Years and years ago (when I was in my early teens), David gave me a copy of this and a Heinlein off of his own bookshelf...I'm pretty sure my sci-fi romance started out because of him.

A fun story, with a smart, quirky girl at the core? Who wouldn't love it. It's one I've come back to over and over again. I'm fortunate to have read more of his work than most, and I can't recommend this one quite highly enough. I had to replace my copy a few years ago (paperbacks just don't stand up to heavy reading for over a decade). I'd spent several years (pre-Amazon) hunting for it locally and was thrilled to find that now I could find it with the push of an enter button!

Really tried, favorite period - subject nice.
Brain unable, grammar, hard. Finish never make.

I have read this book multiple times and find I just can't put it down, each time. The main protagonist is spunky. The action is fast paced. There is enough technical detail given to make the story believable but not so much it is boring or overwhelming. I enjoyed it this time as much as I did when the story was first published in Analog.

Pa onako, iskreno ocekivao sam da ce biti bolje, kada sam poceo citat mi je bilo super, a onda je krenuo razvlacit radnju i opisivat jedne te iste radnje....tako da eto.

The book is definitely worth reading, even thuogh not exactly my style. I recommended it to a friend of mine and got back only positive feedback.

All Time Favourites

I remember reading and enjoying this book immensely as a teen in England, and subsequently seeking out another (hard to find, out of print) copy in LA of all places.

I'm so glad Mr Palmer's work is starting to be republished. He deserves greater fame :)

I liked this when I first read it, and later reread it a couple of times, but there was something about it that didn’t feel quite right to me. I avoided it for more than 30 years, and then I tried it again.

OK, the story is readable, quite gripping. The first-person 11-year-old heroine, Candy by name, is likeable despite being literally superhuman (this is explained in the story). She survives the extinction of humanity in World War III thanks to Daddy’s wonderful underground shelter, and emerges to humanity almost entirely gone but the world more or less intact, thanks to the weapons being targeted specifically at humanity.

Eventually she discovers some other survivors. The first two that she meets, a male of about 13 and a male in his late 40s, both want to have sex with her, and tell her so. This strikes me as rather weird and icky, and it’s one of my two criticisms of the book—although she manages to fend off both of them.

My other criticism is that it goes into too much detail about everything. The author did research and wanted to show it off. OK, but we the readers are not necessarily fascinated. In the later parts of the book, reading it now, I skimmed a lot.

Shorn of the excess detail, it makes a good enough story, although almost all of the characters turn out to be superhuman—and, well, I’m human. I like to think I’m above average as a human, but still, I don’t identify well with these types. And the story is basically quite simple, the plot is not very sophisticated.

Overall, I think three stars is about right for this one: nowhere near favourite status, but mildly diverting, rereadable occasionally. It’s a very American book, and I’m not American; but Candy is likeable, despite being absurdly precocious.

My favorite science-fiction novel, read at a time when I really needed a dose of hope and inspiration. I drove 40 miles to the South Miami Public Library to read the first two installments in Analog Science Fiction in 1981 and 1983. Then I bought the 1984 Bantam paperback to have all three installments under one cover. Spider Robinson's endorsement on the cover was accurate as was his blurb on the back of the book. A terrific read and one terrific ride. David R. Palmer gave us a crystal-clear glimpse of a life rarely imagined. Reading Emergence brought me to a heightened state of reality, as if I were traveling first-class on a brisk fall day with not a care in the world. This novel should be republished in a leather binding to resounding success.

Fun adventures, but the big plot reveal is not very interesting and everything happens pretty quickly once revealed (even considering how it is written). Seems like after 230 or so pages he realised he needed to find a quick way to end the story. I did like the the style, changing volumes and writers. It's hard to empathise with the main character/writer as it's hard to grasp if that's the way an 11-year old (with extremely high IQ) would see and experience things. Usually you get to know more about the main character's life or his/her interactions with others early on the story. In this book, it happens briefly and then it's just mainly about survival. The character doesn't feel like it matures as a person.

Unreadable..... The author uses a stream of consciousness writing style that annoyed me from the first second. Which is too bad because I have heard this is a good book. I can't be the only one who feels this way.

I have read this book 4 time now, and enjoyed it very much every time. It was first published in Analog magazine, later added to and released into a book with the current title. It was nominated for the 1984 Hugo Award, but didn't make it.

A Young girl named Candidia Maria Smith-Foster takes shelter in the family fall out shelter when her father telephones her that war is starting, and he will be their as soon as possible. He doesn't make it, and after a period of time she emergences and attempts to find other people that are alive. She evidently discovers that she is one of a few select group of people called "Homo post hominem". This is about her survival, and those who are attempting to kill her and others of her kind.

This book is nearly unreadable because of the style. I've no idea why it has this sort of rating here. It pretty much sucks. Here's a "sentence:" "Means must have farm."

Almost every sentence is like this. Some sentences, it's pronouns that are hated; other sentences, the verb gets the axe. For a genius new hominid, this little girl can't figure out grammar? Do you mind if I doubt her intelligence entirely? I may be the only one who reads this as an unreliable narrator book for this reason.

That sentence, by the way, should have said. "This (discovery) means I must move to a farm." When every sentence is like that, you have to re- and re-read to try and wiggle the meaning of out it, it's supremely irksome. I stayed irked for 75 pages, and finally I tossed the book and it's awful (non)sentences aside.

However, I am incredibly amused that because of goodreads recommending it, there are people going out and buying a used paperback copy for $55 American. rotflol. Man, there's a sucker born every minute, isn't there? Thank you interlibrary loan system.