In A Quiet Corner Of Tiangong

On This Day In History
1914: Austria's Archduke Ferdinand assassinated

Quote Of The Day
"I saw some rats running from under the dead men's greatcoats, enormous rats, fat with human flesh. My heart pounded as we edged towards one of the bodies. His helmet had rolled off. The man displayed a grimacing face, stripped of flesh; the skull bare, the eyes devoured and from the yawning mouth leapt a rat."
(Unknown soldier from WWI)

So far I have read three of the first ten short stories in this Cixin Liu anthology. The first story, The Wandering Earth, suffered from a trait which seems to be common in Liu's earlier writing; namely, he starts with his trademark WOW!! concept, but then continually ramps it up piling incident upon increasingly absurd incident until, by the time you are two thirds of the way, the entire story has become incredulous. The second two stories, Mountain and Sun Of China, had the same WOW!! factor but benefited from a more restrained narrative to the end. 

Cixin Liu has been hailed as the new Arthur C. Clarke. I agree. Essential reading for all S.F. fans.

Spacelab

Comments
Sign in or get an account to comment.