A review by 2003seigfried
The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary by Ken Liu

challenging emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

politics & science! i was ten pages into this when i realised i was reading a political sci fi story like no other. ken liu is a master at bridging the gap between real history and speculative future, and the respective questions they raise. the political aspect, which encompassed every other aspect of this story, is the question of who controls history. the phrase that victors write history is a famous one, but things change when it becomes possible to peek into the past and see it. all in all, this is a very bleak story, not on its own, but with the fact that the real existence of Unit 731 is something that certain people still refuse to believe, or charge it to empty platitudes such as "terrible suffering" during wartime. 

“Culture is not merely a product of reason but also of real, visceral empathy. And I am afraid that it is primarily empathy that has been missing from the postwar Japanese responses to history.”