Core: 2/9. This adaptation is bad.

It’s romantic enough to create a world for just one scene of wonder. Yet this version didn’t account for the madness of stars to people properly since people in the original version didn’t crash mentally just for stars. Instead, they were astounded altogether because they suddenly knew the real universe was contrary to their previous belief: The real universe was never as warm, finite, and bright as their perceived one.

If the author tried to convince the reader of the plot that stars drove people mad, why did he place a large amount of blabbers to confirm that it’s darkness instead of sudden lights of stars that drove people mad? Anyway, this adaptation clearly hinders the philosophical aesthetics in the original version: Our sense of security may be constructed merely on prejudice, folly or lies.

Character: 2/9. Some of characters behaved illogically like Theremon, Folimum and Siferra. Most people here appeared tedious, foolish and even maniac.

If Folimum is the final boss manipulating Mondior all the time, why did he rush into the Observatory hot-headily alone and risk his fame and life in such crucial time point? It would be more reasonable for him to stay with his believers safe and sound, ensure his position, enlarge his influence, and control the whole things.

Why did Theremon not believe in the postulate and ridicule it abruptly just out of his absurd enmity towards religion, especially since it was given scientifically by the most honorable astronomer who found the Law of Universal Gravitation, and then was confirmed by his scientist friends? Can you imagine a qualified journalist who believes in science and mocks cultists all the time would reject the feasible deduction proved by various aspects of evidence? How dared he? Moreover, how could a person who had abhorred Apostles of Flame so much in the beginning and even had risked his life against them surrendered himself just after 8 hours of communication with Folimum? He would be a more qualified journalist in my eye, if he at least checked the real condition in Amgando with his own eyes rather than presumptuously assumed that dictatorship was necessary under this situation and Amgando didn’t have force of will to form a workable government after he and Siferra had just escaped from a smaller toxic group.

Why did Siferra seem ignorant of cruelty and concerned with the killing issue suddenly in the apocalypse and need to be taught by Theremon that they should kill their attackers even after she had indeed killed her offender and ex-coworker by her own hand on the next day of the eclipse and had worked under a dictator and patrolled for a long time? Is it a misogynistic plot that a man must teach something to a woman? When Theremon was beaten by a group of people, she only cried out in fury and fear like an imbecile rather than an excellent and robust professor. When Theremon came up with an apparently crazy plan of hijacking a trunk due to his laughable heroism complex, the independent and intelligent professor obeyed at last! And then she still wanted to execute that laughable plan when Theremon failed and got caught! If the author intended to describe a phenomenon that women would always lose their courage, mind, and characteristics around a man, he succeeded in a shabby way.

Sheerin: The whole roster of human nuttiness, that’s what keeps the bread on my table. (A good pun for a psychiatrist +1)

Plot: 3/9. I would give a higher score if it gave more intriguing information in a more fast-paced rhythm logically. Frankly speaking, this version is an excruciating bore, which gave me a good lesson: Laconism is a virtue.

Twilight: 4/9. 4 parts are both loose and tedious in the beginning. But it’s more decent than the rest.

[Psychology] The office of Kelaritan, director of the Jonglor Municipal Psychiatric Institute, asked Dr. Sheerin, a psychologist of Saro University, to investigate the case of the Tunnel of Mystery as an impartial expert with the companion of Cubello, the lawyer of the Jonglor Centennial Exposition.

[Archaeology] Siferra, an archaeologist, was astounded to find that the lousy sandstorm didn’t manage to destroy the unprotected Beklimot on the Sagikan Peninsula, the most famous archaeological site in the world where she had failed to take the most elementary precautions out of negligence and smugness; instead, it revealed unspotted relics of probably a series of civilizations under the Hill of Thombo, the midden heap of the local.

[Psychology] Sheerin knew from his investigation and Kelaritan that victims of Tunnel were likely to suffer claustrophobia and then claustrophilia of irrationally believing in the existence of darkness outside.

[Astronomy] Beenay, a graduate student of Saro University and an assistant professor of the Saro University Observatory, confessed that he found the orbital motion of Kalgash around Onos was contrary to the Theory of Universal Gravitation, and therefore he let Faro and Yimot repeat his calculation independently.

[Psychology] Sheerin suggested shutting the tunnel up after experiencing it alone.

[Astronomy] [Theology] Beenay felt extremely apprehensive once he found the confirmation from Faro and Yimot, because he thought it possibly negated the Law of Universal Gravitation proposed by Athor, his beloved tutor and director. Out of upset and confusion, he resorted to Theremon, a journalist but also his trustworthy close friend, for getting it off his chest. Theremon encouraged him to have a talk with Athor and then expected a statement from him to question the new announcement proposed by Mondior, head of the Apostles of Flame, from the perspective of a scientist. Athor persuaded Beenay that there may exist an unknown factor just like Theremon once suggested.

