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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
i’m bad at reading fiction and even worse at finishing collections of short stories. however, i REALLY liked the wandering earth short story and want to watch the movie
challenging
dark
informative
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I might change how I feel about this book once I've sat with it a while.
It's an interesting order to the short stories.
The first several feel almost clinical-- very focused on the plot and the science. Although we're told how characters feel, there's no exploration. It's a very different style of writing.
They cover more emotions and internal thoughts and reactions in later stories.
It's an interesting order to the short stories.
The first several feel almost clinical-- very focused on the plot and the science. Although we're told how characters feel, there's no exploration. It's a very different style of writing.
They cover more emotions and internal thoughts and reactions in later stories.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Some good concepts and stories. As always with this author, there’s a tendency to be overly technical that makes the writing less enjoyable, and the psychology of the characters feels very off. Still enjoyable though!
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
As with all collections of short stories, some are better than others. Cixin Liu manages to create worlds and dystopian scenarios that are interesting and thought provoking. He comes up with an idea and tries to realistically line up the physics and actual scenarios that would occur if that happened. Unfortunately, this sometimes detracts from the story itself, the characters feel somewhat added secondarily to the world and idea he creates. In addition, the stories are shorter than wanted with some of the situations created. Nevertheless, for sci fi, Cixin Liu is incredible at creating worlds and scenarios that no one else would contemplate and I highly rate him as an author.
slow-paced
Some good stories and some bad. Mostly feels unrelated to TBP outside some references to technology
Fascinating hard science fiction. I'd recommend skipping “For the Benefit of Mankind”—it is rather gruesome.
inspiring
reflective
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Like everything else I've read of Cixin Liu, the characters feel stilted and often represent devices through which to drive the plot forward. Cixin has always been an ideas man - and the ideas here are excellent. Enough to make the short stories worth reading despite the bad characters.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated