The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
dufremde's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
- the stuff that worked REALLY worked, but a few stories left me absolutely cold and/or sent me into a depression spiral. let's just talk about the bad experiences first: the cruelty of "literomancer" felt pointless and jarring, "the regular" was faux-edgy in a way that felt slimy to read sometimes, and to be perfectly honest, the title story—yes, the one that won all the awards—was so mid in its themes and execution that I was just baffled after reading it. like that was some Amy Tan shit. overall, I think Liu has an issue writing women that feel real, and that makes me sad. and to me, an East Asian, some of the extremely East Asian tropes felt trite and tired, even in the stories that I liked.
- onto better times... I loved the intensity of both "bookmaking habits" and "comparative cognition," the imagination that went into both was astounding and I felt like I could have devoured an extended compendium of both concepts.
- I quite enjoyed the loosely connected trio of "comparative cognition" + "waves" + "mono no aware." it had the makings of a longer series, and I liked the combination of slice-of-life/character study with the overarching speculative sci-fi plotline.
- "all the flavors" and "litigation master" had that magical realism thing going for them, weaving in well-known Chinese literary figures, but I'm not sure they'll stick with me. (I was scared "all the flavors" was going to go the way of "literomancer" so I'm glad it stayed optimistic/open-ended. still, I wonder about including both when they kind of had a similar structure.)
- "trans-pacific tunnel" + "man who ended history" had Things To Say, and I'm lowkey mad he put the latter story at the very end, although I do think it is the showstopper of the entire collection. however, I have mixed feelings; I loved the concept of the documentary (which Liu says was inspired by Ted Chiang) and the intersection between time travel and transnational historical trauma really landed, but unfortunately for me he chose to center the story around Unit 731, which is one of my personal triggers, so I had to unfocus my eyes for a lot of the actual discussion over what happened. it's one of the most brutal episodes of WWII and still has reverberating effects, and I appreciate what Liu was trying to do with the sociopolitical commentary but I also felt physically ill while reading it. the entire collection needed massive content warnings, but especially this last story!
anyway I had to start another book at 2 a.m. to act as a palate cleanser lmao thanks bud
Graphic: Torture, Rape, Violence, and Sexual violence
ruthhelizabeth's review
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Murder, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Gore, Confinement, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Pregnancy, Genocide, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Blood, War, Torture, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Suicide
lynxpardinus's review against another edition
4.75
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
kalira's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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
- 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
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Stalking, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Torture, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Genocide, Grief, Murder, and Racism
onamoonbeam's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.25
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
Graphic: Torture, Colonisation, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Rape, Murder, Sexual violence, and Suicide
mikeypwest's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
These stories cover all sorts of genres: magical realism, sci-fi, fantasy (more fantasy-lite), alternate history, and historical fiction (and sometimes a mix of these). Important topics/themes that are touched upon here:
culture (especially when cultures collide), sacrifice, loss, death, identity, unrighteous authority, moral duty, xenophobia, humanity, and relationships.
Most of Liu's stories touch on aspects of Chinese culture in some way. (Liu is a Chinese American). Many touch on the Chinese/American culture dynamic. Others are influenced by Chinese history (and/or Japanese in a couple of cases). A lot of his stories made me dive a bit deeper into that history (and he does provide references for some of them). While I still feel ignorant of much of Chinese history, these stories definitely taught me more than I previously knew.Â
Liu is a master at what he does here. Each story was compelling in its own way and a few stories here are straight-up haunting. Warning: he does incorporate some HEAVY topics (torture, murder, racism, sexual violence, genocide) as part of his story-telling, but they are not there for shock value but to open our eyes to the broader philosophical and moral meanings/context. I feel like I could spend hours on some of these stories just researching the historical context as well as musing on the moral and philosophical meanings that are present.
Overall, I wouldn't call this book outright "entertaining", but the stories within are at an artistic/literary level that I feel is unmatched (at least I can't remember reading anything so artistically captivating). I will say while not a popcorn read, all of the stories did grab my interest - some in a very intense way. (There is a sci-fi detective story that I felt was a little more of a popcorn story, but it was the outlier here). There are some REALLY fascinating sci-fi premises for his stories as well. All in all, if you want to read some stuff that may make you feel uncomfortable and make you think about the complexities (and dark side!) of humanity, I cannot recommend this book more.
My favorites: Waves, All the Flavors, Mono No Aware, The Man Who Ended History, and The Regular (as an honorary mention).
Moderate: Sexual violence, Xenophobia, and Violence
starrynight's review
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
Graphic: Medical content, Death, Sexual violence, Rape, Torture, Colonisation, Murder, Racism, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Suicide and Animal cruelty
fromjuliereads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
These stories incorporate real places and history into science fiction and fantasy. They are raw, unique, heartbreaking, and in many ways, eye opening. While a couple were a bit long or not for me, I had quite a few that I thoroughly enjoyed and could still find appreciation for all of them.
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, War, and Xenophobia
erinreadsbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Gore