Reviews

Invisible Planets: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation by Ken Liu

jessaminebooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging medium-paced

3.0

Like most short story collections, I liked some stories more than others. It was interesting to see sci-fi stories from a culture vastly different from my own - there are definitely things I missed the significance of.

erikars's review

4.0

Like many short story collections, some of the stories in this collection were better than others. Unlike most short story collections, I liked all of them. Thus, this collection is better than average as far as story collections go. Although, as essays at both the introduction and closing make clear, there is no singular definition of Chinese science fiction, one thing I really appreciated about this collection is that the stories were distinctly from a cultural background different than I was used to. Not the plots so much as the details of life -- names, food, cultural reference -- that permeate fiction even when it is set in a different time and place.

My personal favorites from this collection were "The Fish of Lijiang" by Chen Quifan, "A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight" and "Tongtong's Summer" by Xia Jia, "Invisible Planets" by Hao Jingfang, and "Taking Care of God" by Liu Cixin.

parriaga's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

4.5

rukmini's review against another edition

4.0

I loved the stories by Xia Jia. The introduction and essays at the end are also very interesting.

teresavh's review against another edition

4.0

It's a really beautiful way to see the world through the eyes of the Chinese. Some stories were kinda hard, but some others very lovely. Some stories give a big black mirror kinda vibe.

jburkespraker's review against another edition

It was part of a buddy read and I just didn’t finish.. I have read his Star Wars book, and liked that. 

yapxinyi's review against another edition

5.0

Really interesting selection, some were more hard-science types which was a little hard to engage with, but those stories that were really good and stayed with you...I don't think I'll be forgetting them anytime soon! In particular, I enjoyed:

- Folding Beijing by Hao Jingfang: really imaginative but also kinda haunting, reminded me a little about the 'Parasite' movie by Bong Joonho!!
- The City of Silence by Ma Boyong: had clear references to [b:1984|40961427|1984|George Orwell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1532714506l/40961427._SX50_.jpg|153313] and I quite enjoyed the little mystery elements when the protagonist was figuring out the clues.
- The Year of the Rat by Chen Qiufan: a very interesting opening story, a little bit of [b:Animal Farm|170448|Animal Farm|George Orwell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1325861570l/170448._SY75_.jpg|2207778] vibes!
- The Flower of Shazui by Chen Qiufan: one of the less fantastical stories, I felt, which suits Chen's style as he tends to write SF realism. Deals a lot more with ethics and morality, which was also interesting. I'm currently reading his [b:The Waste Tide|55869112|The Waste Tide|Chen Qiufan|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|53488132]!
- Call Girl by Tang Fei: very fantastical, not everything is explained but it's okay, just run with it! I thought the concept of calling over dogs as stories were intriguing. I am also amazed

I also really, really enjoyed the short essays on sci-fi which gave me more context on the sci-fi genre in China as well as the cultural backgrounds that gave rise to the popularity of Chinese sci-fi. I particularly enjoyed Chen Qiufan's 2014 essay 'The Torn Generation' – he wrote about a feeling of dissonance, "what I sense in them above all is a feeling of exhaustion about life and anxiety for sucess", which I feel strongly resonates with the 'lying flat' or 'mung' movement today. I think this also contributes to the increasing relevance (and popularity) of SF as a way to understand how humans can cope or live within a society where they don't quite see a thriving future anymore.

This is actually my second reading of Chinese sci-fi, the first was [b:Broken Stars: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation|39863330|Broken Stars Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation|Ken Liu|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1531215722l/39863330._SY75_.jpg|61659555] that was also pretty good, with the difference being the 'Invisible Planets' anthology had more award-winning short stories and writing by some of the more unique authors (correct me if I'm wrong)! I did enjoy Broken Stars a lot as well, so you should definitely read that if you liked this! You can also check out my review of it.

