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paulaortuno's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Suicide, Police brutality, Colonisation, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Rape, Mental illness, Racism, Blood, and Classism
samdalefox's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
I had first read 'The paper menagerie' as a stand alone story and loved it, so bought Liu's full short story collection. As you can see from the individual ratings below, I also loved the rest of the stories. The only one to drop below 4/5 was 'All the flavours', mostly because I don't think the structure and length entirely paid off. Outstanding pieces include 'State change', Simulacrum', 'The paper menagerie', and 'The man who ended history: a documentary'. Although the collection averaged 4.5, I'm bumping it up to 4.75 because the work is greater than the sum of its parts.
It's hard to describe Ken Liu's writing style and subject matter. It's an easy to read, sci-fi, magical realism, literary, historical fiction, kind of genre. There were several times I looked up specific events referenced and learnt about Chinese and pan-Asian history. I found this incredibly enjoyable, the way history and culture are presented is informative, but in an appeasing way because it's told almost like a fairy tale. I also greatly appeciated the author's notes at the end of the stories with historical features explaining the references and pointing to further reading.
The stories cover difficult themes such as imperialism, industrialisation, migration and immigrant experience, ethical use/misuse and philosophical development of technology, revolution and nationalism, militarianism, philosophy of communication and memory, and censorship, all with respect to Chinese people.
It's hard to describe Ken Liu's writing style and subject matter. It's an easy to read, sci-fi, magical realism, literary, historical fiction, kind of genre. There were several times I looked up specific events referenced and learnt about Chinese and pan-Asian history. I found this incredibly enjoyable, the way history and culture are presented is informative, but in an appeasing way because it's told almost like a fairy tale. I also greatly appeciated the author's notes at the end of the stories with historical features explaining the references and pointing to further reading.
The stories cover difficult themes such as imperialism, industrialisation, migration and immigrant experience, ethical use/misuse and philosophical development of technology, revolution and nationalism, militarianism, philosophy of communication and memory, and censorship, all with respect to Chinese people.
"Every act of communication is a miracle of translation"
The book making habits of select species 4.25⭐
State change 4.75⭐
The perfect match 4.25⭐
Good hunting 4⭐
The literomancer 4.5⭐
Simulacrum 5⭐
The regular 4⭐
The paper menagerie 5⭐
An advanced reader's picture book of comparative cognition 4.25⭐
The waves 4.5⭐
Mono no aware 4.5⭐
All the flavours 3.5⭐
A brief history of the trans Pacific tunnel 4.25⭐
The litigation master and the monkey king 4.75⭐
The man who ended history: a documentary 5⭐
Average = 4.43
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation and Classism
Minor: Murder, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Death, Genocide, Confinement, Hate crime, Bullying, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Rape
The stories cover difficult themes such as imperialism, industrialisation, migration and immigrant experience, ethical use/misuse and philosophical development of technology, revolution and nationalism, militarianism, philosophy of communication and memory, and censorship all with respect to Chinese people.dkrish22's review against another edition
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Violence, Xenophobia, War, and Medical content
lynxpardinus's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, Colonisation, Genocide, Medical content, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Death of parent, Racism, Suicide, War, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Rape, Racial slurs, Infidelity, Police brutality, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual violence, and Slavery
Minor: Dementia and Sexual content
sofiadanielle's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wow, just wow.
Ken Liu is certainly an author who has undeniable power in his words. Each story has left an impact on me. He created worlds so complete that even the shortest stories included don’t leave the reader feeling not submerged in whatever the setting and plot is.
The intertwining of Asian folklore, futuristic creations and ideals, was something new for me to find in a singular story, never mind a series of them. Liu also doesn’t shy away from gruesome bits in the stories centered around real wars and global conflicts.
Definitely not for the faint of heart, as some topics are heavy and detailed, but I feel that despite these sometimes gory details, the heart of the story- reflectivity on society most of the time- always prevails.
Simply amazing and deeply moving. I won’t be forgetting this read for a long time.
Ken Liu is certainly an author who has undeniable power in his words. Each story has left an impact on me. He created worlds so complete that even the shortest stories included don’t leave the reader feeling not submerged in whatever the setting and plot is.
The intertwining of Asian folklore, futuristic creations and ideals, was something new for me to find in a singular story, never mind a series of them. Liu also doesn’t shy away from gruesome bits in the stories centered around real wars and global conflicts.
Definitely not for the faint of heart, as some topics are heavy and detailed, but I feel that despite these sometimes gory details, the heart of the story- reflectivity on society most of the time- always prevails.
Simply amazing and deeply moving. I won’t be forgetting this read for a long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Rape, Torture, and War
Moderate: Suicide, Racism, and Xenophobia
kalira's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Ken Lie has a brilliant approach to weaving together history and realism with fantastical/speculative fiction elements, drawing it all into poignant and deeply emotional relief.
It took me a long time to read this anthology, largely because the stories are very good . . . and sometimes, so painful and heavy and immediate that upon finishing I needed to set the book aside and take some time. Both to process the story and to give myself a little emotional space to breathe.
