A review by readandfindout
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.25

On first read in 2017: There were multiple five star stories for me in this anthology. However, because there were also some two and two and a half star stories, this gets 4 stars overall. Ken Liu is such a smart writer. I really enjoy his style.

2023 reread: 4.25 stars overall

The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species: 5 stars (2017), 4 stars (2023)
State Change: 4 stars (2017), 4.5 stars (2023)
The Perfect March: 3 stars (2017), 4 stars (2023)
Good Hunting: 4.5 stars (2017 and 2023)
The Literomancer: 5 stars (2017 and 2023)
Simulacrum: 2 stars (2017), 3.5 stars (2023)
The Regular: 4.5 stars (2017 and 2023)
The Paper Menagerie: 4.5 stars (2017), 5 stars (2023)
An Advanced Readers' Picture Book of Comparative Cognition: 3 stars (2017 and 2023)
The Waves: 5 stars (2017), 3.5 stars (2023)
Mono No Aware: 5 stars (2017), 4.5 stars (2023)
All the Flavors: 3 stars (2017), 4 stars (2023)
A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel: 2.5 stars (2017), 4 stars (2023)
The Litigation Master and the Monkey King: 4 stars (2017), 5 stars (2023)
The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary: 5 stars (2017 and 2023)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Suicide, Death of parent

Minor: Racial slurs