My next goal is to read Chinese sci-fi short stories in their original language...hehe.

scottpm's review against another edition

5.0

Some great stories here. Beautiful translations. I got a chance to appreciate different cultures and different world views. Some of my favorites were Folding Beijing, The Year of the Rat, The Fish of Lijiang, Tongtong's Summer, and The City of Silence. Highly recommended.

roctothorpe's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

3.5

Invisible Planets is a collection of contemporary Chinese sci-fi, translated by Ken Liu. I read the anthology first in English, and then skimmed some of the stories in Chinese. The most striking thing about these stories is how seriously impressive Ken Liu is as a translator. He somehow keeps a lot of the phrases and feelings from the Chinese text without making it feel stilted, and thoughtfully captures the voice and texture of the writing. I liked some stories more than others; favorites below in bold!

Chen Quifan (陈楸帆)

• "The Year of the Rat": Surreal and atmospheric dystopia with a really bizarre premise - genetically modified luxury rats escape their farms and college students are enlisted to fight them. My reading of the story's meaning is a commentary about the futility of war, and on how our perceptions can be altered. 

• "The Fish of Lijiang": Melancholy story about China's workaholic culture and freedom of choice (or the illusion of such choice). I enjoyed the symbolism of the fish struggling to swim upstream and the slow reveal of the
  time dilation/acceleration mechanic
  . 

• "The Flower of Shazui": The prose has some beautiful moments but I did not understand what this one was trying to say at all. Felt kind of awkward and male gazey.  
  
  

Xia Jia (夏笳)

• "A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight" (「百鬼夜行街」): Weird and mythical and dream-like - follows a child living on Ghost Street, a derelict tourist attraction populated by ghosts, which are robots containing human souls. I'm not convinced I fully understood this one either but the vibes reminded me of a Miyazaki movie and a bit of The Night Circus. It's bittersweet in the way that visiting an abandoned amusement park reminds you of a forgotten time.

• "Tongtong’s Summer": Emotionally moving story about a young girl and her aging grandfather. The telepresence caretakers are written in a way that speculates on how technology can fulfill the human needs for connection and purpose at the ends of our lives. 

• "Night Journey of the Dragon-Horse": No plot just vibes, post-apocalyptic exploration of a world without humans. I don't have much of a lasting impression on this one, but the writing was beautiful.

Ma Boyong (马伯庸)

• "The City of Silence" (「寂静之城」): A modern retelling of 1894 where speech is constantly policed by the government via online surveillance, listening devices, and an ever shrinking list of permitted "healthy words". This story was the most political in the collection and the commentary felt directly drawn from the mass surveillance in modern day China (this is even more apparent in the Chinese text). The overall tone is chilling and dark but it does speak to the power of language against an oppressive government. The people in this world find creative ways to spread their ideas even under tight scrutiny and restriction and in these small ways, they carry the resistance forward. 

 

“一句话，技术是中性的，但技术的进步会让自在的世界更自在，集权的世界更加集权。”
“To put it simply: technology is neutral. But the progress of technology will cause a free world to become ever freer, and a totalitarian world to become ever more repressive.”

Hao Jingfang (郝景芳)

• "Invisible Planets": A thoughtful collection of small vignettes about different planets and their alien civilizations. There's also some meta-commentary about the nature of storytelling, as the narrator muses that the act of telling the stories themselves is more important than whether or not they are true to begin with.

• "Folding Beijing": The concept for this one is wildly imaginative - facing overpopulation and the relentless pace of consumerism, the city of Beijing is socially stratified into three Spaces that literally fold and unfold like origami, taking turns being above ground while the other layers sleep underneath. The plot was kind of underwhelming but the setting alone was so deeply engrossing, it felt like I was watching a movie.

Tang Fei (糖匪)

• "Call Girl": Very strange. The writing, while beautiful, was obtuse for seemingly no reason. Requires more brain cells to comprehend than I currently have at my disposal.

Cheng Jingbo (程婧波)

• "Grave of the Fireflies": Couldn't tell you what happened in this one. There are elements of fantasy and folklore, so it felt like it could be riffing off of stories that I don't know.

