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nrnrnr t1_iyaqphu wrote

Reply to comment by scobsdoo in Childhood’s End Appreciation by SterlingR3d

They are actually two different tellings of the same story. I own a hardcover edition that combines Against the Fall of Night with The Lion of Comarre. That was first. The City and the Stars came later when he wanted to tell the story at greater length. In the intro to my hardcover Clarke is clearly bemused that some people prefer the earlier version. (I am one of them.)

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scobsdoo t1_iycn43t wrote

I read City first, so naturally preferred that version as it fleshes out the detail more. When I first read it over 30 years ago I thought "cool ideas", but re-reading more recently it occurred to me that computers had only been in existence for a couple of years when he wrote it, and yet he was already thinking in terms of AI and immersive shared VR environments. Amazing

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