zuly's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.75
gabbiec's review against another edition
emotional
funny
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
swanfrost's review against another edition
3.75
A really interesting anthology. I liked some of the short stories more than others, but overall I enjoyed them all. My favorite short stories were The Way Spring Arrives & Dragonslaying. The essays were interesting and thought provoking, especially the ruminations on translation.
It's good to read things outside of your comfort zone or familiarity as well -- translated Chinese SFF is not something I read often, so I felt it was also a good experience in broadening my horizons. Overall I'd recommend this book.
It's good to read things outside of your comfort zone or familiarity as well -- translated Chinese SFF is not something I read often, so I felt it was also a good experience in broadening my horizons. Overall I'd recommend this book.
mrsbluejay's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting and informative collection of short stories and essays. I think the title is right in bringing up that these stories are translated, originally written in a different language. It seems to make all the difference. I read a lot of anthologies in the last year, but to my knowledge all of the stories were originally written in English. So I just read them. Here, with this collection, I felt myself pondering about what got lost in translation, about what is not translatable, all the time. It's a great move of the editors to bring awareness to this and it's indeed very interesting linguistically.
I liked all of the stories, some more, some less. Interestingly, most of the stories fit into either a category of urban fantasy/magical realism or a fable like fantastical setting, where it's not that important into what time period related to ours the setting falls, be it past or future. That seems to coincide with the trends that I see in web fiction originating in China that I'm aware of.
This anthology definitely makes me want to learn more about China and has made me curious for the many female writers that we'll hopefully see gain wider popularity in the next decades.
I liked all of the stories, some more, some less. Interestingly, most of the stories fit into either a category of urban fantasy/magical realism or a fable like fantastical setting, where it's not that important into what time period related to ours the setting falls, be it past or future. That seems to coincide with the trends that I see in web fiction originating in China that I'm aware of.
This anthology definitely makes me want to learn more about China and has made me curious for the many female writers that we'll hopefully see gain wider popularity in the next decades.
raadelma's review against another edition
3.0
Very interesting but slightly uneven collection; I ended up liking the novels with modern-day setting more than historical ones, which were a lot of times a bit hard to follow. The essays were all really intriguing.
huddycleve's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Cool and informative nonfiction essays, but many of the short stories themselves are clunkily written (or clunkily translated)
m4tr1m0ny's review against another edition
4.0
Loved the interspersing of essays in between the short stories, I liked the essays overall more than the actual stories!
Favorite stories: Xia Jia's "What Does the Fox Say?", Nian Yu's "A Brief History of Beinakan Disasters as Told in a Sinitic Language", Shen Yingying's "Dragonslaying".
Favorite stories: Xia Jia's "What Does the Fox Say?", Nian Yu's "A Brief History of Beinakan Disasters as Told in a Sinitic Language", Shen Yingying's "Dragonslaying".
bessadams's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
nsmith521's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
3.5