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Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML:In the Retro Hugo Award�nominated novel that inspired the Syfy miniseries, alien invaders bring peace to Earth�at a grave price: "A first-rate tour de force" (The New York Times). In the near future, enormous silver spaceships appear without warning over mankind's largest cities. They belong to the Overlords, an alien race far superior to humanity in technological development. Their purpose is to dominate Earth. Their demands, however, are surprisingly benevolent: end war, poverty, and cruelty. Their presence, rather than signaling the end of humanity, ushers in a golden age . . . or so it seems. Without conflict, human culture and progress stagnate. As the years pass, it becomes clear that the Overlords have a hidden agenda for the evolution of the human race that may not be as benevolent as it seems. "Frighteningly logical, believable, and grimly prophetic . . . Clarke is a master." �Los Angeles Times.… (more)
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Aliens suddenly arrive at Earth just as we are ramping up the space race, aliens that are clearly so much more advanced technologically and so much more powerful than we are, that the human race basically lays down all our weapons and calls it a day. Thus, the aliens -- or the Overlords, as we call them -- usher in a golden age of peace and prosperity (and some boredom) for all mankind. No one wants for anything, and there is no war, so maybe it doesn't matter that original art and music and scientific innovation have also largely disappeared. Still the unspoken question is: What do the aliens really want? What are their ultimate goals for mankind? The outcome is surprising and crosses into uncertain moral territory. This is a compelling early work of science fiction that all fans of the genre should read.
In “Childhood’s End” by Arthur C. Clarke
One of my favourite long novel is `Childhoods End`, but commenting on it without revealing the ending is difficult. That is the whole point after all, but still, think the early 80`s TV mini
What if humanity was a Caterpillar, ugly and slow but with vast potential, the aliens were more advanced Caterpillars, but that is as far as they will ever go. Their job is to help humanity reach a level they can only ever envy and dream of. Humanity has the potential they so lack, it can metamorphise into a Butterfly of stunning beauty and infinite future. That is the entire story; what is wonderful for the species however may not be so great for it`s members; change can be very painful and even devastating: Basically, humans die, Humanity goes to the `next level`.
Where Clarke scores is in his characterizations of scientists, who by and large, get a poor deal from novelists. Mary Shelly set the trend and the media has pretty much followed along ever since. Only Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in “The First Circle” has properly got scientists "right". But when it comes to the predictive ability and breathtaking scope then Olaf Stapledon deserves recognition. “Last and First Men”, brilliant. Lacks a coherent novel structure but some of his ideas are now on the point of being put into practice. Asimov similarly took huge gulps of the future, chewed it up and spread it across the pages of some lovely books. But Clarke had great scope and also detail which is where many great SF writers fail. It took me years to finally work out what 2001 - A Space Odyssey was about but it did. His books seem slightly dated now but he deserves his place in the Pantheon.
I can see a lot of themes of 2001 running through a lot of Clarke's work, particularly “Childhood's End”. What's interesting is the way in which Clarke, in “Childhood's End”, almost sends his traditional themes in a different direction. For example, a major theme in 2001 is that the evolution of Man lies beyond the confines of Earth and out among the stars. Technology is seen as the great evolutionary driver. However, in “Childhood's End” we are told "The stars are not for Man", and the story centres on how the arriving extra-terrestrials confine Man to Earth and stunt all scientific and technological advancement, all so that Man is able to evolve and become one with the Overmind.
Bottom-line: Mankind's arc in that story reflects the spiritual journey of cleaning up one's act prior to self-realization and annihilation of the ego. “Childhood's End” is almost unique among Clarke's works in the way it goes against the grain of the direction of most of his other novels. “Childhood's End” also possesses an abundance of mythic content on a more macro-cosmic scale. Despite Clarke's ambivalence about his beliefs, his work reveals strong spiritual threads. I sometimes wonder with all the jejune distractions we have these days if we are actually living in the final stages of “Childhood’s End”. Where mankind’s distractions became so many it was impossible to keep up with it all. (300 hours of You tube added every minute.) Don't forget his prediction in one story that worldwide communication would result in an explosion of porn. Well he was spot on with that!