It took me a long time to read this anthology, largely because the stories are very good . . . and sometimes, so painful and heavy and immediate that upon finishing I needed to set the book aside and take some time. Both to process the story and to give myself a little emotional space to breathe.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Genocide, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Child death, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Gore, Trafficking, Vomit, Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Death, War, Alcohol, Colonisation, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Chronic illness, and Grief
konfx's review against another edition
challenging
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Stalking, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Torture, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Genocide, Grief, Murder, and Racism
missbear's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
I actually started this book quite awhile ago, sometime last year. I picked it up because I had heard it compared with works by Ted Chiang, who also writes sci fi short stories (I read and absolutely adored Exhalation in 2020). But I didn't really love it and put it down, with the idea that maybe with some more distance from Ted Chiang, I might like it better. Unfortunately, that didn't really happen - there were certainly stories I liked in here, and I often liked the premise and purpose of Ken Liu's writing, but a lot of the stories didn't land quite right for me. I think that one major piece of it is that I found Ted Chiang's stories to be quite optimistic and hopeful about humanity and I thought that the comparison I had heard between the two authors was because these stories would be similarly optimistic. They are really not though, on the whole - I would say that the theme of this collection is something more like "we must not forget the suffering we have caused to each other." Even when the tales are more hopeful, they are often still hopeful in a sad kind of way (i.e. "there will always be people willing to sacrifice their lives for the good of humanity.")
To that end, I found that some of these stories were quite dark and brutally violent. That's not something that I necessarily have a problem with, but it really caught me off guard in this collection and somewhat soured the experience for me. Again, this was possibly a personal issue, having gone into the collection with a mistaken impression of its contents, but I did not know that several of the stories would include (view spoiler) I actually kind of feel like Ken Liu wanted those scenes to come as a shock, or wanted them to be contrasted against stories that at first seem simple and innocent, to make a point about history and our culpability in it when we ignore/forget brutal parts of the past. And I guess I respect that as an authorial choice (plus, I do understand that its a collection of stories that were written at different times, so it's not necessarily meant to feel cohesive), but personally I found it quite jarring and I don't think it really had the intended effect on me. It almost makes me feel a bit guilty, that I'm complaining about reading about disturbing things, when I think Ken Liu's point is basically "well, these things actually happened to real people and we have a responsibility to remember that," but I can't help feeling misled.
Don't get me wrong, I did very much enjoy some of these stories ("The Waves" and "State Change" stood out especially) and I greatly respect the message that Liu is sending about history. I'm just afraid the medium was just not to my taste, whether that's my squeamishness or misleading marketing or whatever else.
To that end, I found that some of these stories were quite dark and brutally violent. That's not something that I necessarily have a problem with, but it really caught me off guard in this collection and somewhat soured the experience for me. Again, this was possibly a personal issue, having gone into the collection with a mistaken impression of its contents, but I did not know that several of the stories would include (view spoiler) I actually kind of feel like Ken Liu wanted those scenes to come as a shock, or wanted them to be contrasted against stories that at first seem simple and innocent, to make a point about history and our culpability in it when we ignore/forget brutal parts of the past. And I guess I respect that as an authorial choice (plus, I do understand that its a collection of stories that were written at different times, so it's not necessarily meant to feel cohesive), but personally I found it quite jarring and I don't think it really had the intended effect on me. It almost makes me feel a bit guilty, that I'm complaining about reading about disturbing things, when I think Ken Liu's point is basically "well, these things actually happened to real people and we have a responsibility to remember that," but I can't help feeling misled.
Don't get me wrong, I did very much enjoy some of these stories ("The Waves" and "State Change" stood out especially) and I greatly respect the message that Liu is sending about history. I'm just afraid the medium was just not to my taste, whether that's my squeamishness or misleading marketing or whatever else.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Torture, Child death, and Rape
onamoonbeam's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.25
sometimes, ken liu, you are SO deep in the sauce
my favorite stories in this collection were paper menagerie, bookkeeping habits, and the waves. monkey king was so fun but also i was listening to my audiobook on my morning commute and i was not expecting so many stories to have graphic depictions of torture! an important topic esp in the context of historical erasure! not what i was expecting!
oh i am so tired when writing this i nearly forgot about good hunting (first saw it in love death and robots! i actually like the og better even if the animation is gorgeous) and state change
sometimes the sauce is good sometimes the sauce gets lost in so much extensions of history and context
my favorite stories in this collection were paper menagerie, bookkeeping habits, and the waves. monkey king was so fun but also i was listening to my audiobook on my morning commute and i was not expecting so many stories to have graphic depictions of torture! an important topic esp in the context of historical erasure! not what i was expecting!
oh i am so tired when writing this i nearly forgot about good hunting (first saw it in love death and robots! i actually like the og better even if the animation is gorgeous) and state change
sometimes the sauce is good sometimes the sauce gets lost in so much extensions of history and context
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Colonisation, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Rape, Murder, Sexual violence, and Suicide
lookingforlittlelibraries's review
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Body horror, Medical trauma, Gore, Grief, Racism, Rape, Violence, and War
Moderate: Racial slurs, Colonisation, and Cultural appropriation