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516 reviews for:

The Wandering Earth

Cixin Liu

4.03 AVERAGE


Huh - I rather enjoyed this collection. I thought this was going to be just one story that The Wandering Earth movie was based on, so I was pretty surprised to learn that this was a collection of distinct stories. They were all different but sometimes seemingly connected. I was repeatedly struck by Cixin’s imagination and his ability to articulate such provocative and futuristic ideas in a way that felt realistic.

I remembered liking Three Body Problem but not being able to get into The Dark Forest - maybe I’ll give them another try soon.

¿Escribe Cixin Liu ciencia ficción dura? ¿Qué es la cifi dura, en realidad? ¿El gazpacho es una jopa o una jalja?
Si entendemos la ciencia ficción dura como rigurosa científicamente, quizá con algún pecadillo menor, en el momento de publicación del libro, entonces a Cixin Liu probablemente le venga grande esta etiqueta, aunque se empeñen en asignársela. Si, en cambio, nos conformamos con una especulación científica en la que el narrador (o alguno de los personajes de cartón-piedra que actúan como tal) se pasa páginas y páginas explicándonos asuntos futuristas con terminología científica y, a primera vista, todo parece tener sentido si eres de letras o no le das muchas vueltas al asunto… entonces, sin duda Cixin Liu es cifi dura. (Si te interesa el tema, te recomiendo este estado del FB de Sergio Mars: https://www.facebook.com/326947754071056/posts/2688318601267281/)
Lo anterior suena a “durísimas declaraciones” y quizá sorprendan esas 4/5 estrellas. Bueno, le he quitado media estrella porque, en ciertos cuentos, la suspensión de la incredulidad peligra en exceso y otra media por la nula caracterización. Los infodumps, si me cuentas cosas tan interesantes, me parecen hasta interesantes, aunque no me son invisibles y los reconozco como pereza narrativa por parte del autor.
Es recomendable leer primero la trilogía de [b:El problema de los tres cuerpos|28487182|El problema de los tres cuerpos (Trilogía de los Tres Cuerpos, #1)|Liu Cixin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1511909569l/28487182._SY75_.jpg|25696480] y luego pasar a esta antología para ver lo insistente que es con ciertos temas y tropos. La humanidad, en peligro. Grandes desgracias pondrán en jaque a la sociedad en su conjunto. Debemos ser valientes y embarcarnos en enormes proyectos de ingeniería que pagaremos con sangre o de esta no salimos. Ojo, que vienen los aliens a comernos la tostada. Pero saldremos más fuertes de este trance. O no, pero hay que salir del planeta ya, que no podemos poner todos los huevos en la misma cesta. El único que se sale del patrón es “Con sus ojos”, que casualmente es el más flojo (quizá el más emotivo también, pero en mi opinión se queda en ñoño).
Ya cerrando: el sentido de la maravilla es desbordante y leerse este caramelito es un verdadero placer. Lo he disfrutado como un enano, como cuando veía Doraemon de pequeño y alucinaba con todos esos inventos estrafalarios que daban tanto juego. Todos estos cuentos tienen sabor a cifi clásica, solo que con glutamato sódico. Lo cual no es malo: le da más sabor al gazpacho.

Posdata: no veáis la peli que comparte nombre con este libro y que está en Netflix. Que no os tiente la curiosidad.

Really enjoyable and thought provoking short stories

This wasn’t what I thought it would be like. The first part of the book was the best to me, everything after that was just OK. I did think it was weird how emotions were handled between characters because sometimes they were meaningless and then other times people had extreme emotions. The book sets up that humans have “evolved” Beyond the need for love because everything is about saving the earth, which I don’t necessarily think it’s realistic but if that’s how the author wants to tell the story that’s fine, but then later on one of the main characters is overjoyed and getting married and overwhelmed at the idea of bringing a child into the world. It’s very contradictory and it’s not necessarily something that made me not enjoy the story but it just took me out of it for a minute. I think a lot of it is due to translation which I understand is not an easy process, but it just makes the book seem weird at points.

Overall an interesting concept, but not necessarily done and what I feel is the best way, but then again could be due to being translated in somethings getting lost in the translation.

Yes... I read it again. Looking ahead to seeing the movie of it gets English subtitles. A great tale.

A collection of short sci-fi stories. Some of them good, others less good, but all worth reading. The author explores several sci-fi concepts in new unique and fascinating ways.
Of course, the first story is The Wandering Earth, which shows you glimpses of a man's life, from childhood to old age, in a time, when the Earth is being pulled out of it's orbit by man made world engines, to start it's 2500 year journey to find a new sun. And this isn't the most out-there concept explored in these stories! Lui Cixin truly has a unique mind for science fiction, which is quite refreshing.
If you've already read the 3 body problem trilogy, you'll recognize some of the concepts, and technologies in these stories. You could almost guess that these stories were a trial run for a lot of those concepts, before he sat down to write his trilogy.
If you haven't read the trilogy, don't worry, there are no spoilers in these stories.

it was ok! i felt lost in all the sci-fi tech speak and it took me some time to transition between each story.
adventurous challenging dark informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Much like Liu's Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, The Wandering Earth also  has mind expanding ideas but this time in short stories. There is also a (somewhat unexpected) human element in the stories as well. Very enjoyable indeed.
adventurous slow-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