Call number
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
Dell (1991), Reprint, Paperback
Pages
570
Description
Seven continents. Seven Chinese kings. A benevolent rule and a stable, sensual, high-tech society. But the T'ang overlords no longer control all three hundred levels of City Earth. Revolution is brewing. As the all-powerful Seven plot the boldest imaginable counterstrike, a plan to control the minds of all humankind, Chung Kuo speeds toward cataclysm, and the final game between East and West, between the privileged Above and the downtrodden Below--a monumental confrontation with forty billion lives in the balance. An epic that draws us into an alternative world so read that we become true denizens of the new Middle Kingdom, touched by tomorrow's longings . . . driven by forces as ancient as the first human breath.
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1990
Physical description
570 p.; 6.8 inches
ISBN
0440209285 / 9780440209287
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User reviews
LibraryThing member PghDragonMan
The Broken Wheel is the second installment of David Wingrove’s epic seven volume series, Chung Kuo. If you are just coming into the series, the basic premise is that some 300 years into the future, the Earth has come to be dominated by the Chinese. Earth is broken into seven cities, one city for
While not totally dystopian, this is not a happy society either. There is court level intrigue, industrial espionage and guerilla warfare against the ruling classes. As befitting a story of this scale, the cast of characters is huge and the author has a four-page list of the major players. You will need this list, as Broken Wheel is a very complicated story to follow. It will be very helpful in determining motivation and allegiances if you read the previous volume, The Middle Kingdom.
Reading Broken Wheel can be compared to agreeing to enter into a MUSH: an old style role-playing game termed a Multi-User Shared Hallucination. These were text only games played over campus networks; think Second Life without the pictures. In these games, your life depended on forged alliances with people who may, or may not, be true allies. Such is the scope of Chung Kuo. Almost all of the major characters owe loyalty to more than one faction. Like a MUSH, enter the world of Chung Kuo, lose yourself for a period, then return to normalcy.
In addition to being epic in proportion, the story is well crafted. I doubt it will be as popular as Lord of the Rings, but the prose compares favorably to that major undertaking. As with Tolkien’s classic, once you start down the road of the Middle Kingdom, you will find yourself hooked. Light on science fiction and heavy on fantasy, this is an advanced time and some advancements in science do play a role, but it is the fantasy aspects of Broken Wheel that will keep you reading.
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each continent, and each city is ruled over by a high-ranking member of an Imperial like court. Huge companies have come to dominate the economy and the owners of these companies enjoy virtually unlimited power and wealth, second only to the ruling families. A rigid system of living conditions and privilege attempts to keep everything, and everyone, in order.While not totally dystopian, this is not a happy society either. There is court level intrigue, industrial espionage and guerilla warfare against the ruling classes. As befitting a story of this scale, the cast of characters is huge and the author has a four-page list of the major players. You will need this list, as Broken Wheel is a very complicated story to follow. It will be very helpful in determining motivation and allegiances if you read the previous volume, The Middle Kingdom.
Reading Broken Wheel can be compared to agreeing to enter into a MUSH: an old style role-playing game termed a Multi-User Shared Hallucination. These were text only games played over campus networks; think Second Life without the pictures. In these games, your life depended on forged alliances with people who may, or may not, be true allies. Such is the scope of Chung Kuo. Almost all of the major characters owe loyalty to more than one faction. Like a MUSH, enter the world of Chung Kuo, lose yourself for a period, then return to normalcy.
In addition to being epic in proportion, the story is well crafted. I doubt it will be as popular as Lord of the Rings, but the prose compares favorably to that major undertaking. As with Tolkien’s classic, once you start down the road of the Middle Kingdom, you will find yourself hooked. Light on science fiction and heavy on fantasy, this is an advanced time and some advancements in science do play a role, but it is the fantasy aspects of Broken Wheel that will keep you reading.
Show Less
LibraryThing member mohi
Continues the war between the Middle Kingdom and the agents of change. Remarkably gray characters. Anyone would have a very hard time to paint anyone with a uniform good/evil brush.