Reviews

Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu

natashavhugen's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

wow!!! 4.5 stars. this book is really, really good. it has all the things i like - slightly creepy, beautifully written short stories where modern-day afflictions and issues are cleverly and metaphorically woven into fictional events. great characters. great writing. i only withhold my final half star because i wanted a little more from some of the stories. i don’t really know what, but for a few, i reached the last page and just said, “oh.” that being said, the majority of them were nearly perfect. i really didn’t want to put this book down. a great read for fans of Carmen Maria Machado.  

groovygherkin's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

lillianglippold's review against another edition

dark funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

as far as short story collections go, this was a pretty good one. there were a few that i LOVED and a few that were just alright. the beginning stories weren’t great at drawing me in, but as the collection went on, i enjoyed more and more and more. at times, the characters (namely protagonists) didn’t feel very real to me? like they felt like fake people. but perhaps i just have trouble visualizing non thoughtful characters? who is to say. 

overall, this was definitely worth the read though. fu's plots are excellent. and my brain is all caught up in the structure of these types of spec fic stories, which is quite fun. 

meganberling's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

4.0

selmavh's review against another edition

3.0

The writing was good but it was way too creepy for me.

beastee's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad fast-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

4.25

chachi_bby's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

drakken's review against another edition

3.0

Got some enjoyment out of this collection of short stories, though they didn’t stick with me or resonate as much as those by my favs (Ted Chiang and Ken Liu). “Scissors” was a standout, though (and quite unexpected).

cathleenrenee's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

glitterpricked's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

these stories were so interesting! i generally stick to short stories that are literary fiction, but one of my favourite reads of last year was spirits abroad, which was also a fantasy collection. short stories are actually such a great way to capture the strange and magical: they allow reflections of human nature through a mysterious and intriguing lens, with much less need to explain why certain things are happening. worldbuilding does not matter so much as the themes on the page. as with a lot of collections, it's difficult to give this a higher rating, but 3.5* is good for short stories in my opinion! i would definitely recommend this.

(disclaimer: i skipped the story june bug because the descriptions of bugs were triggering my anxiety. i got 11/37 pages into it. to make it fair, i did not take it into account in my rating.)