The aliens, known informally as The Overlords, assume power over the Earth almost immediately, with the human population realising that resistance would be pointless. They are benign, and under their suzerainty the world embarks upon an extended period of peace, accompanied by a surge of technological advancement and economic growth. The world’s woes are largely vanquished and the population can concentrate on a life led by leisure. Not everyone is happy – some feel that their cosseted existence is robbing mankind of its initiative and ability to progress.
Clarke’s description of the Utopian lifestyle afforded the world under the benevolent guidance of The Overlords is beguiling and demonstrates his awesome prescience. In a throwaway remark he predicts the introduction of a readily accessible, reliable oral contraceptive and something remarkably similar to DNA fingerprinting, decades before either would become a reality.
Clarke is a great science fiction writer because, in addition to being an accomplished scientist, he had that happy knack, so rare among other performers in the genre, of being a genuinely good writer. He understands the intricacies of plotting and development of plausible, sympathetic characters. In Childhood’s End plausible characters abound, ranging from gushing socialite Rupert Boyce, independent and dangerously inquisitive astrophysicist Jan Rodricks, and the domesticated Gregsons, George and Jean and their two children. Clarke’s compelling verisimilitude over the everyday makes the fantastic seem utterly credible. More than sixty years since its publication, and nearly forty since I first read it, the book remains just as gripping, enjoyable and rewarding.
The storytelling is straightforward and Clarke writes well enough, characterisation is adequate, it is the story, the plot, the science fiction that drives this book forward. It is the sort of book that as a teenager I would not have been able to put down and I read it over a couple of days this time round. Imaginative science fiction that you do not need a physics diploma to understand, what's not to like if you feel like giving yourself up to an entertaining read. I loved it and so 5 stars.
The novel has three
Childhood’s End is a novel with less negative points than 2001, but it also has less plus points, making for a generally less memorable experience. This is a bit of a shame, because actually the story of Childhood’s End is more interesting than that of 2001, at least in my view. But Clarke was clearly not as accomplished a writer at this point, and so the execution is perhaps not what it could have been.
The main negative is basically the same as in 2001; Clarke has no interest in making complex human characters. People, in Clarke’s novels, are a means to an end, to tell a story and express ideas, not an end in themselves. So there’s no great detail about all of the people, just enough for Clarke to move his story along in the way he wants. It isn’t as bad as in 2001, but I still didn’t feel myself as emotionally involved in the characters problems as I may have been if I had cared about them more.
Also odd is the length of time Clarke focuses on the early period of the Overlords rule when everyone was obsessed with what they looked like, and the Overlords wouldn’t make this clear. Personally I felt this was an unimportant point, but Clarke spends a quarter of the novel focusing on this period. It ultimately has some importance, but there was little tension in these sections.
But Childhood’s End has some big positives as well. I loved the detail he gives on the Utopian Earth the Overlords create. For one a world where you are in education until your thirties, where money is meaningless and everyone follows their passions in life, sounds great to me. But I don’t think that, in such a world, all creative enterprises, especially all forms of art, would die away as Clarke thinks they would. Clarke thinks that a lack of conflict and pain in the world would deprive artists of motivation and inspiration. Firstly, despite Clarke’s claim that these too faded away, there will always be silly tortured romances for people to draw on in all fields. But I also think that, in literature for instance, genres like high fantasy, historical drama, alternative history and science-fiction would become more popular, even if other genres like mystery would fade away. And even if the Overlords did possess so much technology beyond human comprehension, I doubt our curiosity that drives invention and science would die.
