Reviews

The Wandering Earth by Cixin Liu

zachhois's review

medium-paced

3.0

He continues his fantastic acceleration of complex and sometimes downright terrifying science fiction concepts. This was a collection of short stories that he’s written. My favorites were the wandering earth, the namesake, and the one about the hitmen probably. It is so interesting to see him do a fictional autobiographical piece. For me personally, I think this short story format is good for his writing. From my perspective, the longer books started to lose some steam at times. Here, however, he can explore different concepts, and although they are not thoroughly dissected, he can move on to another interesting one before you have to start filling.

martha_me's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.25

mrliterate's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

sss23's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

whirl's review against another edition

slow-paced

4.0

luckylikesreading's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

fitheflea's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.25

marissasa's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.5

This collection of short stories is my first time reading from Cixin Liu of The Three Body Problem fame, and I can see why his writing is so well-known in the science fiction world. Although the titular first short story "The Wandering Earth" is the collection's namesake and has a movie adaptation, it was actually one of my least favorites in the book and I thought that it wasn't super interesting other than a couple nice quotes. The best short story in the collection for me was "Devourer" and it had the most memorable plot, most interesting ideas presented, and best execution. Although not all the short stories were a hit for me, as usual in short story collections, this book was a solid intro to Liu's works and it motivated me even more get around to reading his more famous work. 

My rankings for each short story:
The Wandering Earth - 3
Mountain - 4
Son of China - 3
For the Benefit of Mankind - 4
Curse 5.0 - 3
The Micro-Era - 4.5
Devourer - 5
Taking Care of God - 3
With Her Eyes - 3.5
Cannonball - 3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

bigs2021's review against another edition

5.0

It is impossible for me to give this book less than five stars. It is another tour de force of imagination and creativity. While I prefer some of his other books, such as the three body problem and Ball, Lightning, this was still a fantastic ride!

sydneyrp143's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0