★☆☆☆☆ Needs Improvement
(Hard SF Adventure) Archaeologists investigate ruins non-humans left in our solar system 20,000 years ago. (8,785 words; Time: 29m)
"Deep Sea Fish," by Chi Hui [bio] (translated by Brian Bies, edited by C.C. Finlay), appeared in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction issue 03-04|18, published on February 27, 2018 by Spilogale Inc.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: The story has lots of dramatic moments and very vivid descriptions of places around Titan.
Con: Narration and dialogue are unnatural. Info dumps are copious.
The science is uniformly bad. The whole idea of terraforming Titan is crazy, given its composition. Rhea (Saturn V) is so small and so far from Titan that it would raise no significant tides. The rings of Saturn are so far from Titan that the idea of plants shooting particles all the way there from Titan is absurd. Radiation isn’t really an issue on Titan, owing to the thick atmosphere. Titan’s escape velocity is 2.65 km/sec, so no one is going to just jump into orbit. Etc.
There’s no plot here; events simply happen without any of the characters having any goals they’re trying to achieve.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 03-04|18)
Chi Hui Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Con: Narration and dialogue are unnatural. Info dumps are copious.
The science is uniformly bad. The whole idea of terraforming Titan is crazy, given its composition. Rhea (Saturn V) is so small and so far from Titan that it would raise no significant tides. The rings of Saturn are so far from Titan that the idea of plants shooting particles all the way there from Titan is absurd. Radiation isn’t really an issue on Titan, owing to the thick atmosphere. Titan’s escape velocity is 2.65 km/sec, so no one is going to just jump into orbit. Etc.
There’s no plot here; events simply happen without any of the characters having any goals they’re trying to achieve.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 03-04|18)
Chi Hui Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
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