'The Wandering Earth' by Liu Cixin
'The Wandering Earth' by Liu Cixin

The good

Liu Cixin comes up with some of the most original, epic sci fi ideas of any author in recent memory. There are several wow moments in these short stories that’ll make your eyes go wide, and you’ll have to pause and take a few moments to process them. A few of the short stories are especially memorable:

  • The Wandering Earth
  • The Longest Fall
  • With Her Eyes
  • The Micro-Age
  • Devourer

Of these, the first short story, from which this collection takes its name, is my favorite, with a wow moment right in the opening few paragraphs.

The not so good

  • The characters in these short stories, as in Cixin’s other stories, don’t feel like people at all. They are effectively overly dramatized, two dimensional plot devices.

  • The writing is not great. Note that this could be more of an artifact of the particular English translation I’m reading.

  • As often happens with short stories, just as you’re getting into the story, it ends.

Rating: 4 stars