Liu Cixin (刘慈欣)

• "The Circle": Captivating historical sci-fi set in ancient China with an assassin-turned-advisor who builds a human computer to calculate pi and discover the secret to eternal life. This is an adapted chapter from The Three-Body Problem, which has been on my to read list for ages. The premise is a bit silly but I enjoyed this immensely, especially thinking about emergent properties in a  system of simple parts. And
  that twist ending
  !!

• "Taking Care of God": A conceptually unique take on making contact with our creators - an alien race seeded life on Earth in order to have caretakers in their elder years. Both humorous and poignant, and the worldbuilding feels so grand in scale. The message of filial piety here makes this story feel the most culturally Chinese of the bunch. 

junggi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

A patkány éve: 6/10 Érdekes darab volt, de azért maradtak bennem kérdések. Kicsit semmilyennek éreztem. Borzongatnia kellett volna, vagy nem is ez lett volna a cél? Nem tudom, de elgondolkodtatott.
Licsiang halai: 8/10 Ez a novella egészen tetszett. Valahol tudtam, hogy a halak csak szemfényvesztés. Érdekes volt a koncepció, de kicsit kiábrándító is. Ilyen világban élünk.
Sacuj virága: 7/10 Érdekes volt ez az egyszerre sci-fi és mégsem annyira sci-fi világ. A csattanóra nem számítottam, de korrekt lezárást kapott.
Száz szellem esti parádéja: 7/10 Líraian megírt történet. A kisfiú újtípusú szellem léte váratlanul ért, bár onnantól lehetett tudni, hogyan fog végződni. A pókokat a végén nem értettem teljesen, miért viselkedtek úgy.
Tungtung nyara: 8/10 Nagyon kedves történet a nagyszülők emlékére. Nem ezekre a fordulatokra számítottam, de így talán jobb is volt.
A sárkányló égi útja: 9/10 Gyönyörűan megírt történet egy lehetséges jövőről, ahol megöltük magunkat, de a többi lény tovább él.
A csend városa: 9/10 1984, csak fejlett technológiával,. Hihetetlennek tűnik, és mégsem, és ez a legszomorúbb és legijesztőbb benne. Nem lepődtem mega végén, bár én arra számítottam, hogy a főhősünket is elkapják.
Láthatatlan bolygók: 10/10 A címadó mű. Nehezen tudtam elképzelni, hova tart a történet, hogy igazából nem egy történet, hanem kitalált világok leírásának füzére, benyomások összessége. Nagyon érdekes volt.
Összecsukható Peking: 8/10 Nem számítottam arra, hogy "csak" arról fog szólni, hogy átmegy mindkét világba, aztán visszatér a sajátjába, de a koncepció érdekes volt, az emberek egymáshoz való viszonya úgyszintén. Arra számítottam, a főhősünk le fog bukni, de tévedtem. Elgondolkodtató darab volt.
Call Girl: Nem értékelem, mert nem értem, mi történt. Kislány árulja a testét, és ennek a metaforája a történetetek meg a világ? Így védi magát? Mit jelentenek a kutyák mint történetek? Olyan hamar vége lett, észre se vettem. 
A szentjánosbogarak sírja: 9/10 Egy újabb mese, amit nem értettem. Kihunytak a csillagok, de miért is? Nem volt értelme a végén. Szépnek szép volt, bár eléggé elvont volt, elgondolkodtatott.
A kör: 10*/10 Kedvencem az egész kötetből. Imádtam, nekem írták. Izgalmas, érthető, elgondolkodtató, nem túl elvont. Matematika.
Isteni gondoskodás: 10/10 Cixin Liu, megjegyeztelek. Mindenképpen el fogom olvasni tőle a Háromtestet. Elgondolkodtató.

Esszék
Cixin Liu: 7/10 Kicsit összefüggéstelen volt nekem, és nem éreztem olyan sok hozzáadott értéket. A felhozott témák érdekesek voltak.
Csen Csiu-fan: 8/10 Jó történelmi összefoglaló volt. A személyes vonatkozásai érdekesek voltak, de kicsit negatív volt a kicsengése.
Hszia Csia: 9/10 Objektívebben foglalta össze a történelmet, távol tartotta magát tőle. Pozitívabb volt az összegzése.