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

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I love speculative fiction short stories, and this was a really great collection. Very creative but grounded, it was mostly low fantasy/soft sci-fi set in a fictional version of our world (with a couple fun exceptions of evolutionary sci-fi where Liu describes the cultures and physiology of alien species). I appreciated Liu’s expertise/apparently very detailed research on both history and science/technology. Any tech/science seems very realistic (to my non-expert mind, at least), and I really appreciated his explorations of the mark our histories, both personal and collective, make on the present. I also learned some really important history of my own heritage, which was about Imperial Japan’s Unit 731, which tortured and experimented on their imperial subjects in China during WWII, and whose scientists were not punished by the US/Allies because they wanted the use of their research. It’s a shameful and disgusting chapter of history, but written about really thoughtfully and creatively by Liu, who brings to life imagined debates about what it would mean to go back in time to be able to witness historic tragedies. Interesting ethical and philosophical questions (and definitely the only story with serious need for content warnings— it’s quite graphic). Anyway, I loved this book and will be reading more of his work! 
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