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skyelavigne's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
meedamian's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent collection of shorter stories written by 刘慈欣. Some stories are really original, and unique, while some are clearly inspired by prior art of ex. Lem, BUT even then, 刘 always manages to add his own plot twist, and make them interesting and with unexpected ending.
5 ⭐s because I genuinely appreciate his creativity to create new stories, but also remix existing ones into ones that are still interesting and compelling.
5 ⭐s because I genuinely appreciate his creativity to create new stories, but also remix existing ones into ones that are still interesting and compelling.
timinbc's review against another edition
5.0
(Not the Kindle edition in my case, but a trade-format paperback)
So, take some Big SF Ideas, add a dash of unlikely, shake well, and examine the consequences.
Extinction of humanity? Cool - where's the human story, let's see, aha! There it is.
Extinction of earth? Same.
Ants vs. dinosaurs. OK, skip the "human" part, where's the POV story of one character?
... and so on.
Maybe not really a five-star, but it got there on bonuses -- for fresh ideas, for attitude that suggests Jack Vance without really being anything like him, maybe for the overall feeling of "Isn't this fun to think about?"
And maybe even a bonus for presenting these as stories, so that the character development expected in a novel isn't there. I think that's appropriate in this case. And the last story has as much human pathos as one could want.
In this publication, I felt that it was produced by people who speak English very well but not natively. There are typos, word swaps, unusual use of hyphens, and other small distractions. I forgive it all when the translators have managed to maintain a distinct authorial attitude or character while also giving us the stories.
These stories won awards from 1999-2004, so the oldest is probably 20 years old. Worth remembering if you are comparing to his more recent work.
And if you don't like Big Idea hard SF, maybe look elsewhere. This ain't space opera, or Hammer's Slammers; no 20-km-long spaceships, no rogue AIs, no ansibles, no teleportation, no telepathy. Just some interesting What If?
So, take some Big SF Ideas, add a dash of unlikely, shake well, and examine the consequences.
Extinction of humanity? Cool - where's the human story, let's see, aha! There it is.
Extinction of earth? Same.
Ants vs. dinosaurs. OK, skip the "human" part, where's the POV story of one character?
... and so on.
Maybe not really a five-star, but it got there on bonuses -- for fresh ideas, for attitude that suggests Jack Vance without really being anything like him, maybe for the overall feeling of "Isn't this fun to think about?"
And maybe even a bonus for presenting these as stories, so that the character development expected in a novel isn't there. I think that's appropriate in this case. And the last story has as much human pathos as one could want.
In this publication, I felt that it was produced by people who speak English very well but not natively. There are typos, word swaps, unusual use of hyphens, and other small distractions. I forgive it all when the translators have managed to maintain a distinct authorial attitude or character while also giving us the stories.
These stories won awards from 1999-2004, so the oldest is probably 20 years old. Worth remembering if you are comparing to his more recent work.
And if you don't like Big Idea hard SF, maybe look elsewhere. This ain't space opera, or Hammer's Slammers; no 20-km-long spaceships, no rogue AIs, no ansibles, no teleportation, no telepathy. Just some interesting What If?
berriesjess's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
sebniv's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
alieneleni's review against another edition
5.0
this story is going to haunt me forever. It's everything I love about the three-body trilogy but the short form makes it 100x more potent. I definitely need to read the rest of Liu's short stories. couldn't put it down. 6/5 expanding red suns, would recommend. I'm gonna go stare at a blank wall for a while now.
eschnitger's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0