A satirical fable, a political allegory and an ecological warning from the author of The Three-Body Problem.

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.

From humble tooth-picking origins, ants and dinosaurs – two species so unalike and yet so complementary – forged an alliance that culminated in an antimatter-powered Age of Wonder.

But such magnificent industry came 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 all warning of impending ecological collapse, leaving the ants facing a single dilemma: destroy their allies... or perish alongside them?

'Made my brain itch with its creativity and klaxon alarm... Deceptively simple and brilliantly clever, I simply adored it' LoveReading
'Liu's sense of fun is contagious' Locus