Title: The Songs of Distant Earth
Author: Arthur C. Clarke
Type: Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 242
Rating: 3.5/5
It’s time for some more Arthur C. Clarke, and this one’s interesting because it has utopian vibes to it that make for a nice change if you’re like me and have read more dystopian fiction than you’d like to think about.
The idea here is that two human societies come in contact with each other. One of them is a colony of humanity that’s spread out amongst the stars and created the kind of society that we in the 21st century could only dream of. The other is essentially the remnants of those who were left behind on earth and who are fleeing the planet for good because the sun has gone nova.
It’s a pretty cool concept and one that allowed Clarke to play with some awesome ideas that I haven’t seen him use anywhere else. The plot is decent enough and the characterisation is great, but I still couldn’t say that it’s one of his best.
I particularly like the way that the book looks at the fallibility of human beings and how in many ways, a utopia is just too good to be true. There’s also some pretty neat ideas on stasis, which I think Clarke handles with the same amount of skill as the very best of them. Really cool stuff.