Also, despite the fact that Clarke himself disagrees with the message, the novel’s warning that ‘the stars are not for man’ is one I agree with. As the head Overlord of Earth, Karellen, states; if man cannot run a functioning society on a single planet without threatening his own destruction, how on earth could we deal with the enormous complexities going into the solar system or beyond would lead us to face? Of course the Overlords don’t just mean organisational problems; there’s also the various surprises the Universe would throw at us. That’s leaving aside the fact that I doubt the energy sources to get us off this planet and to somewhere else exist.
As the length of this review shows, Clarke was successful in his main aims with this novel; it got me thinking a lot, and Clarke’s imaginative ideas are the main reason for that. So despite its flaws, Childhood’s End gets the seal from approval from me, and keeps me keen to read more of Clarke’s novels.
The answer is that the technological trappings are indeed dated, but they are not the heart of the story. That has to do with what mankind
The hard part for me is deciding how I feel about the novel. It is well-told and well-written. It made me think. Like the author, I don't think I like the ending at all now; in my youth I thought it marvelous, though. It is a classic as no one really explored the topic as well as Clarke did back then.
If you like classic, thought-provoking science fiction, then I think you should read this book. I cannot predict who will like it.
One day numerous huge space ships appear and hover over all
Fifty years later, when mankind has grown lazy and incompetent, the Overlords descend from their ships and show themselves and what humans see is shocking. Yet they get used to seeing them among them.
Meanwhile, one man, Jan, decides to stow away on an Overlord ship to go their home planet. He estimates it will take 80 earth years, but because of light speed, only two month his time, or four months going both ways, as he's sure he'll be sent back once he's found there. And he succeeds. And is stunned at what he finds. The Overlords' planet and cities are unlike anything he could ever have imagined and he yearns for Earth.
Meanwhile, a couple named Greg and Jean have two young children where they live on an island commune. Their oldest boy is saved from a tsunami by an Overlord and starts having odd dreams. His parents become worried. Greg eventually meets with Karellen, the Overlord Supervisor, and what he is told chills him. Mankind is changing. The Overlords are here to supervise that. What happens to facilitate that is truly original and the ultimate fate of humanity is rather sad, in my opinion. When Jan gets home from the Overlord's planet, he is stunned at the changes on Earth. And a lot is explained to him, and to us. The final pages are chilling and simply unreal. I've never read anything like them before. Clarke can really write some original stuff.
To me, this is easily a five star book. In fact, I'm under the impression that this won a Hugo at some point. If so, it was much deserved. The book "only" has a 4.07 out of 5 rating on Goodreads, so there are obviously some people who don't agree with my assertion, but that's still a pretty good rating. Do I recommend it? Hell yeah, I do! This is easily one of the best books I have ever read. And frankly it helps that it's only about 200 pages. You can read it in a day or two. Strongly recommended.
Childhood's End is a strange amalgam of tropes; Alien invasion. Utopian society. Christian mythology. Interstellar
This book must have shaken a few branches when first released in 1953. Not surprisingly, over 50 years later, it holds up really well. The prose is crisp. The concepts huge. The book short. Today's authors of speculative fiction, with their 700-page epics, could learn a thing or two from the original masters of the genre.
Perspective is a fickle thing. You can go about your days thinking you’re engaged with your life. That
Then, as if a freight train has passed with in inches of your face, you are startled into awareness that you are nothing more than kid swimming in a back yard kiddie pool.
For me, Childhood’s End is the freight train and Arthur C. Clarke is the conductor.
To any fan of SciFi, the premise of this book is simple, it’s concepts familiar, and it’s characters relatable. However, it’s profoundly engaging and completely delightful. At some point you realize this book was written in 1953 and you’re hit by the train.
Clarke is a master.
I’ve had long, involved conversations with several people about this book. Each one about different aspects of it. Many about thoughts that seemed like throw-aways during the course of the story but had a depth that only revealed itself over time.
I will read this book again and probably very soon.
Fundamentally this is a "novel of ideas" and that is what this reader took away from the book. The wonder at the nature of the universe and the potential for man when encountering other residents of it.
