Read at least once prior to 1989 but no dates available.

I could not stick this one out. I get that the girl is writing in shorthand and is super-human, but I just didn’t find the POV to be at all believable.

This book would have been better if the main character hadn't been the literal most annoying person to have ever existed holy god damn I wish she'd have burned up in that rocket.

Fairly interesting and creative (certainly original at the time written), although certainly not for anyone looking for excellent literaty prose, as the "shorthand" style of writing isn't that. No more than 4 stars through (maybe 3.5, really) because of the extreme unrealism of the final plot twist(s). Am curious to try to find/download the sequel story though.

The writing style is one of the most unique I've come across. The style itself is an extension of the main character as the story is in the first person perspective. At first it's a bit jarring, but then you get so used to it you don't even notice until... no spoilers.

It's an amazing read, and one of my top ten favorite books. Unfortunately, it's out of print, but it's worth looking for in libraries, or the used section of Amazon.

I really wanted to like this, but it was a tiresome slog. I had no trouble with the "shorthand" idea, which was a bold and I'm sure divisive move by the author. It did feel inconsistent, at least in intent: if the point is succintness or efficiency, then a whole slew of the text seems out of place regardless of the elided articles.

But for me, it just felt too unbelievable across the board. I enjoy the "speculative" in speculative fiction, but it has to be grounded in something relatable. Candy simply isn't. At so many moments, a convenient new skill manifests. She's not exactly a Mary Sue, but...she's awfully close to one. I also felt that so very many of her expressions would seem much more natural coming from a (presumably) precocious, 30-something, male Heinlein impersonator. Just so.

I have a great fondness for coming of age stories and apocalypse fiction, combine that with a girl as the main character and I'm sold. Excellent story-telling, vivid characters and a terrific side-kick. This is one of those books I go back to read every few years and enjoy as much as I did the first time I read it.

For a post-apocalypse novel (a 'fix-up' from two short stories published in Analog magazine) this is pretty entertaining. Terry the Macaw is perhaps the star of the show, routinely referred by Candidia as her 'idiot twin'. Candidia herself is self-deprecating, despite being one of a new step in human evolution.

This novel should have set David R. Palmer on his way. Orson Scott Card's first short story sale, also published in Analog just three years before called Ender's Game propelled him on his way. Palmer though, perhaps distracted with a 'real' career (he worked as a court reporter and might even still be in that role now) didn't follow the same path.

The clippy language Candidia employs doesn't ever get wearing, and makes Emergence quite unique. There's quite a bit of travelling, across a decaying US devoid of its population but not flattened by nuclear weapons. The characters though tend to be a bit too overblown and extreme, even those long-departed, notably Master Mac. I couldn't help identifying Master Mac with The Karate Kid's Mr. Miyagi, played by Pat Morita in the 1984 movie. To the point I wonder if Master Mac was an unacknowledged inspiration for Mr. Miyagi?

Otherwise, though a little dated, Emergence is harmless fun. You don't expect to laugh-out loud when reading a post-apocalypse novel, but the general bad behaviour exhibited throughout by Terry did just that for me. Well written and lyrical, Emergence was a great start by Palmer, but didn't seem to lead to much else other than Threshold.

Okay, I understand: Candy is a genius, she wrote her journal in shorthand and decided to skip all the "unnecessary" words in every sentence. I am NOT a genius, I need those words, I need verbs, adjectives, complete sentences. So while the story may be interesting I gave up on the book. That writing is just not my cup of tea.

I did not like this book. I was mostly annoyed throughout. What bugged me? First off, the shorthand, log-entry style of writing was hard to take. I plowed through thinking that surely the author would begin to write complete sentences at some point but I was sorely disappointed.

The whole book is a journal of Candidia “Candy” Smith-Foster, an 11 year old super-genius representative of the next step in human evolution, the homo post hominem, man who follows man. Homo post hominems are the only surviving species of mankind after homo sapiens obliterate each other with nuclear/bioweapons attacks. Cool concept but carried out in a boring and functional sort of way. The book reads like a text book on survival techniques – a text book written in Pittman shorthand. Naturally, Candy as super genius has all the answers even at age 11 and seems to be expert at everything as are any other characters who appear. The children are not only precocious but annoyingly precocious. It grates on my nerves after a while.

n  “Oh, Posterity,n

[note: addresses all but earliest journal entries to “posterity”]

n  please be patient. Probably most difficult entry have ever faced. Emotional control fragile as crystal, unstable as if balanced on pinpoint. Forgive rambling if occurs. Will do best, but subconscious probably try to steer me away from subject.”n

Unfortunately, rambling occurs. A lot.

n  “Blinked away tears to gaze out over crowd in awe. And as stared, felt unfamiliar stirring: undefinable, comforting. Source eluded identification; but awareness of assemblage somehow expanding, deepening… Shared warmth, togetherness almost tangible.”n

Sorry, no, not even close to tangible. “Source eluded identification”?? Really??

I never felt any of Candy’s emotion in this book until the last 100 pages. She relates everything like a robot. There is nothing to make me feel her pain or emotions at the loss of her father or her teacher or the rest of humanity or her joy at locating any survivors. I just don’t care about her at all. Sorry, but it is a good thing homo sapiens are rare in this book because they would likely want to scratch her eyes out. I sure did. At the halfway point in the book I found myself just scanning pages because it just drags on and on. That is highly unusual behavior for me. Is the new species of mankind really going to be so clinical? This is fine for a history book which this journal is supposed to be but makes for a terrible novel.

I've read other books written in first person journaling style like The Road by Cormac McCarthy and The Martian by Andy Weir, and I was completely engaged in those stories. Cormac McCarthy was blunt and stark but lyrical, and Andy Weir, while still explaining how to solve problems of survival on Mars did not present the information like a text book or robot and the character emoted and was genuinely funny and real. We were pulling for him throughout, not wishing he would shut up about it already.

I’m not going to say that there are no redeeming qualities in Emergence, but the negatives far outweighed the positives for me. If the entire book had been more like the last 100 pages I might have rated it another star.

Gripping, touching, unpredictable. When it's all been done before, this is how you do post-apocalyptic fiction. Add a bird, skip (most of) the stranger danger, and blast off into MFing space!

I had to abandon it. The gimmick of having the book written in what amounts to translated shorthand is novel and entertaining, but completely alienates you from the narrator - who, almost 100 pages in, was still the only character. I could not engage with this book at all.