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shayy's review
adventurous
challenging
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
rebeccazh's review against another edition
5.0
My short review is: priest is awesome.
My longer review: In this book, humans are living in a futuristic planet where everyone is part of a mental/neural network called Eden. People have given up their privacy and freedom so that Eden monitors people's slightest physiological and emotional status, making changes to ensure that people live well and happily. The average lifespan is now at least a few hundred years. There is AI everywhere and pretty much everything is automated, convenient and easy. Nearly anything can be done with technology - some of it includes creating virtual models of people who have passed so you can still interact with them in a very limited sense; recording memories like videos, travelling through space, gestating (?) infants outside of the womb... Eden sounds idyllic.
But there is a group of people, whom the novel refers to as 'imperfect' (the title), who are sort of 'brain dead'. They're not able to connect and be affected by Eden. They're considered the rejects of society and are pushed to the fringes of the galaxy, to the eighth galaxy, where they're ignored and treated as substandard. The novel follows two characters, Lu Bixing, and Lin Jingheng, who are both revolutionaries. They want to bring down the administrators of Eden and bring equality to the people of the eighth galaxy.
There are a lot of big questions about the future of humanity, freedom, equality, morality. She writes quite differently from Western authors about technology - quite a lot of the utopia/dystopia novels I've read have an anxiety about where technology is going, whether we are really in control of it, individuality, privacy, sensationalism, mind control in the form of mass media and mass entertainment... But priest's focus is less on technology and more about freedom and morality. Are we all free if one group is more free than another?
I have to reread this at some point - probably once the English translation finishes - because my Chinese is not up to scratch enough to understand the finer details of the debate within the book. I had to read with a dictionary, which was so tedious that I ditched the dictionary about halfway through and ended up skimming quite a bit because I couldn't understand, lol. But oh man I loved reading Priest's writing again! She is so funny. She's also well-versed in western novels and quotes George Orwell and name drops various other western classics at some point.
I also have to rave about her characters. I find that Chinese novels tend to write characters with very clear and strong motivations. It's completely clear to me how their circumstances, their past and their personality have shaped their motivations, attitudes and goals. Main characters undergo quite a lot of change and growth. There are very few villains who are villainous for the sake of it.
I read somewhere that she's a psychology major, which I think explains a lot about her understanding of people.
Lu Bixing is a very idealistic and big-hearted person. He hopes to build a school and bring education to the eighth galaxy, which is basically like wanting to bring education to the slums. The people themselves don't even want it. He's very upbeat and he's basically described to be like a puppy - never disheartened, always optimistic, and even if he did meet any obstacles, he's able to shake it off pretty quickly. Lin Jingheng is his opposite. Introverted, aloof, keep things close to the chest, analytical.
While it was interesting watching the way they interacted, I think where priest's writing really shines is when disaster strikes. About 60% into the novel (both characters are now in a relationship with each other), Lin Jingheng's ship is blown up and he is presumed dead. Lu Bixing and Lin Jingheng's reactions to the event showed very clearly how much they've changed. Lbx falls into a years-long depression; the description of it was visceral and accurate. He describes everyday as similar to walking on a tightrope. He has to make sure he doesn't lose his mind, lose hope and lose his soul while still maintaining his balance. It was quite painful to see how the optimistic, talkative and upbeat Lbx become withdrawn, quiet and even suicidal at times. I read The Body Keeps Score recently, and kept thinking about it when I was reading this.
Meanwhile Ljh who has always shown a very blasé attitude towards living - 'if I live, that's fine, if I die, that's fine too, I won't fight particularly hard to stay alive' - struggled very hard against difficult circumstances and a very sick and failing body to live.
