While I'm not super into sci/fi or even Chinese sci-fi, I found this book informative and enjoyable.

Thank you to Netgalley and Rebellion for the digital ARC.

There are some great stories in here, notably /Qiankun and Alex/, a story about an AI learning from a child's incomprehensible behaviour; /Rendevous: 1937/, a harrowing time travel story taking place during the massacre of Nanking made even stronger by the author's inline notes about the horror they felt at learning about Nanjing; /Flowers of the Other Shore/ which may have been the most beautiful zombie story I have ever read; and /The Tide of Moon City/ about love and betrayal on (cold) warring worlds.

The translation is intellectual and poetic and at the end the editor makes short summaries of the author's life, the themes, and what drew her to choosing these stories. As a selection of science fiction spanning the last 30-40 years, it's a very interesting look and quite surprising to see how many writers, especially early on come from engineering trades (especially nuclear); and I appreciated the gender balance which heightened and gave a much greater depth to the variety of story.

So why three stars instead of five for something I enjoyed? Throughout reading these stories, I was not enjoying them as much as I thought I should have been; I had this nagging feeling in the back of my head that there was something wrong with the translation. And at the end of /The Tide of Moon City/, in her notes, Xueting mentions that thematically in the original Chinsese, the characters for the planets Bizhe and He'lin would have been clear about their interdependence that didn't translate to English.

I can't entirely fault Xueting, as translation is hard enough, let alone the myriad of writers' different voices she had to jump between. But I did notice and it did detract that little details like this that would have been very clear to Chinese readers were not given to us in some way. I have read many translations over the years, and there are many ways that this could have been done, with a line or two added to narration, endnotes (which Xueting does use for other less important references!), or even with her very useful conclusion notes used as introductions instead.

In spite of this problem, I do want to reiterate that the language used, the translation itself, is beautiful, deep, and rich; there are lines and turns of phrase in here that will stay with me for a long time. It's a very good collection, and I do recommend that if you enjoy or are interested in expanding the breadth of your science fiction library, you pick this up.

It's always difficult to rate anthologies because there are many stories instead of one. I liked some of these, mainly the newer ones and the ones written by women. The very first story was my favorite

I have love, love, loved this book. It is refreshing and wonderful to read works that are simultaneously new and familiar. At a culturally homogeneous school, works like this are essential.

Like most short story collections, this has some good and some bad. This one has mostly good, however! It reminded me of some of Clarkesworlds' Chinese collections. If you're interested in reading more Asian SFF, definitely consider giving this one a try!

There's much to enjoy from the many authors who present work in Sinopticon 2021. An exploration of the science fiction medium from skilled voices.

Collections of foreign stories are usually hit or miss, and this collection is no exception. If you're willing to make allowances for that in order to experience something new, this is a good place to start. The first story is excellent, others are up and down, and the Chinese POV is good to see. I especially like all the pro China comments sprinkled throughout. One story is called "Cat's Chance In Hell", which must be what they in China instead of "Chinaman's Chance".

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

First off, as a reader of Chinese descent (but who can't read Chinese), I am so happy to see an anthology of Chinese authors being translated into English. I've read and enjoyed Ken Liu's works. In fact, Invisible Planets, his first collection of translated sci-fi stories, is one of my favorite short story collections. I was excited to get approved to read this book, and I am proud to support the publication of works that have been translated from Chinese into English. Thank you again to the publisher for this opportunity!

Sinopicon 2021 is a bold and daring anthology of sci-fi stories that have been translated from Chinese into English. This has rarely been done before, and I applaud the publisher for taking this risk. The stories themselves are amazing, and to think that they would have never reached English-reading audiences if not for this book! The themes of the stories revolve around time travel, space travel, and robots. Although these themes are familiar to Western science fiction fans, there is still a unique Chinese-ness to the stories, as exemplified through the names of the characters, among other things.

Here is an excerpt from one of my favorite stories in the collection, Tombs of the Universe by Han Song:

"When I was ten, my father decided that I was fit for space travel. That year, the whole family went to Orion on a flight with Interstellar Travel. On our way back, the ship broke down, and we had to stop off on Mars to catch another flight back to Earth.
We landed near the Martian north pole. With everyone feeling anxious and apprehensive, the flight attendant arranged for us to get into spacesuits and take a stroll outside. Our landing point was surrounded by ruins from the old Human Era, announced the captain; remnants of the First Age of Space Exploration. I remember very clearly: we had stopped in front of a section of a metal wall several kilometres long, and happened upon some unexpected things.
We now know that those things were called gravestones, but back then, I was simply transfixed by their awesome grandeur."

Imagine somebody going to another planet on vacation, instead of going to Disney World! The possibilities for the future are endless, and this book presents infinite possibilities to the reader. Overall, Sinopticon 2021 is a groundbreaking anthology of science fiction that will appeal to readers of Ken Liu's anthologies Invisible Planets and Broken Stars. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above or if you're a fan of the science fiction genre, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in November!