"All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered."

The Village Teacher

As I was saying a few days ago, some of Cixin Liu’s short stories have been adapted into wonderful graphic novels.

This one is a heartfelt story that touches many topics that are dear to the author’s heart, mainly the importance of knowledge and the impact of teaching, but also involves some other topics that recur in classic science fiction, like silicate-based aliens and planet destruction as a form of cosmic hygiene. Of course, being the subject what it is, it was bound to move me.

The drawings of space sceneries and of the alien civilisations are absolutely beautiful. Sometimes I cringed at people’s expressions, particularly the children, but a very enjoyable issue nonetheless.
I haven’t read the original short story yet, it’s in the collection “Hold up the Sky” in my to-read bucket, so I can’t speak to the differences with the original.

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