Broken Stars Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation

Just finished with Ken Liu's curated selection of Chinese Science Fiction. I think my introduction to Chinese Sci Fi and Fantasy was thanks to The Paper Menagerie (by the same author and another fabulous collection). Later of course I came across Cixin Liu's absolutely stunning Three Body Problem and now this. What I loved about this collection was how each of them skirted away from the cliched high tech, space faring, quantum entangled settings and rather put the whole Sci Fi environment to build stories of normal day to day life. Whether it was the rather philosophical "The Robot who liked to tell tall tales", the hilarious "The snow of Jinyang". My favorite story of the lot was Baoshu's "What has passed shall in kinder light appear" - A sad story of love lost in a world where history as we know it unfolds in a fractured and broken chronology. Highly recommended!

After reading Ken Liu's first short story collection, The Paper Menagerie, I followed him into the world of Chinese Sci-Fi by way of The Three Body Problem, by Cixin Liu. Broken Stars is Ken Liu's second volume of Chinese SF in translation, but I read it before Invisible Planets. I was fascinated to see the breadth of attitudes and approaches towards technology and the future that in many ways is an embodiment of everything I love about science fiction as a genre. While some of the stories were in my opinion, weaker or rough around the edges, Liu mentions that he is more interested in stories that do one thing very well, rather than stories that do many things not as well. I would agree with that, and had a fantastic time reading through this book.

Average Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.1 I’ve been waiting to read this collection as well as Invisible Planets for a while, but as always, my backlist books get lost in the many shiny new arcs and releases I tend to gravitate towards. So, when I got the chance this month to add this to my tbr owing to two readathons, finally I was excited. And it didn’t disappoint at all. This collection of stories felt so different from the usual books I’ve read, not that I have too much experience of reading sci-fi. This was a varied collection, not necessarily following a theme because these are essentially Ken Liu’s favorites - but I was surprised at the variety here with stories ranging from charming and sweet to reflective to dark to utterly terrifying. But what I found was that most of them were very thought provoking and reflective, forcing us to think about the kind of world we are living in and where we are heading towards. I also really enjoyed the mix of Chinese history and culture with sci-fi concepts as well as some juxtaposition with western settings. And the last three essays were a nice touch, getting me acquainted with the troubled history as well as the emergence of modern sci-fi in China, and only made me wish I could get to read something similar about the genre in my country. I was mostly surprised that there wasn’t one story here which I truly hated or couldn’t comprehend (it usually happens to me with every collection or anthology) and this makes me even more excited for Tor’s collection next year of SFF by Chinese women and non-binary authors, one of the editors being the author of a short as well as essay in this collection. Goodnight, Melancholy by Xia Jia Based a bit on Alan Turing’s life, and telling the story of a depressed woman trying to find some hope and comfort in her robotic companions, this is a tale of loneliness and what we lengths we will go to try and feel a little less of it. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 Moonlight by Liu Cixin I don’t know if I should be amazed at the brilliant concept and writing in this story or despair at the hopelessness of it all towards the end. But however I feel about the story, it’s major theme is that climate change is real and unless we do something to significantly change our dependence on fossil fuels, the future of earth is not good. Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 Broken Stars by Tang Fei I truly don’t know what to think of this story. It’s dark and a bit horrific, but also features a young woman who decides to take matters into her own hands after she is bullied and assaulted. Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Submarines by Han Song Another fascinating but hopeless and sad story towards the end. I’m not sure exactly what the author’s intention was but my takeaway from it was that human beings have innate survival instincts that will help them live even in excruciating circumstances, but sometimes no one can escape their fate. It also foretells the the perils of extreme modernization as well as how people will become numb to their fellow humans suffering. Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 Salinger and the Koreans by Han Song An alternate history of the world kind of tale and featuring JD Salinger, the author of The Catcher and the Rye, this was again sad but reflective, and a different sort of take on communism and capitalism. Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Under a Dangling Sky by Cheng Jingbo A retelling of the Greek myth of Delphinus as well as that of Jack and the Beanstalk, this was charming and cute, and an interesting mix of sci-fi and fantasy. Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 What has passed shall in kinder light appear by Baoshu Wow… this was such a profound and hard hitting story. While following two star crossed lovers from their childhood, the author explores what would happen if historical events happened in a reverse order. We touch on major events in world history as well as 20th century, but happening in the opposite order, and it was fascinating to see how much more painful it would feel to go from a capitalist market economy and technologically advanced country to the days of rationing and the Cultural Revolution, the Great Famine and the Chinese civil war. This was sad and hopeless at times, with lot of bittersweet moments, but ultimately a very well written story that leaves us with a lot of thoughts and reflections. Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The New Year Train by Hao Jingfang This was a very very short story, but asks a good question about why we don’t enjoy our journey of life when we know we are going to die one day anyway. Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Robot who likes to tell tall tales by Fei Dao Through the use of allegories involving Death himself, the author gives us a lesson on the importance of stories, how blunt truth is not always the right way to go and sometimes, adding a bit of fantasy to truth will bring more pleasure to the listeners and may even help them gradually understand the truth. Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 The snow of Jinyang by Zhang Ran This was an interesting time travel story set during a struggle between the Han and Song dynasties. While it had a lot of chemistry, physics and quantum mechanics terms which I couldn’t understand, I think ultimately it was a story about how we can’t always change destiny however hard we try. Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Thr Restaurant at the End of the Universe: Laba Porridge by Anna Wu This one reminded me a little of the tale in Mahabharata about the boon Draupadi asks Lord Shiva in her previous life - but of course only tangentially. Otherwise, this is a story of a an author who would do anything and sacrifice everything to be a successful author, irrespective of the consequences; on the other hand, his wife just wants his love and affection. Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 The First Emperor’s Games by Ma Boyong This was actually a fun story juxtaposing the story of China’s first emperor with modern day gaming, as well as a hint of the charm of venture capitalism. This was thoroughly entertaining and I would definitely have loved to see this as part of a bigger story. Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Reflection by Gu Shi Fascinating story about the link between clairvoyance and multiple personality disorder and the whole idea of past and future being memories. The narrative style of this one was very unique and it took me a bit to figure out what was happening, but once it clicked, it was a great feeling. Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 The Brain Box by Regina Kanyu Wang Another fascinating concept but the beauty of this story is in how the author exposes our constant need to present an image about ourselves to everyone around us, trying to convince ourselves that it’s our true self, hiding our innermost thoughts - but at the same time also exposing another deep side of ourselves on the internet for the whole world to see. Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 Coming of the Light by Chen Qiufan I’m not sure I completely got this story, but I guess my takeaway from it was that most of us are just cogs in the machine and nothing much of what we do will ever impact the world around us in a significant way - all we can do is try and feel happy with what we have. Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️ A History of Future Illnesses by Chen Qiufan This was very well written but damn, so hopeless and scary. The author writes in 9 chapters about 9 diseases that will come to afflict our world in the future due to our overindulgence of technology and going to extremes. Especially one chapter about how we are completely dependent on devices and wouldn’t know what to do of cut off from them, really petrified me because it is in some ways, our current reality and I’ve no idea of what the author imagined might come true one day. Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