It was even better after they reunited, because sixteen years had passed, and they'd both become very different people. There was this whole new, tenuous and painful period where they were trying to get used to each other again, with Ljh realizing that the person he'd immortalised in his mind and fought to live for was no longer that person, and he now had to bend over backwards to treat Lbx like glass. On the other hand, Lbx was struggling with being in the present moment where Ljh is alive, rather than being frozen in the traumatic past where Ljh is dead and Lbx is hopeless, helpless and reckless. It culminated into one of the most honest and vulnerable fights I saw a couple have in a Chinese novel. Usually, they don't talk about how they feel. They just kind of imply things. It was super cathartic and quite refreshing to read that.
This is not even mentioning the plethora of side characters and the plot twists. There were some really thrilling plot developments. My heart was in my throat, reading this.
I'm just heart eyes over this novel. It was so good.
My longer review: In this book, humans are living in a futuristic planet where everyone is part of a mental/neural network called Eden. People have given up their privacy and freedom so that Eden monitors people's slightest physiological and emotional status, making changes to ensure that people live well and happily. The average lifespan is now at least a few hundred years. There is AI everywhere and pretty much everything is automated, convenient and easy. Nearly anything can be done with technology - some of it includes creating virtual models of people who have passed so you can still interact with them in a very limited sense; recording memories like videos, travelling through space, gestating (?) infants outside of the womb... Eden sounds idyllic.
But there is a group of people, whom the novel refers to as 'imperfect' (the title), who are sort of 'brain dead'. They're not able to connect and be affected by Eden. They're considered the rejects of society and are pushed to the fringes of the galaxy, to the eighth galaxy, where they're ignored and treated as substandard. The novel follows two characters, Lu Bixing, and Lin Jingheng, who are both revolutionaries. They want to bring down the administrators of Eden and bring equality to the people of the eighth galaxy.
There are a lot of big questions about the future of humanity, freedom, equality, morality. She writes quite differently from Western authors about technology - quite a lot of the utopia/dystopia novels I've read have an anxiety about where technology is going, whether we are really in control of it, individuality, privacy, sensationalism, mind control in the form of mass media and mass entertainment... But priest's focus is less on technology and more about freedom and morality. Are we all free if one group is more free than another?
I have to reread this at some point - probably once the English translation finishes - because my Chinese is not up to scratch enough to understand the finer details of the debate within the book. I had to read with a dictionary, which was so tedious that I ditched the dictionary about halfway through and ended up skimming quite a bit because I couldn't understand, lol. But oh man I loved reading Priest's writing again! She is so funny. She's also well-versed in western novels and quotes George Orwell and name drops various other western classics at some point.
I also have to rave about her characters. I find that Chinese novels tend to write characters with very clear and strong motivations. It's completely clear to me how their circumstances, their past and their personality have shaped their motivations, attitudes and goals. Main characters undergo quite a lot of change and growth. There are very few villains who are villainous for the sake of it.
I read somewhere that she's a psychology major, which I think explains a lot about her understanding of people.
Lu Bixing is a very idealistic and big-hearted person. He hopes to build a school and bring education to the eighth galaxy, which is basically like wanting to bring education to the slums. The people themselves don't even want it. He's very upbeat and he's basically described to be like a puppy - never disheartened, always optimistic, and even if he did meet any obstacles, he's able to shake it off pretty quickly. Lin Jingheng is his opposite. Introverted, aloof, keep things close to the chest, analytical.
While it was interesting watching the way they interacted, I think where priest's writing really shines is when disaster strikes. About 60% into the novel (both characters are now in a relationship with each other), Lin Jingheng's ship is blown up and he is presumed dead. Lu Bixing and Lin Jingheng's reactions to the event showed very clearly how much they've changed. Lbx falls into a years-long depression; the description of it was visceral and accurate. He describes everyday as similar to walking on a tightrope. He has to make sure he doesn't lose his mind, lose hope and lose his soul while still maintaining his balance. It was quite painful to see how the optimistic, talkative and upbeat Lbx become withdrawn, quiet and even suicidal at times. I read The Body Keeps Score recently, and kept thinking about it when I was reading this.
