In a sunlit clearing in central Gondwana, on an otherwise ordinary day in the late Cretaceous, the seeds of Earth's first and greatest civilization were sown in the grisly aftermath of a Tyrannosaurus' lunch. Throughout the universe, intelligence is a rare and fragile commodity – a fleeting glimmer in the long night of cosmic history. That Earth should harbour not just one but two intelligent species at the same time, defies the odds. That these species, so unalike – and yet so complementary – should forge an alliance that kindled a civilization defies logic. But time is endless and everything comes to pass eventually... The alliance between ants and dinosaurs, was of course, based on dentistry. Yet from such humble beginnings came writing, mathematics, computers, fusion, antimatter and even space travel – a veritable Age of Wonder! But such magnificent industry comes at a price – a price paid first by Earth's biosphere, and then by all those dependent on it. And yet the Dinosaurs refused to heed the Ants' warning of impending ecological collapse, leaving the Ant Federation facing a single dilemma: destroy the dinosaurs, destroy a civilization... or perish alongside them?Praise for the author: “China's answer to Arthur C. Clarke” THE NEW YORKER “Wildly imaginative, really interesting ... The scope of it was immense” BARACK OBAMA “A milestone in Chinese science fiction” NEW YORK TIMES“A marvellous mélange of awe-inspiring scientific concepts, clever plotting and quirky yet plausible characters” TLS“A unique blend of scientific and philosophical speculation, politics and history, conspiracy theory and cosmology” GEORGE R.R. MARTIN