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A review by kittyg
Broken Stars: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation by Ken Liu
4.0
Another excellent collection which was translated by Ken Liu but which includes various Chinese SF stories by an array of the writers who are currently making waves. The stories were diverse and mostly enjoyable, although a few were a little less interesting to me as a Western reader because I couldn't relate as easily to them as I had wanted to, but in general even these had a fascinating undertone to them.
Some comments on individual stories below:
86.04% "Chen Quifan's Coming of The Light was a bit of a miss for me. This is the second if Quifan's works which had a lot of potential but which I didn't particularly love. There's loads of good ideas but I just don't think they pay off for me personally. 2*s"
79.79% "Regina Kanyu Wang's Brain Box was a stream of consciousness experiment into what it's like to know your last thoughts are recorded. Fascinating but very short. 3.5*s."
73.96% "Reflection by Gu Shi was short but a poignant if predictable. 3*s."
73.96% "Ma Boyong's The First Emperor's Games was a really fun and short story about an emperor who just wants to play video games. Lots of references :) 4*s"
71.04% "Anna Wu's Restaurant at the end of the Universe: Laba Porridge - 2*s. Better if you've read Douglas Adams, but even so not really my thing."
67.71% "The Snow of Jinyang - Zhang Ran was a DNF. Think the context of this was too hard for me being very culturally different and very heavy on politics..."
54.37% "The Robot Who Liked To Tell Tall Tales by Fei Dao was fun, I liked the adventure and the mini tales the robot went on and told, and Death, and enjoy the meanings in this too. 4*s"
48.54% "The New Year Train by Hao Jingfang was a short but nice read 3*s."
31.04% "Cheng Jingbo's Under A Dangling Sky is beautiful and almost fantasy in tone. It's a retelling of Delphinus and it's soft and easy to enjoy 3.5*s"
27.71% "Salinger and the Koreans by Han Song was not my favourite. Probably as it felt very foreign through the use of Korea and USA as the focus and Salinger who I haven't read before. 2*s"
26.46% "Submarines by Han Song was a short but sad story about the world of the peasants who moored their subs in the Yangtze River. 3*s."
24.17% "Moonlight by Lui Cixin - 3*s. Definitely a fascinating idea of the butterfly effect, but also a glimpse at why trying to help can actually hinder.
Tang Fei's Broken Stars. - 3*s. A reread for me but a story I still enjoyed the second time around. A pale woman who can supposedly read the stars... A father who tries to please and a girl who hides herself until she's forced out of her shell."
12.71% "Just read 'Goodbye, Melancholy' by Xia Jia which was a fascinating story of two people woven together and AI and humans. The story plays on the real life of Alan Turing, and the fictionalised life of Lindy and AIs. The blend between history and fiction is blurry and yet fascinating, and I loved the ideas which were explored in a semi and fully fictionalised way. Definitely recommend, 4*s."
On the whole, 4*s though I think the previous collection had more stories which worked for me personally, but I always want to see more translated SF.
Some comments on individual stories below:
86.04% "Chen Quifan's Coming of The Light was a bit of a miss for me. This is the second if Quifan's works which had a lot of potential but which I didn't particularly love. There's loads of good ideas but I just don't think they pay off for me personally. 2*s"
79.79% "Regina Kanyu Wang's Brain Box was a stream of consciousness experiment into what it's like to know your last thoughts are recorded. Fascinating but very short. 3.5*s."
73.96% "Reflection by Gu Shi was short but a poignant if predictable. 3*s."
73.96% "Ma Boyong's The First Emperor's Games was a really fun and short story about an emperor who just wants to play video games. Lots of references :) 4*s"
71.04% "Anna Wu's Restaurant at the end of the Universe: Laba Porridge - 2*s. Better if you've read Douglas Adams, but even so not really my thing."
67.71% "The Snow of Jinyang - Zhang Ran was a DNF. Think the context of this was too hard for me being very culturally different and very heavy on politics..."
54.37% "The Robot Who Liked To Tell Tall Tales by Fei Dao was fun, I liked the adventure and the mini tales the robot went on and told, and Death, and enjoy the meanings in this too. 4*s"
48.54% "The New Year Train by Hao Jingfang was a short but nice read 3*s."
31.04% "Cheng Jingbo's Under A Dangling Sky is beautiful and almost fantasy in tone. It's a retelling of Delphinus and it's soft and easy to enjoy 3.5*s"
27.71% "Salinger and the Koreans by Han Song was not my favourite. Probably as it felt very foreign through the use of Korea and USA as the focus and Salinger who I haven't read before. 2*s"
26.46% "Submarines by Han Song was a short but sad story about the world of the peasants who moored their subs in the Yangtze River. 3*s."
24.17% "Moonlight by Lui Cixin - 3*s. Definitely a fascinating idea of the butterfly effect, but also a glimpse at why trying to help can actually hinder.
Tang Fei's Broken Stars. - 3*s. A reread for me but a story I still enjoyed the second time around. A pale woman who can supposedly read the stars... A father who tries to please and a girl who hides herself until she's forced out of her shell."
12.71% "Just read 'Goodbye, Melancholy' by Xia Jia which was a fascinating story of two people woven together and AI and humans. The story plays on the real life of Alan Turing, and the fictionalised life of Lindy and AIs. The blend between history and fiction is blurry and yet fascinating, and I loved the ideas which were explored in a semi and fully fictionalised way. Definitely recommend, 4*s."
On the whole, 4*s though I think the previous collection had more stories which worked for me personally, but I always want to see more translated SF.