“Fifty years is ample time in which to change a world and its people almost beyond recognition. All that is required for the task are a sound knowledge of social engineering, a clear sight of the intended goal – and power.”
Clark's prose is precise and rather even in tone, he’s only lyrical when talking about the strange geography of far away planets. His characters are there to wrestle with ideas, but there is just enough development and background given. The Overlords' technology and planet are not fully explained, unlike with the Trisolarans in “The Three Body Problem" by Liu Cixin, a twenty-first century scifi masterwork that owes a lot to Childhood’s End.
The Overlords study us like anthropologists among a primitive tribe up the Amazon River. Surprisingly, they are interested in the paranormal; their reason for being on Earth, while not the greatest plot twist of all time, is not what we might expect. In their study of human history they realise their role is something like that of the Roman or British Empires - yet more altruistic. There is one thing about humanity they can’t understand: art, something they do not have. This hints that we, despite our backwardness, can go further than the Overlords ever have. In the Pacific Islands a group of artists set up a colony called Athens to offset the damage Overlord rule is doing to the human race. Yes there is no more war, no more poverty, but:
“ The world’s now placid, featureless, and culturally dead: nothing really new has been created since the Overlords came.”
Humans once again will be creative and productive in this colony:
“‘Here,’ he continued, ‘we do not suffer from the ancient obsession that leisure is wicked. But we do not consider that it is enough to be passive receptors.”
In Athens a change will happen, something the Overlords have been waiting for.
When it comes to predicting the future - Clark does talk about something very similar to virtual reality and his safer but homogenised world has come about to some extent. Childhood’s End packs a lot into just over two hundred pages, I’m sure many other writers would have drawn this plot out to over 400. It’s very well put together; a real page turner that holds up well in 2020 and gets you thinking.
Clarke thus joins a select few sci-fi authors (such as Stapledon, Wells, and Lewis) who are able to infuse gripping sci-fi narratives with deep philosophical questions. Children naturally outlive their parents but in Clarke's story this is taken to its fullest extent: a dead-end passing to a life of possibility. The preternaturally-gifted children represent a new dawn for "humanity", while the parents and the rest of mankind are left behind. The threat is intrinsic to what they are, not what they can do.
Thus the climax of the novel, while perhaps somewhat predictable, remains with the reader since it is a macrocosm of humanity's own existence as each successive generation comes to pass. Clarke's book, though by now sixty years old, remains a staple of the genre and is rightly his most perfect novel.
If Stapledon is the model for the weaker parts of Childhood's End, Hodgson's The Night Land is the model for the final stronger part. Having wasted so much time on trivia, Clarke's novel finally comes through when it arrives at the end of humanity's childhood. This cosmic singularity sweeps away all the pedestrian, very British, mostly comfortable story telling that came before. Ruthless but effective, this final sequence is why Childhood's End merited classic status in its day. Today, it's more for those wishing to study the roots of modern SF.
The context was his
The fact that I had no recollection of that passage disturbs me about myself. I read the book in the deep south in the early 70's, so I guess that I shouldn't be surprised. It was the deeply twisted culture in which I was reared. *shudder*
The book also has one of Clarke's more interesting prognostications. He comments that society's attitudes toward sexual mores were deeply changed by two developments: a truly reliable oral contraceptive and an effective paternity test. The FDA didn't approved the first oral contraceptive until 1960, seven years after he wrote the book. (Although doctors were working on it at the time that he wrote.)
Childhood's End is an odd book for Clarke. The book is his homage to Olaf Stapledon's eon spanning writings such as Last and First Men. He tells a story that spans over a hundred years, so there is a lot of exposition covering the changes to human society caused by the advent of a utopian plenty.
This is the book that Stanley Kubrick wanted to turn into a film when he first began working with Clarke, but he couldn't get the movie rights to it. That's such a shame. It would have been interesting to see what he made of the book. But I guess that we wouldn't have had 2001: A Space Odyssey if that had happened.