Meanwhile Ljh who has always shown a very blasé attitude towards living - 'if I live, that's fine, if I die, that's fine too, I won't fight particularly hard to stay alive' - struggled very hard against difficult circumstances and a very sick and failing body to live.
It was even better after they reunited, because sixteen years had passed, and they'd both become very different people. There was this whole new, tenuous and painful period where they were trying to get used to each other again, with Ljh realizing that the person he'd immortalised in his mind and fought to live for was no longer that person, and he now had to bend over backwards to treat Lbx like glass. On the other hand, Lbx was struggling with being in the present moment where Ljh is alive, rather than being frozen in the traumatic past where Ljh is dead and Lbx is hopeless, helpless and reckless. It culminated into one of the most honest and vulnerable fights I saw a couple have in a Chinese novel. Usually, they don't talk about how they feel. They just kind of imply things. It was super cathartic and quite refreshing to read that.
This is not even mentioning the plethora of side characters and the plot twists. There were some really thrilling plot developments. My heart was in my throat, reading this.
I'm just heart eyes over this novel. It was so good.
dikshya's review against another edition
no I seriously love this so much but this is my third time reading this and I think if I read it anymore I will lose all sanity and all connection to reality.
I already constantly reread my favorite passages, but it is the school year right now and I have horrible lulin tunnel vision and I fear if I continue I will fail all of my classes. I will be good and patient and wait for the official translation to come out so I can enjoy this again without feeling any inward guilt about reading this for the third time in less than two years.
can ci pin I will always love you, lulin I will always love you. I will be back.
I already constantly reread my favorite passages, but it is the school year right now and I have horrible lulin tunnel vision and I fear if I continue I will fail all of my classes. I will be good and patient and wait for the official translation to come out so I can enjoy this again without feeling any inward guilt about reading this for the third time in less than two years.
can ci pin I will always love you, lulin I will always love you. I will be back.
luxlisbonsghost's review against another edition
5.0
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
—— Dickens《A Tale of Two Cities》
I took my hatred and plot for revenge with me down the mire, to the depths of the abyss, and returned as a ghost of the past. I want to plant the seeds of the rotten truth, nourish their deadly thorns with fresh blood so that they grow and pierce through this civilization built on lies.
I reached the bottom of the abyss…only to find a shining star.”
*scroll to the bottom of my review for an english translation of the synopsis of the novel since the one on here is in mandarin*
4.5 out of 5. out of all the priest novels i’ve read this is my third favorite. i liked sha po lang and mo du more but this was still reallllly well done. i don’t think priest is capable of writing a bad novel. it had action but the action was very much like war type battles which is why i think i didn’t give this a five. i prefer action scenes in like physical fighting opposed to a mech shooting another mech.. some of the science and machine explanations i found confusing but i think i just genuinely wasn’t smart enough to fully comprehend i don’t think it was like the author failing to explain it well.
i recommend it. the synopsis is in chinese so i will add the english synopsis here:
“Who will be the one to bury mankind, Orwell or Huxley? No need to give your answer so quick. Let's read a story first.
When Lu Bixing, a hipster from the Eighth Galaxy, fell in love with a gangster called B4, he didn't know that his darling muffin was Commodore Lin Jingheng, the commander of Silver Fortress. As they knew each other further, the world changed dramatically: Interstellar pirates invaded the Interstellar Union. The nasty secrets about Eden emerged in front of them. Lu's pedigree was found to be unbelievably mysterious.
But all they wanted was each other, no matter how peculiar the world was around them.
In a sentence, it's a story about conspiracies and murders, gentlemen and villains, love and hatred.
Coming back to the question, the answer is: "Humans are born from belief, die of belief, and reborn from the ashes of belief." "
—— Dickens《A Tale of Two Cities》
I took my hatred and plot for revenge with me down the mire, to the depths of the abyss, and returned as a ghost of the past. I want to plant the seeds of the rotten truth, nourish their deadly thorns with fresh blood so that they grow and pierce through this civilization built on lies.
