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benchedforairbud's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
eschnitger's review
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
The book was really uneven. Some of the stories were amazing… some were a bit odd to include.
bonzaklibo's review
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
a_reader_obsessed's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 Stars - for the short The Bookmaking Secrets of Select Species
I wouldn’t necessarily say this is an actual story, but the way Liu describes these species and how they communicate and pass on their culture is impressive. Such detailed originality needs to be acknowledged and appreciated. It’s a testament to sentience, where one wants to leave their indelible mark to forever remember and be remembered.
I wouldn’t necessarily say this is an actual story, but the way Liu describes these species and how they communicate and pass on their culture is impressive. Such detailed originality needs to be acknowledged and appreciated. It’s a testament to sentience, where one wants to leave their indelible mark to forever remember and be remembered.
emath98's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
xcinnamonsugar's review
4.0
A wonderful blend of historical fiction and science fiction about identity and memory. Thoughts on each story:
* The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species ♥️♥️ I loved this one so much!! This story was written in a similar style to Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, which is one of my all-time favourite reads. I loved how it explored the myriad ways knowledge could be processed and communicated.
* State Change Interesting piece exploring what it means to change and adapt, by having the characters’ souls take the tangible form of everyday objects.
* Perfect Match A matchmaking algorithm on steroids. Could totally be a Black Mirror episode.
* Good Hunting One of the more forgettable stories for me, although I liked the reframing of the hulijing’s alleged seduction of men really being about men vilifying the subject of their infatuation.
* The Literomancer Lots of fun wordplay on Chinese characters.
* Simulacrum ♥️ This is one of those stories that I’d love to hear what people thought after reading it. It explores the human need to hold on to core memories—positive or negative—and immortalise an impermanent reality.
* The Regular ♥️ I would love to watch a movie adaptation of this sci-fi murder mystery story. The idea of an emotional regulator was also pretty interesting, and got me thinking about whether emotional regulation and hormonal regulation (effectively how the regulator works) is really the same thing.
* The Paper Menagerie I’d forgotten that I’d read this one before (years ago, likely to see what the hype was about). It’s probably not surprising that I didn’t find it especially memorable the second time around either.
* An Advanced Reader’s Picture Book of Comparative Cognition ♥️♥️ It had some elements of The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species interspersed throughout a narrative about memory and love. This was the one story that hit me right in the feels from the entire collection.
* The Waves This read a little like a sequel to the previous story, describing some kind of evolution cycle(?).
* Mono no aware Compared to all the other stories in this book, this one felt kinda meh in terms of creativity.
* All the Flavors A heartwarming tale that points out the cognitive dissonance in the xenophobic rhetoric toward immigrants.
* A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel Told from the perspective of a migrant worker who spent most of his life on a multi-year subterranean construction project. He’s both the victim and perpetrator of a system that effectively sacrifices human lives in the name of technological advancement.
* The Litigation Master and the Monkey King This one reminded me of the Chinese fiction I came across during my schooling years, where court cases are argued through witty rhetoric.
* The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary ♥️ (Trigger warning, there’s a fair bit of gory detail on war crimes in this story.) Who owns the history of a land? Who gets to determine the narrative, which facts are documented and which are erased? If there were a way to obtain incontrovertible evidence of events in the past, would any political system actually greenlight it?
* The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species ♥️♥️ I loved this one so much!! This story was written in a similar style to Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, which is one of my all-time favourite reads. I loved how it explored the myriad ways knowledge could be processed and communicated.
* State Change Interesting piece exploring what it means to change and adapt, by having the characters’ souls take the tangible form of everyday objects.
* Perfect Match A matchmaking algorithm on steroids. Could totally be a Black Mirror episode.
* Good Hunting One of the more forgettable stories for me, although I liked the reframing of the hulijing’s alleged seduction of men really being about men vilifying the subject of their infatuation.
* The Literomancer Lots of fun wordplay on Chinese characters.
* Simulacrum ♥️ This is one of those stories that I’d love to hear what people thought after reading it. It explores the human need to hold on to core memories—positive or negative—and immortalise an impermanent reality.
* The Regular ♥️ I would love to watch a movie adaptation of this sci-fi murder mystery story. The idea of an emotional regulator was also pretty interesting, and got me thinking about whether emotional regulation and hormonal regulation (effectively how the regulator works) is really the same thing.
* The Paper Menagerie I’d forgotten that I’d read this one before (years ago, likely to see what the hype was about). It’s probably not surprising that I didn’t find it especially memorable the second time around either.
* An Advanced Reader’s Picture Book of Comparative Cognition ♥️♥️ It had some elements of The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species interspersed throughout a narrative about memory and love. This was the one story that hit me right in the feels from the entire collection.
* The Waves This read a little like a sequel to the previous story, describing some kind of evolution cycle(?).
* Mono no aware Compared to all the other stories in this book, this one felt kinda meh in terms of creativity.
* All the Flavors A heartwarming tale that points out the cognitive dissonance in the xenophobic rhetoric toward immigrants.
* A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel Told from the perspective of a migrant worker who spent most of his life on a multi-year subterranean construction project. He’s both the victim and perpetrator of a system that effectively sacrifices human lives in the name of technological advancement.
* The Litigation Master and the Monkey King This one reminded me of the Chinese fiction I came across during my schooling years, where court cases are argued through witty rhetoric.
* The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary ♥️ (Trigger warning, there’s a fair bit of gory detail on war crimes in this story.) Who owns the history of a land? Who gets to determine the narrative, which facts are documented and which are erased? If there were a way to obtain incontrovertible evidence of events in the past, would any political system actually greenlight it?
juliaxreads's review
4.0
The stories was hit or miss. Really loved some of the stories like:
“The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species”
“The Paper Menagerie”
“State Change”
“The Perfect Match”
“Good Hunting”
“Literomancer”
I enjoy the raw darkness. Reminds me of the TV series Black Mirror.
“The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species”
“The Paper Menagerie”
“State Change”
“The Perfect Match”
“Good Hunting”
“Literomancer”
I enjoy the raw darkness. Reminds me of the TV series Black Mirror.
jordan54benson's review
4.0
I would rank the majority of these stories as 5 stars and the rest 4 stars! Super entertaining and insightful. Filled with interesting science-driven concepts and storylines! It's really like watching Black Mirror. I loved it!
2000s's review
4.25
This author has a dark and twisted mind and sometimes that's fun...but reading this book I mostly got depressed LMAO. But unlike the Hidden Girl collection, I felt like there was a bit more substance and a sense of hope in these stories. Also Ken Liu's ability to write across genres is really impressive.
This book is long, so sometimes it got repetitive/bogged down. But the writing overall is pretty strong and conceptually doing a lot of cool things. My favorites are probably Good Hunting, All The Flavors, and The Regular (even tho that one was a little too scary for me LOL)
This book is long, so sometimes it got repetitive/bogged down. But the writing overall is pretty strong and conceptually doing a lot of cool things. My favorites are probably Good Hunting, All The Flavors, and The Regular (even tho that one was a little too scary for me LOL)