tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1390876285955310032.post1551590844787910596..comments2024-03-26T14:48:15.857-07:00Comments on Rocket Stack Rank: Her Sacred Spirit Soars, by S. Qiouyi LuGreg Hullenderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16720604327299886491noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1390876285955310032.post-45147832293303213422016-08-05T05:50:56.224-07:002016-08-05T05:50:56.224-07:00To be useful for people trying to pick things to n...To be useful for people trying to pick things to nominate for awards, I use a system that gives 5-stars to only about 4% of stories and 4-stars or more to only about 20%. Three stars means it was a fine story but there wasn't anything remarkable about it. To get 4 stars, the story needed to have something special about it, either in sophistication or in emotion or something else to make it memorable.<br /><br />That's rather different from how people give stars to products on sites like Amazon.com, where 5-stars means "there wasn't anything wrong with it" and most products get 4 or 5 stars. Three stars on Amazon.com suggests a product you'll likely be unhappy with or a book you'll be sorry you read. That's not quite what three stars means here though.Greg Hullenderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16720604327299886491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1390876285955310032.post-24227928160392372292016-07-28T07:04:44.747-07:002016-07-28T07:04:44.747-07:00Yeah, "oriental lovebird energy" doesn&#...Yeah, "oriental lovebird energy" doesn't pass the say-it-out-loud test. But the story is otherwise powerful precisely <i>because</i> most of our sympathy is engaged by the birds. The bird's consciousness is part of Meisun's, meaning that she continues to feel the bird's loss and that she has to learn (or re-learn) human emotions the way someone with a physical injury needs to re-learn the use of her body. The story reminded me of Le Guin's <i>Nine Lives</i> in that respect. I'd give it at least a 4.<br /><br />Jonathan EdelsteinN.R.E.https://www.blogger.com/profile/12200405876253145886noreply@blogger.com