5/22/2023 0 Comments Invisible planets bookThe argument is fair enough, but is so academic that I wondered exactly what audience he had in mind, and he repeats the point several times. He argues that there is no such thing as ‘Chinese science fiction’. The stories are virtually all well written, but Liu’s introduction sets the somewhat clinical tone that much of the book follows. That’s largely true of his own English fiction as well, and it’s true of the stories here – to an extent that 340 pages of it felt more flat than exciting. I’ve found Liu’s translations to be literate and intelligent, but dry. That’s always frustrating no matter how good the translator, there’s a lot of nuance that’s lost, and much is dependent on the translation approach. I don’t speak any form of Chinese, and certainly don’t read it, so I’m dependent on translation for my access to Chinese works. That enthusiasm was largely, but not entirely, satisfied. I enjoyed what I found, and picked up this book with enthusiasm. Recent Chinese science fiction essentially came to my notice via Ken Liu’s translations in Clarkesworld.
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