A review by mimirtells
To Hold Up the Sky, by Cixin Liu
4.0
4/5 Stars (%78/100)
God, I forgot how tiring reading e-books can get (especially when it's hard sci-fi like Liu Cixin's stories). However, I liked most of the stories in the collection (some more than others). Overall, it is good and this could also be a good starting point before you dive deep into The Three-Body Problem trilogy. I'll briefly talk about the stories in the collection without spoiling too much.
1-The Village Teacher:A touching story about a village teacher and it emphasizes the importance of knowledge and sharing it. As a teacher, I was able to relate to the teacher to a certain point and it moved me. However, the whole alien thing felt a bit forced in my opinion. 3/5.
2-The Time Migration:People are put to sleep to wake up 120 years into the future. When the ambassador wakes up, the world is not as they hope. So, this continues for a while. A good representation of humanity's greed and their fight against nature. Pretty good. 3.5/5.
3-2018.04.01:The discrepancy between rich and poor, longing for eternal life, and so on. Overall, it was fine. 2.5/5.
4-Fire in the Earth:Another man versus nature story. A man's father dies working in a coal mine so he tries to "tame" the fire. You know how all man vs nature stories end right? 2/5.
5-Contraction:Very ambitious and interesting. The universe is expanding constantly but what if it contracted? The ending was brilliant. 4/5.
6-Mirror:Quite long but interesting nonetheless. String computers and creating universe models...This one reminded me of that building a computer from people scene in The Three-Body Problem. 3/5.
7-Ode to Joy:Pretty good. An alternate story about Sophon (you know the one from well, you guessed it, The Three Body Problem trilogy). The idea of music is woven beautifully and reminded me of Tolkien's The Music of Ainu from The Silmarillion. 3.5/5.
8-Full-Spectrum Barrage Jamming:Probably my least favorite story because it is mostly a military sci-fi. Still, it is a good ode to Russian writers (as the author is heavily inspired by them). 1.5/5.
9-Sea of Dreams:A very artsy sci-fi if I may say so. Climate sci-fi we might call it since it also deals with the loss of oceans. The ending was really good. 3/5.
10-Cloud of Poems:Similar to the story above. Deals with art but more specifically poetry. The loss of poetry=the loss of human soul. Once again, the ending was pretty good. 3/5.
11-The Thinker:It reminded me of the story of characters (I can't remember their names) from the last? book of The Three-Body Problem trilogy. You know the guy who gifts a literal start to the woman he loves. This is a story about fate, love, and stars. Very touching. 4/5.
God, I forgot how tiring reading e-books can get (especially when it's hard sci-fi like Liu Cixin's stories). However, I liked most of the stories in the collection (some more than others). Overall, it is good and this could also be a good starting point before you dive deep into The Three-Body Problem trilogy. I'll briefly talk about the stories in the collection without spoiling too much.
1-The Village Teacher:A touching story about a village teacher and it emphasizes the importance of knowledge and sharing it. As a teacher, I was able to relate to the teacher to a certain point and it moved me. However, the whole alien thing felt a bit forced in my opinion. 3/5.
2-The Time Migration:People are put to sleep to wake up 120 years into the future. When the ambassador wakes up, the world is not as they hope. So, this continues for a while. A good representation of humanity's greed and their fight against nature. Pretty good. 3.5/5.
3-2018.04.01:The discrepancy between rich and poor, longing for eternal life, and so on. Overall, it was fine. 2.5/5.
4-Fire in the Earth:Another man versus nature story. A man's father dies working in a coal mine so he tries to "tame" the fire. You know how all man vs nature stories end right? 2/5.
5-Contraction:Very ambitious and interesting. The universe is expanding constantly but what if it contracted? The ending was brilliant. 4/5.
6-Mirror:Quite long but interesting nonetheless. String computers and creating universe models...This one reminded me of that building a computer from people scene in The Three-Body Problem. 3/5.
7-Ode to Joy:Pretty good. An alternate story about Sophon (you know the one from well, you guessed it, The Three Body Problem trilogy). The idea of music is woven beautifully and reminded me of Tolkien's The Music of Ainu from The Silmarillion. 3.5/5.
8-Full-Spectrum Barrage Jamming:Probably my least favorite story because it is mostly a military sci-fi. Still, it is a good ode to Russian writers (as the author is heavily inspired by them). 1.5/5.
9-Sea of Dreams:A very artsy sci-fi if I may say so. Climate sci-fi we might call it since it also deals with the loss of oceans. The ending was really good. 3/5.
10-Cloud of Poems:Similar to the story above. Deals with art but more specifically poetry. The loss of poetry=the loss of human soul. Once again, the ending was pretty good. 3/5.
11-The Thinker:It reminded me of the story of characters (I can't remember their names) from the last? book of The Three-Body Problem trilogy. You know the guy who gifts a literal start to the woman he loves. This is a story about fate, love, and stars. Very touching. 4/5.