper of the Sun" really is: a scientific exposition parading as (poorly written) novel.
March 19, 2012
This is the story of Aki, who discovers a Tower on Mars when she is just a child and grows up to be on the first expedition to Mars to explore that alien tech and winds up being on the First Contact team when the alien lifeform finally gets to Earth.
The book and story was interesting, sometimes the science went over my head (esp descriptions of the tech and how it works) and the writing was a bit dry. However this is a Japanese novel translated into English so I am not sure if it was the writer, the character's personality that he was portraying, or the translation (that's a filter that can majorly affect things).
Overall I enjoyed the story and the ideas behind it. I pretty much agreed with how earth's reaction to alien life was portrayed, and the fact that even though first contact prevailed and things ended peacefully, all the space and tech advances are made for military purposes as all most of earth (and the businesses behind the money and power) just want to destroy the alien.
With everything going on and the instability and climate changes on earth caused byt the alien tech blotting out a good portion of the sun, I'd say the book had a happy ending LOL.
The book and story was interesting, sometimes the science went over my head (esp descriptions of the tech and how it works) and the writing was a bit dry. However this is a Japanese novel translated into English so I am not sure if it was the writer, the character's personality that he was portraying, or the translation (that's a filter that can majorly affect things).
Overall I enjoyed the story and the ideas behind it. I pretty much agreed with how earth's reaction to alien life was portrayed, and the fact that even though first contact prevailed and things ended peacefully, all the space and tech advances are made for military purposes as all most of earth (and the businesses behind the money and power) just want to destroy the alien.
With everything going on and the instability and climate changes on earth caused byt the alien tech blotting out a good portion of the sun, I'd say the book had a happy ending LOL.
March 11, 2016
This is the story of Aki, who discovers a Tower on Mars when she is just a child and grows up to be on the first expedition to Mars to explore that alien tech and winds up being on the First Contact team when the alien lifeform finally gets to Earth.
The book and story was interesting, sometimes the science went over my head (esp descriptions of the tech and how it works) and the writing was a bit dry. However this is a Japanese novel translated into English so I am not sure if it was the writer, the character's personality that he was portraying, or the translation (that's a filter that can majorly affect things).
Overall I enjoyed the story and the ideas behind it. I pretty much agreed with how earth's reaction to alien life was portrayed, and the fact that even though first contact prevailed and things ended peacefully, all the space and tech advances are made for military purposes as all most of earth (and the businesses behind the money and power) just want to destroy the alien.
With everything going on and the instability and climate changes on earth caused byt the alien tech blotting out a good portion of the sun, I'd say the book had a happy ending LOL.
The book and story was interesting, sometimes the science went over my head (esp descriptions of the tech and how it works) and the writing was a bit dry. However this is a Japanese novel translated into English so I am not sure if it was the writer, the character's personality that he was portraying, or the translation (that's a filter that can majorly affect things).
Overall I enjoyed the story and the ideas behind it. I pretty much agreed with how earth's reaction to alien life was portrayed, and the fact that even though first contact prevailed and things ended peacefully, all the space and tech advances are made for military purposes as all most of earth (and the businesses behind the money and power) just want to destroy the alien.
With everything going on and the instability and climate changes on earth caused byt the alien tech blotting out a good portion of the sun, I'd say the book had a happy ending LOL.
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