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thisguise 's review for:
To Hold Up the Sky
by Cixin Liu
The worst thing I've ever read, with the exception of The Thinker — and I loved the 3 body trilogy.
Universally awful dialog and characters.
Every story is reverse engineered from a flimsy 'what if' scenario.
Hate-read this to completion to see how ridiculous it would get.
***
The Village Teacher: ★
Unbelievably contrived.
Standout cringe: grieving kids relaying newton's laws verbatim to an alien race who somehow have the ability to remotely create copies of living organisms and converse with them, but can't check for intelligence.
The Time Migration: ★
Nonsensical.
Standout cringe: I'm president of the world and I do what I want.
2018-04-01: ★★
Some interesting ideas, sloppily delivered.
Standout cringe: wHaT iF mOnEy GoT dElEtEd?!
Fire in the Earth: ★★★
Engaging story, 1-dimensional characters.
Standout cringe: "I don't like it, but i'll go along with it" — ground fire expert
Contraction: ★
A flimsy concept wrapped with annoying characters.
Standout Cringe: The big brain consortiums incredulousness at one another's lack of understanding
Mirror: ★★½
Cartoonish characters and corny delivery, but liked the exploration of grey areas in morality/truth/privacy/politics.
Standout cringe:
Ode to Joy: ★★½
More ridiculous dialog, and became too wacky but liked the first-contact angle.
Standout cringe: World leader's not being the narcissistic dumb fucks they are
Full-Spectrum Barrage Jamming: ★
Sentimental toy soldier bullshit.
Standout cringe: kid flies spaceship into the sun to save mother Russia with an EMP
Sea of Dreams: ★
Silly AND boring.
Standout cringe: "yo i'ma turn the oceans into ice cubes … because art" — random alien
Cloud ot Poems: ★
Cloud of shit.
Standout cringe: talking dinosaurs on halo that inadvertently hollowed out the earth because they were too arrogant to write poems. cool.
The Thinker: ★★★★
Short and sweet, despite the doctor's incel vibes.
Universally awful dialog and characters.
Every story is reverse engineered from a flimsy 'what if' scenario.
Hate-read this to completion to see how ridiculous it would get.
***
The Village Teacher: ★
Unbelievably contrived.
Standout cringe: grieving kids relaying newton's laws verbatim to an alien race who somehow have the ability to remotely create copies of living organisms and converse with them, but can't check for intelligence.
The Time Migration: ★
Nonsensical.
Standout cringe: I'm president of the world and I do what I want.
2018-04-01: ★★
Some interesting ideas, sloppily delivered.
Standout cringe: wHaT iF mOnEy GoT dElEtEd?!
Fire in the Earth: ★★★
Engaging story, 1-dimensional characters.
Standout cringe: "I don't like it, but i'll go along with it" — ground fire expert
Contraction: ★
A flimsy concept wrapped with annoying characters.
Standout Cringe: The big brain consortiums incredulousness at one another's lack of understanding
Mirror: ★★½
Cartoonish characters and corny delivery, but liked the exploration of grey areas in morality/truth/privacy/politics.
Standout cringe:
Ode to Joy: ★★½
More ridiculous dialog, and became too wacky but liked the first-contact angle.
Standout cringe: World leader's not being the narcissistic dumb fucks they are
Full-Spectrum Barrage Jamming: ★
Sentimental toy soldier bullshit.
Standout cringe: kid flies spaceship into the sun to save mother Russia with an EMP
Sea of Dreams: ★
Silly AND boring.
Standout cringe: "yo i'ma turn the oceans into ice cubes … because art" — random alien
Cloud ot Poems: ★
Cloud of shit.
Standout cringe: talking dinosaurs on halo that inadvertently hollowed out the earth because they were too arrogant to write poems. cool.
The Thinker: ★★★★
Short and sweet, despite the doctor's incel vibes.