Peaceful alien invaders, the mysterious Overlords, take over Earth, ushering in an age of unprecedented utopia. The Overlords rule indirectly and out of sight for 50 years, hoping to re-establish a baseline for peace as normalcy, as the new generations of children have only known the new world. But some believe the invasion and forced pacification of humankind has cost us our identify and culture. So it goes. The Golden Age ends, and the Age of Mankind begins…
Clarke executes these beautiful SF ideas seamlessly. This is a great work of art and I really liked it. However, I have probably received filtered down literary concepts through the generations based on this book in various other medias, and I’m afraid that the ending here seems anticlimatic due to the lapse of 60 years since its release. It was nominated for a Hugo award but was beat out by Fahrenheit 451, and is easily on the same level of awesomeness. I think the -1 star is more for me than for the book.
Recommended for all lovers of classic sci-fi, especially aliens!