this was a great read. It was an opener learning about all these new possibilities that the future can hold for us, especially through the way it was delivered.

To my friends who only speak French, I’m sorry but this review will be only in English since I’m just compiling here my favourite quotes from this book, that I read as an advent calendar book. Pour mes amis ne parlant que français, je suis désolée mais cette chronique ne sera rédigée qu’en anglais, vu que je me contente ici de compiler mes citations favorites de ce livre, que j’ai lu à titre de livre de l’avent. Melancholy: Yes, I know you crave to be hugged by this world, too. Moonlight: I can tell you a secret about life: once you realize how insignificant the individual is in the vastness of space-time, you can face anything. Broken Stars: From now on, you can blame me the way you blame fate. Submarines: That night seemed to last forever, though I never once thought of death, only soaking in the poignancy meaning-lessness of life itself. Salinger and the Koreans: The human race’s universal greed for wealth. It was truly tragic. Under a dangling sky: The sky that you had been so entranced by before was nothing more than the shadow of a single leaf. What has passed shall in kinder light appear: Perhaps you’re right. But the meaning of freedom is that you can always choose, though there is no promise that your choice will become reality. Maybe this is a cheap consolation, but other than this, we have nothing. The new year train: Lots of times, when the starting point and the destination are fixed – say, birth and death – why do most people rush toward the end? The robot who liked to tell tall tales: Death probably doesn’t have any friends. The snow of Jinyang: Fortunately, people in this city have a habit of pissing anywhere there’s a wall. The restaurant at the end of the universe: You have to let go of yourself, join yourself to the world without resistance or hate. The first emperor’s games: Obviously, playing games taught important managements skills. Reflection: Everyone’s future is in their heart. The brain box: Only the young can be reckless enough to accept the prospect of revealing to the world the nakedness of their thoughts, secure in the belief that the moment of reckoning will not come until decades in the future. Coming of the light: Whether you put your hand on a Bible or an Ipad, in the end you were praying to the same god. A history of future illness: In the end, logic won over emotion.