[Theology] Theremon had a good impression on Folimum, the spokesman of the Apostles of Flame, who predicted the doomsday in the hope of soliciting believers to rebuild the post-catastrophic society.

[Archaeology] Siferra found the evidence of previous civilizations older than their human settlement and gave the tablets to Mudrin, a paleographer, to decipher.

[Psychology] [Astronomy] [Theology] Sheerin told his experience to his niece’s boyfriend, Beenay and Theremon, and Beenay told him his new dynamics. Theremon informed them of Folimum’s prophecy.

[Astronomy] Athor finally got a plausible postulate that there exists an invisible planetary body named Kalgash Two orbiting around their Kalgash and therefore commanded his inferiors to calculate its orbit so as to detect it.

[Archaeology] [Astronomy] Siferra demonstrated the fact to Beenay that 9 civilizations at the same place in Thombo seemed to be destroyed by a conflagration every two thousand years. Mudrin also found Level Three tablets recorded the account of the destruction that angry gods periodically punish their mankind for wickedness, which sounds like the Apostles of Flame.

[Astronomy] [Theology] [Archaeology] Beenay was so inspired that he went to research the happening time of the eclipse between Dovim, the only sun in the sky, and the invisible planetary body, which tallied with the augured period by the Apostles of Flame and perhaps the recurrent years for the destruction of civilization observed by Siferra. They also found the next eclipse happened exactly on the same day that the Apostles of Flame had foretold as the end of the world.

[Archaeology] [Psychology] [Astronomy] [Theology] Sheerin confirmed the mass insanity caused by the long darkness of the eclipse might contribute to the periodical conflagration. Siferra confirmed further from her radiocarbon dating of the Thombo culture. So the survival of their civilization depends on them: two astronomers, a psychologist, and an archaeologist. They decided to get some data from the Apostles of Flames through Theremon and then tell the public directly instead of resorting to the inert government because the time was limited for them. (Of course, in retrospect, they did no better than the government or even worse.)

Nightfall 2/9: Silverberg’s adaptation was more illogical. Why did scientists not resort to any other journalists or even the government through means like mass demonstration? What did the government do? Why people here were mad at the stars rather than darkness? Why came this kind of fear and craziness? They had plenty of leeway of 11 months in this book rather than 2 months in the original story! To sum up, this part seemed like a nasty copy with terrible modifications sabotaging the original pace and grace.

Twilight 2/9. It depicted an anarchic post-apocalyptic world with disoriented perspectives on almost every character.

However, I expected astronomers like Yemet, Beenay or Athor would like to make detailed scientific research on transitory stars since it’s science fiction!

Why were astronomers who predicted the disaster disliked or dispelled by the fool, but cultists who also predicted the same thing instead managed to manipulate the fool and created a feasible theocratic regime through this mayhem? Scientists of Sora University was said to have some authority in this book. For example, when they wanted some jungles in the south of Sora to be preserved against commercial exploitation, the government agreed and built the park.

People in the sanctuary seemed weak, selfish, and foolish. They could have constructed a more powerful organization in the beginning to revivify their community and guarantee stable orders after the catastrophe since they had advantages. Instead, they merely hid in the sanctuary, obeyed the remote evocation of a stupid and incapable government that failed to understand scientists’ warnings, prevent the disaster and deal with the fuss, abandoned resources and ignored other survivors while they had plenty of resources and advantages to offer humanitarian aids for others.

Since the civilization had trucks, cars, televisions and computers, then why did they not use the radio? It’s impossible to lose all the electronic communication systems even in the apocalypse. Clearly people in the sanctuary used it once. So is it logical that researchers on the Highway were not equipped with radio stations if there were plenty of abandoned cars around them?

Why did Theremon and Siferra assume presumptuously that the Apostles of Flame was more powerful than Amgando, the original government in the south? From the perspective of military, the Apostles was the attacker miles away and Amgando was the defender with enough resources and strongholds. It’s unlikely that Amgando was defeated easily.

Also, I’m not satisfied with this ending and all these plots without enough suspenses.

Overall: 2/9. A horrible attempt of enlargement.

I’m not satisfied with this version since it’s just a perfunctory work, not an excellent masterpiece in the respects of laconism, tempo, information density, characteristics, themes, and especially logic compared to the original version.

In addition, it would be more dramatic if the Apostles of Flame could be depicted as a more insidious enemy who sabotaged scientists’ efforts of saving the world clandestinely and even disrupted Theremon’s sensibility and rationality. Then scientists somehow managed to fight together against the antagonists positively in 11 months and gained the final victory just like the original optimistic ending.

I hope this is not Silverberg’s best book. I’m appalled that he wrote such a shame to publish in his fifties. Did he ever have any interest in science or decent writing? Or did he just lose his talents in this senile age? And I’m certain that I will blackmail most of his work, especially those that he wrote with others unless they were awarded heavily.