I reached the bottom of the abyss…only to find a shining star.”
*scroll to the bottom of my review for an english translation of the synopsis of the novel since the one on here is in mandarin*
4.5 out of 5. out of all the priest novels i’ve read this is my third favorite. i liked sha po lang and mo du more but this was still reallllly well done. i don’t think priest is capable of writing a bad novel. it had action but the action was very much like war type battles which is why i think i didn’t give this a five. i prefer action scenes in like physical fighting opposed to a mech shooting another mech.. some of the science and machine explanations i found confusing but i think i just genuinely wasn’t smart enough to fully comprehend i don’t think it was like the author failing to explain it well.
i recommend it. the synopsis is in chinese so i will add the english synopsis here:
“Who will be the one to bury mankind, Orwell or Huxley? No need to give your answer so quick. Let's read a story first.
When Lu Bixing, a hipster from the Eighth Galaxy, fell in love with a gangster called B4, he didn't know that his darling muffin was Commodore Lin Jingheng, the commander of Silver Fortress. As they knew each other further, the world changed dramatically: Interstellar pirates invaded the Interstellar Union. The nasty secrets about Eden emerged in front of them. Lu's pedigree was found to be unbelievably mysterious.
But all they wanted was each other, no matter how peculiar the world was around them.
In a sentence, it's a story about conspiracies and murders, gentlemen and villains, love and hatred.
Coming back to the question, the answer is: "Humans are born from belief, die of belief, and reborn from the ashes of belief." "
noway218's review against another edition
5.0
The written style was amazing! The story was simply wonderful!
zoilkn's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
huakoonie's review against another edition
4.0
"El conocimiento es más valioso que el dinero, la curiosidad infnita es más valiosa que el conocimiento, y lo que es más valioso que la curiosidad es el cielo estrellado sobre nuestras cabezas".
4.5⭐️
No puedo explicar con palabras que me ha afectado terminar este libro. Es el primer libro de Priest que leo y la verdad que me ha dejado muy maravillada por el mundo que construyó. Dentro de ello, los personajes que ha creado me han enamorado muchísimo, me atrevo a decir que han marcado mucho en mí y me ha gustado su desarrollo durante toda la historia.
Ahora bien, a pesar de no ser tan fan de la ciencia ficción, he disfrutado mucho confundirme con las teorías científicas y la forma en que se manejaba la política, fue muy chistoso e interesante empaparse con estas perspectivas. No obstante, a pesar de que sí considero el libro de por sí una joyita, debo decir que me esperaba un poco de los villanos, más que todo el desenlace que se le da a la hermana de Lin Jingheng.
De todas formas, ¿lo recomiendo? La verdad es que sí, porque aunque tenga un sistema político y científico un poco pesado (al cual, por lo menos yo, no estoy acostumbrada a leer) la lectura de puede disfrutar mucho.
4.5⭐️
No puedo explicar con palabras que me ha afectado terminar este libro. Es el primer libro de Priest que leo y la verdad que me ha dejado muy maravillada por el mundo que construyó. Dentro de ello, los personajes que ha creado me han enamorado muchísimo, me atrevo a decir que han marcado mucho en mí y me ha gustado su desarrollo durante toda la historia.
Ahora bien, a pesar de no ser tan fan de la ciencia ficción, he disfrutado mucho confundirme con las teorías científicas y la forma en que se manejaba la política, fue muy chistoso e interesante empaparse con estas perspectivas. No obstante, a pesar de que sí considero el libro de por sí una joyita, debo decir que me esperaba un poco de los villanos, más que todo el desenlace que se le da a la hermana de Lin Jingheng.
