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A review by steve_t
Broken Stars: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation by Ken Liu
4.0
A wonderful collection of stories and very well translated.
Here are my personal favourites
Goodnight, Melancholy by Xia Jia was incredible thoughtful and well executed. Telling two stories at the same time, it hit a good design of describing humanity through human interactions with robots
Moonlight by Liu Cixin is short and clever and a lot of fun.
What Has Passed Shall in Kinder Light Appear by Baoshu is brilliant. I've never seen this use of time before and in many way, it crystallized for me Chinese SF. Highly recommend.
The First Emperor's Games by Ma Boyong was one of the funniest stories I have read in a long time. I laughed many times and I'm sure I will reread again. If you love video games and video game culture, this story is a must read.
The Brain Box by Regina Kanyu Wang is short and clever. I wasn't sold on the ending, but the ideas used are worth recommending in and of themselves.
I don't know if I am describing Chinese SF or Ken Liu's tastes, but the focus on the past was a major theme. Either there is time travel (always present to past or future to present, never to the future), or time moves different towards the past, or modern technology is brought to the past. This felt less speculative and more historical in nature (as in, placed in history). For example, in a few stories, despite a fantastical description of the future, it is told to the past, sometimes as a warning. This is not a criticism, but rather, one of those things that seem to happen more in this collection.
The collection is a lot of fun and worth checking out.
Here are my personal favourites
Goodnight, Melancholy by Xia Jia was incredible thoughtful and well executed. Telling two stories at the same time, it hit a good design of describing humanity through human interactions with robots
Moonlight by Liu Cixin is short and clever and a lot of fun.
What Has Passed Shall in Kinder Light Appear by Baoshu is brilliant. I've never seen this use of time before and in many way, it crystallized for me Chinese SF. Highly recommend.
The First Emperor's Games by Ma Boyong was one of the funniest stories I have read in a long time. I laughed many times and I'm sure I will reread again. If you love video games and video game culture, this story is a must read.
The Brain Box by Regina Kanyu Wang is short and clever. I wasn't sold on the ending, but the ideas used are worth recommending in and of themselves.
I don't know if I am describing Chinese SF or Ken Liu's tastes, but the focus on the past was a major theme. Either there is time travel (always present to past or future to present, never to the future), or time moves different towards the past, or modern technology is brought to the past. This felt less speculative and more historical in nature (as in, placed in history). For example, in a few stories, despite a fantastical description of the future, it is told to the past, sometimes as a warning. This is not a criticism, but rather, one of those things that seem to happen more in this collection.
The collection is a lot of fun and worth checking out.