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sfian 's review for:
The Wandering Earth
by Cixin Liu
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
Three stories into this collection I was convinced that I would be giving it five stars. I was already familiar with The Wandering Earth through the film based upon it, but the story is much better, and I enjoyed the ideas behind The Mountain and Sun Of China.
Unfortunately, the book is front-loaded with the best stories and, while most of the others are highly readable, I didn't enjoy For The Benefit Of Mankind at all. I'm no economist and didn't get its apparent discussion of economics.
Curse 5.0 was interesting and, in a way, fun, as was The Micro-Era, although its "twist" ending didn't really work for me. Devourer was almost a return to the form of the first three stories, and the author's seeming fascination with Earth's destruction (matched only by his fascination with the Sun causing said destruction...)
Taking Care Of God was almost whimsical and a new-to-me take on a species seeding the universe, although I wasn't clear whether it was also linked somehow to For The Benefit..., or whether that was just coincidence.
With Her Eyes, though, was obviously linked to Cannonball. I thought the former could and should have had more of an emotional impact, while the latter lacked a hint of terror for the main character.