The Wandering Earth : A Review

I am a big fan of SF(Science Fiction) genre. I was brought up with a steady diet of Star Trek and Star Wars while I was growing up. So anything with space in it I read it enthusiastically. But for the past few years there has been a dearth of interesting SF books. Yes there are good ones splattered across here and there but nothing as thought provoking as Asimov, who’s books are the benchmark I hold SF books against.

I finally found the one book which can make Asimov proud in the way it handled the story telling with the right bit of naturalism. “The Wandering Earth” by Cixin Liu. I got my hands on the English Translation of this Chinese Anthology of short stories that are true SF in nature.

The book is named after the eponymous short story that takes place in the beginning. And this is the right book for someone who reads at night not the ones who have the luxury of investing emotionally in a book’s plot from start to finish.

Each short story gives the air of originality and the ways in which it is possible in the future. It is a mix of dystopian and technology. And we should be reading books from different culture to understand how they tend to envision the future.

The examples how a family sticks together however dysfunctional they can be is something only South Asian understands off the bat. Hierarchical control both in personal and professional. We are so used to reading SF books by western authors that we start thinking SF in their perspective. To read an Asian SF book by an Asian hits the story home.

There are very few books like Asimov’s ‘Foundation’ series, Andy Weir’s ‘The Martian’ that explains the science behind the stories very succinctly. Wandering Earth is one of them. Not all the stories has the hardcore science but the ones which has is very understandable.

I would suggest this book to anyone who had a definite amount of time everyday for reading like the time you commute or the time before you sleep. These stories will give you the right amount of imagination to take you to their different realm and give you a closure before the time runs out.