Scan barcode
freckled_frog_boi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
I went into this collection completely blind to Chinese history and politics. I apologize for that, it would have helped me in my confusion during certain bits.
I believe strongly in the ideas behind communism and am always excited to hear anti-capitalist views in SciFi stories. To my surprise, the stories occasionally mentioned communism in a good light. I recognize that China has a tenuous relationship with that political system given its history with the Cultural Revolution and current party members who lead luxurious lives instead of caring for the masses. This tenuous relationship shows up often, the mix of anti-capitalism with slight anti-communism, thus I was confused about some parts of the stories simply from a lack of historical knowledge. I tried my best to, as the editor asked, to look at the global world through the lens of Chinese authors, instead of examining the Chinese state through a western lens. I really appreciated looking at my home country through the lens this book provides, even if I didn’t fully understand.
It was super cool to read these, I have been steeped in western sci-fi for so long, and it was great to read stuff that wasn’t crafted from the same American mold.
This may be a minor thing, but how men describe women in these short stories made me very uncomfortable. When I heard there were a few women authors and some who supported lgbtqia+ included in this book, I was excited to read those stories the most, but I learned that they didn't contain any romantic scenes (which is absolutely fine! I just wished for an escape from the men’s lewdness and see love from a more loving perspective lol).
I believe strongly in the ideas behind communism and am always excited to hear anti-capitalist views in SciFi stories. To my surprise, the stories occasionally mentioned communism in a good light. I recognize that China has a tenuous relationship with that political system given its history with the Cultural Revolution and current party members who lead luxurious lives instead of caring for the masses. This tenuous relationship shows up often, the mix of anti-capitalism with slight anti-communism, thus I was confused about some parts of the stories simply from a lack of historical knowledge. I tried my best to, as the editor asked, to look at the global world through the lens of Chinese authors, instead of examining the Chinese state through a western lens. I really appreciated looking at my home country through the lens this book provides, even if I didn’t fully understand.
It was super cool to read these, I have been steeped in western sci-fi for so long, and it was great to read stuff that wasn’t crafted from the same American mold.
This may be a minor thing, but how men describe women in these short stories made me very uncomfortable. When I heard there were a few women authors and some who supported lgbtqia+ included in this book, I was excited to read those stories the most, but I learned that they didn't contain any romantic scenes (which is absolutely fine! I just wished for an escape from the men’s lewdness and see love from a more loving perspective lol).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Sexual violence, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Genocide, Gore, Murder, Rape, and Sexual assault
More...