De todas formas, ¿lo recomiendo? La verdad es que sí, porque aunque tenga un sistema político y científico un poco pesado (al cual, por lo menos yo, no estoy acostumbrada a leer) la lectura de puede disfrutar mucho.
camo_mila's review against another edition
I tried 2 times, I know this novel is well loved for a lot of people, but I just can't find myself to be interested in the story.
pjmbyul's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to give this a 4/5, but I ultimately have to settle on a 3/5 ... but more like a 3.5/5. I enjoyed reading this, don't get me wrong — there were instances where I spent 3 hours just speeding through the chapters, but the last two books took me forever to get through. It was fun, but don't ask me what happened in this story, because I couldn't tell you.
My reviews are entirely for myself to look back on and are also entirely based on my personal enjoyment level. In no way am I trying to be some superior art critic and judge whether something is good or bad. So, with that said, let me first start off with what I enjoyed.
What I Enjoyed
1. Lu Bixing and Lin Jingheng are ideal main characters for a story. As individuals, they have very clear personalities that are easy to like from a reader's perspective. None of the sarcasm or bluntness from Jingheng ever comes across are actually cruel. I really admire that when it comes to how Priest wrote him, because it could be so easy to make him unlikeable, but she did the complete opposite. And Lu Bixing is just a lovable little shit.
As a team, the pair have such an enjoyable dynamic. It really is the definition of opposites attract — as well as literally "Ooh, you want to kiss me so bad." They are a very pure couple who sincerely love each other, going on a realistic emotional journey as they navigate their relationship within this made-up universe. The way they come together is super natural (and actually far earlier than I thought? I assumed there would be an extremely long slow-burn, but we got something different — only because we got a different form of angst later on, ugh). As a couple, they were separated from each other during part of the story and when they came back together, there was such a realistic aftermath that I really appreciated. It was just done so well.
2. The morality concepts within this story. However, there was so much of it that I can't even remember enough to explain further. You just gotta read it yourself.
3. The use of metaphors, similes, and analogies. This plays into what I didn't like about the story, which I'll mention later, but the good part is that because there are many battle scenes that utilize a lot of tech-related fighting within the vacuum of space, Priest utilizes very specific metaphor, similes, and analogies to explain the scenes with easy-to-understand language.
4. The prose (something I also didn't enjoy at the same time). It read like I was reading an oral tale transcribed onto paper. I think that's a typical trait of c-novels, at least from what I've read so far. It's a very different style of writing from western authors, and I find that I really admire it for its difference. It's not overly descriptive, but genuinely more like you're ready some old fairytale being told to you. This feeling is strong also because we have an omnipresent narrator, which I personally really enjoy and so rarely get to experience in western novels.
What I Didn't Enjoy
1. The battle scenes. There are so many. I mean, practically a third of this book is just very long-winded battle scenes between "mechs", or fighter spaceships, using things like particle cannons and blowing up transfer portals and ... yeah. For the LIFE of me, I couldn't envision any of these scenes in my head. They were just bare words on the screen that I skimmed over, because how many times can you write a space battle scene without all of them sounding the same? Stakes were different each time, but the formula for each one was pretty much the same.
2. The length of this book all-together. It did not need to be 197+ chapters. I understand that c-novels are often very long like this, with multiple arcs similar to how western TV shows have multiple seasons making up one ultimate story, but every "arc" was just a different slew of battle scenes.
I found that I was far more invested in this story when I was reading literally anything that wasn't a battle scene. My favorite part of this book was actually the middle during its most depressing, angsty time, because that all just felt more "human" to me. Less technical. You don't need to know anything about tech to read this, but be prepared for real sci-fi scenes and language.
I don't know, I think that the last two "books" dragged this story on. Every time a conflict was resolved, a new one popped up and I'd think, "...Really? We're not done yet?" It's why I took forever reading the last bit of this story.
3. The prose. For the same reason why I liked it, it's the same reason why I didn't. I wish some scenes had more descriptions of environments and what characters looked like, because like I mentioned above, it was so difficult to picture many of the scenes happening.
