Comments of chapter undefined of Dead on Mars
Dead on Mars
Tian Rui Shuo Fu
Chapter comments17
If you finished up to this chapter, thank you very much! I still consider this book a hard sci-fi book. Sci-fi usually uses out-of-this-world adventures in space to let us think about how we lead our lives while asking philosophical questions. And I believe Dead on Mars does this. There were parts in the story that seemed like a drag with Tomcat, Mai Dong, and Tang Yue doing nonsense, but if you view it retrospectively while knowing the end, it just makes it bittersweet because there's not much time left to spend with the main leads. The author says that this story can go both ways. The ending with the previous chapter or with this chapter. It's up to you to select which ending you prefer, the happy deus ex ending or the sad, sorrowful ending. Even in this happy ending, could it be that Tang Yue is in the classical philosophical thought experiment of a brain in a vat? That all this happiness is nothing but an imagination the aliens inject into him? If you enjoyed DOM as much as me, do promote this story to others! Thanks!
Thank you for translating this book, I have really enjoyed it, even though the last arc was somewhat overly drawn out - after all, nothing of any substance happened at all in the 10 day journey to the coordinates in the letter. The author has chosen to leave the ending open-ended with regards to how or why Earth, Maidong and Tomcat are restored which is probably a good thing as delving into it would be more fantasy than science fiction.
Honestly, the ending felt like it was a cop out. Not the fact that aliens were real, which was hinted by Tomcat thinking he saw a spaceship during his journey a long time ago, but it was a "happily ever after, the end" story. Honestly, I would have rather the story ended with Tang Yue dying and Tomcat shutting down together. I was in tears, and felt so much in those final moments, that everything needed to sum up to that moment. Even if it ended with him on the space ship, heading to space, I would have been okay with it. But now it felt like a good ending was forced down our throats and the characters felt empty. There was no dramatic reunion, just a casual day. Beside the ending, overall I was really happy with where you took it. Thanks for the hard work!
