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Ball Lightning

Cixin Liu

Ages 14–18

Readers rate it 3.6 (168 on Hardcover)

385 pages · Released Aug 14, 2018

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A note for parents

Ball Lightning is a hard science fiction novel exploring the weaponization of natural phenomena, featuring the protagonist's traumatic origin story and encounters with military and scientific moral ambiguity. The book contains moderate violence (including the incinerating death of his parents), occasional coarse language, complex philosophical themes about the ethics of scientific discovery, and some romantic tension. It is best suited for older teens with interest in speculative science fiction who can engage with its weighty themes about responsibility and unintended consequences.

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From the publisher

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Three-Body Trilogy, Cixin Liu's Ball Lightning is the story of what happens when the beauty of scientific inquiry runs up against the drive to harness new discoveries with no consideration of their possible consequences. When Chen’s parents are incinerated before his ey... From the New York Times bestselling author of the Three-Body Trilogy, Cixin Liu's Ball Lightning is the story of what happens when the beauty of scientific inquiry runs up against the drive to harness new discoveries with no consideration of their possible consequences. When Chen’s parents are incinerated before his eyes by a blast of ball lightning, he devotes his life to cracking the secret of this mysterious natural phenomenon. His search takes him to stormy mountaintops, an experimental military weapons lab, and an old Soviet science station. The more he learns, the more he comes to realize that ball lightning is just the tip of an entirely new frontier. While Chen’s quest for answers gives purpose to his lonely life, it also pits him against soldiers and scientists with motives of their own: a beautiful army major with an obsession with dangerous weaponry, and a physicist who has no place for ethical considerations in his single-minded pursuit of knowledge. "Wildly imaginative."—Barack Obama on The Three-Body Problem trilogy Tor books by Cixin Liu The Three-Body Problem Series #1 The Three-Body Problem #2 The Dark Forest #3 Death's End At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Shelved under

  • Fiction
  • A mix driven
  • Strong Character Development
  • Loveable Characters
  • Diverse Characters
  • science fiction
  • Hard Science Fiction
  • Military
  • #ALL#
  • read
  • Adventurous
  • reflective

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ISBN 9780765394088 · Tor Books