Reviews

Broken Stars: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation by Cheng Jingbo, Gu Shi, Zhang Ran, Xia Jia, Ma Boyong, Anna Wu, Mingwei Song, Regina Kanyu Wang, Baoshu, Chen Qiufan, Han Song, Hao Jingfang, Tang Fei, Cixin Liu, Fei Dao

meimayy's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

Favourite stories:

• Moonlight by Liu Cixin - a rollercoaster of a read
• Submarines by Han Song - a dystopian story of the others living modern big cities
• The New Year Train by Hao Jingfang - an experimental train disappears with people on board
• The Restaurant at the End of the Universe: Laba Porridge by Anna Wu - for those of us who like character driven stories
• The First Emperor's Games by Ma Boyong - ancient China meets computer games and hilarity ensues!
• The Brain Box by Regina Kanyu Wang - an intriguing premise

phoenix0's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

tarugani's review against another edition

3.0

None of the stories completely blew me away, but I liked Restaurant at the End of the Universe a lot and Submarine sticks in my head. A couple of the longer ones dragged.

I ended up skimming the essays. There were some interesting tidbits but I was sleepy and there were a lot of names. ;-p

alin01's review

3.0

It's so difficult to rate an anthology! but i think 3 might be an accurate average
I really enjoyed that every author was introduced and the notes on the cultural aspects that might be unknown to the Western reader

Some favourites
Goodnight, melancholy by Xia Jia, 5 stars

Spoiler

Reading this short story made me buy the book :-) The way the two stories (LINDY and ALAN) intertwine and the sense of melancholy in the story was so well thought through. Great way to start off the collection! I personally loved the appearance of the famous propositional logic example, "All men are mortal, Socrates is a man, therefore Socrates is mortal." and the mention of anaphora as a difficulty for computing AI. when things you learn in school appear in fiction.... Best overlap <3

Submarines by Han Song, 4 stars

Spoiler

Han Song's writing style >> I loved the imagery in this and the political aspects combined with sci-fi

What Has Passed Shall in Kinder Light Appear by Baoshu, 4 stars

Spoiler

Although it felt a little long at times (since it was the longest story lol) retrospectively I enjoyed this a lot, especially for the interesting message of how much (or whether or not) it matters what progress humanity makes and what causes what historical events to happen...mwah

Reflections by Gu Shi, 2 stars maybe but

Spoiler

the concept for the clairvoyance stuck with me, I just didn't like where the story went at all. But the clairvoyance concept. hey. i think looking at these stories, fiction that plays with how time works/unfolds might be a new favourite theme

The Brain Box by Regina Kanyu Wang, 4 stars

Spoiler

I enjoyed how this idea/concept was conveyed in just a few pages and gave an interesting insight into how people would handle the existance of the "brain box"

and I liked all three essays a lot!!

brutalist_dreamscapes's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

berlinbibliophile's review

3.0

As with all short story collections, I liked some of the stories much more than others. My favourite story was "What Has Passed Shall in Kinder Light Appear" by Baoshu, which combines a great story about the intertwined lives of childhood friends with a history of China in which historical events happen backwards from our own timeline.
A lot of the other stories are harder to remember because there are few characters to care about: it's more about the concept than the characters. Still, the concepts are usually interesting. The overall "feeling" of the stories is very different from the Western sci-fi I've read. It still definitely reads like sci-fi, but a lot of the hall-marks I usually expect, like a space setting or simply being set in the future, weren't present. I'd like to read more Chinese sci-fi to see if that's a general trend or just in this collection.

sophiereads21's review against another edition

3.0

Sneaking in with one last read for 2023! A collection of scifi from Chinese authors, this was annintertesting read is is very different tonally from western scifi (in my experience anyway). I did find alot of the stories didn't grab me though some were interesting! I think quite a lot gets missed in translation.

pyropez's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

rukmini's review against another edition

4.0

Even better than the first anthology. Highlights for me: Submarines (Han Song); What has passed shall in kinder light appear (Baoshu); The snow of Jinyang (Zhang Ran); Coming of the Light and A history of future illnesses (Chen Qiufan).

books_and_keys's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative reflective medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25