Overall, this was a monster of a story and difficult for me to get through. For my own comparison, I read a book as long as TGCF in 9 or 10 days whereas this one took me 6 weeks. I wish it had less battle scenes, but I really enjoyed everything else. However, I'm ultimately more neutral on this one, thus my 3 stars.
My reviews are entirely for myself to look back on and are also entirely based on my personal enjoyment level. In no way am I trying to be some superior art critic and judge whether something is good or bad. So, with that said, let me first start off with what I enjoyed.
What I Enjoyed
1. Lu Bixing and Lin Jingheng are ideal main characters for a story. As individuals, they have very clear personalities that are easy to like from a reader's perspective. None of the sarcasm or bluntness from Jingheng ever comes across are actually cruel. I really admire that when it comes to how Priest wrote him, because it could be so easy to make him unlikeable, but she did the complete opposite. And Lu Bixing is just a lovable little shit.
As a team, the pair have such an enjoyable dynamic. It really is the definition of opposites attract — as well as literally "Ooh, you want to kiss me so bad." They are a very pure couple who sincerely love each other, going on a realistic emotional journey as they navigate their relationship within this made-up universe. The way they come together is super natural (and actually far earlier than I thought? I assumed there would be an extremely long slow-burn, but we got something different — only because we got a different form of angst later on, ugh). As a couple, they were separated from each other during part of the story and when they came back together, there was such a realistic aftermath that I really appreciated. It was just done so well.
2. The morality concepts within this story. However, there was so much of it that I can't even remember enough to explain further. You just gotta read it yourself.
3. The use of metaphors, similes, and analogies. This plays into what I didn't like about the story, which I'll mention later, but the good part is that because there are many battle scenes that utilize a lot of tech-related fighting within the vacuum of space, Priest utilizes very specific metaphor, similes, and analogies to explain the scenes with easy-to-understand language.
4. The prose (something I also didn't enjoy at the same time). It read like I was reading an oral tale transcribed onto paper. I think that's a typical trait of c-novels, at least from what I've read so far. It's a very different style of writing from western authors, and I find that I really admire it for its difference. It's not overly descriptive, but genuinely more like you're ready some old fairytale being told to you. This feeling is strong also because we have an omnipresent narrator, which I personally really enjoy and so rarely get to experience in western novels.
What I Didn't Enjoy
1. The battle scenes. There are so many. I mean, practically a third of this book is just very long-winded battle scenes between "mechs", or fighter spaceships, using things like particle cannons and blowing up transfer portals and ... yeah. For the LIFE of me, I couldn't envision any of these scenes in my head. They were just bare words on the screen that I skimmed over, because how many times can you write a space battle scene without all of them sounding the same? Stakes were different each time, but the formula for each one was pretty much the same.
2. The length of this book all-together. It did not need to be 197+ chapters. I understand that c-novels are often very long like this, with multiple arcs similar to how western TV shows have multiple seasons making up one ultimate story, but every "arc" was just a different slew of battle scenes.
I found that I was far more invested in this story when I was reading literally anything that wasn't a battle scene. My favorite part of this book was actually the middle during its most depressing, angsty time, because that all just felt more "human" to me. Less technical. You don't need to know anything about tech to read this, but be prepared for real sci-fi scenes and language.
I don't know, I think that the last two "books" dragged this story on. Every time a conflict was resolved, a new one popped up and I'd think, "...Really? We're not done yet?" It's why I took forever reading the last bit of this story.
3. The prose. For the same reason why I liked it, it's the same reason why I didn't. I wish some scenes had more descriptions of environments and what characters looked like, because like I mentioned above, it was so difficult to picture many of the scenes happening.
Overall, this was a monster of a story and difficult for me to get through. For my own comparison, I read a book as long as TGCF in 9 or 10 days whereas this one took me 6 weeks. I wish it had less battle scenes, but I really enjoyed everything else. However, I'm ultimately more neutral on this one, thus my 3 stars.
nap's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0