The Cretaceous Past by Liu Cixin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is fun, strange, short and memorable. Millions of years ago, dinosaurs and ants lived together in a complex society. The ants befriend the dinosaurs by climbing into their mouths and eating the food stuck between their teeth, thereby inventing dinosaur dentistry. This is described in graphic detail as well as dinosaur medicine, ant computers, the dinosaur nuclear age and so much more. This reminds me of Liu’s earlier work, The Supernova Era, but ants and dinos instead of kids. Big Liu is great at thinking up alternative world rulers, yet systems remain similar, as ants still have mayors and chief-technical officers. If you want to dip your toes into Liu before reading a trilogy, this one is a great starting point.
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