this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2024
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Science Fiction

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[–] SzethFriendOfNimi 13 points 8 months ago (1 children)

They’re pretty good. The quality of the writing, for me as an English speaker, was in the translation work by Ken Liu who did a phenomenal job.

I can’t imagine it’s easy to convey idioms/ideas that native speakers take for granted in a concise way.

I think he didn’t do the second book or third and it shows. Still good but more stilted.

All that is to say that the incongruity and style may be a side effect of the translation process itself.

[–] NielsBohron 4 points 8 months ago

I think there are some editions of the second book done by Ken Liu, aren't there? I haven't read it yet, but I got a copy from a used book shop, and remember thinking that it was the same translator. At least, I thought I thought it was...now I've gotta go home and check