Ken Liu's previous collection of short stories, The Paper Menagerie, is one of my favorites. I frequently recommend it to friends and customers at my library, so my expectations for this collection were high. Liu's prose is as vivid and as strong as ever, but these stories did not feel as fresh or as cohesive as a collection. There are several that take place in the same universe, after "The Singularity"; I wish he had either combined these into a single novella, or at least placed them sequentially in the book. I kept having to go back and make sure the character names were different in each story, so that I wasn't missing an intended connection. Ultimately, there was no real continuity between those characters, just slight variations on the brain-in-a-box tropes. I found myself missing the "silkpunk" sensibility that set The Paper Menagerie apart. That said, there were a few standout stories here and I'm still very interested in checking out Liu's standalone work.

Ken Liu is my favourite short story writer, so I already knew I'd love this. The story's are chilling and thought provoking. Completely recommend this book

«The Hidden Girl and Other Stories» was my introduction to Ken Liu's writing style and incredible imagination. He can create the most shocking scenarios and unravel a whole story in just a few pages. As much as I was surprised by his stories, I can't really say that I liked them. Purely because most of these short stories focused on deep, dark human emotions and often left me feeling sad for humanity.

This anthology is not an easy read, and I found that I could only read 1-2 stories at a time before I needed to take a break and read something more cheerful.

The first short story - «Ghost Days» caught me by surprise and I don't really remember the plot, as I was more focused on getting to know the writing style and crazy world the author created.

I know many people say that «The Hidden Girl» was one of the best short stories of this anthology, but I found «Thoughts and Prayers» to be the one that spoke to me. I really grew attached to the characters and couldn't put the book down.

Overall, this is an incredible anthology for all Sci-Fi lovers out there. Some were definitely very disturbing, but I admire the author's imagination and the portrayal of different human emotions and struggles.

I first fell in love with Ken Liu’s writing in The Paper Menagerie. His new book The Hidden Girl and Other Stories, just like TPM is a celebration of humanity and technology. He offers unique insight on the nature of men and machine. The stories are an amazing combination of sci-fi, speculative, historical, drama and even horror. I really can’t say any more because this is one of those moments when I love a book so much I get speechless. It even took me a while to write this review because I can’t put into words how exactly these stories made me feel like I’m a part of a bigger, infinite universe, while at the same time keeping me grounded to my roots as a part of the history of men. Simply put, it was an amazing journey.

Stellar writing! I would recommend 100% to everyone who loves SciFi and literary fiction. Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this wonderful book in exchange for an honest review.

ARC provided by the publisher—Saga Press—in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5 stars

Ken Liu is incredibly good at writing short stories.

I’ve been waiting for The Dandelion Dynasty to be completed for years now so I can binge read the epic fantasy series. During my waiting time, I have read The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories and also some books Liu has translated: The Three-Body Problem and Death’s End by Cixin Liu. I loved them all; The Paper Menagerie, in particular, is one of the two best short stories I’ve ever read so far. The Hidden Girl and Other Stories is the second collection of short stories published by Ken Liu, and as expected, it’s another wonderful collection of stories. I think of this as something wondrous because I’m not even a fan of short stories; I avoid this format more than I avoid novellas. However, this is Ken Liu, and this collection goes to show how good he is at writing short stories. Just try reading the beautifully written two-page long preface; I highly doubt you’ll be able to resist reading this collection after reading this.

“As the author, I construct an artifact out of words, but the words are meaningless until they're animated by the consciousness of the reader. The story is co-told by the author and the reader, and every story is incomplete until a reader comes a long and interprets it."


And so this will be my interpretation of these stories.

Few exceptions aside, most of these stories are connected, taking place in the same universe. I’ll be giving a very mini-review for each respective title.

Ghost Days: 4/5 stars

I loved this one. Liu tells a story that encompasses the importance of the past, culture, traditions, and how even the smallest of things could be the treasure that sustains our heritage and legacy for hundreds of years.

"She would show them how she now understood that digging into the past was an act of comprehension, an act of making sense of the universe."


Maxwell's Demon: 3.5/5 stars

A brutal and dark read. Maxwell’s Demons is about a Japanese-American female living in America during the time of World War II, and she receives a task to go back to Japan and help bring victory to America.

"A war opened a door in men, and whatever was inside just tumbled out. The entropy of the world increased, in the absence of a demon by the door."


Reborn: 3/5 stars

One of the three longest short stories in the collection, and it’s a good sci-fi story about the importance of memories. I enjoyed this one well enough, although it’s not as good as many other stories in this collection, I found the discussion regarding memories and how it makes us who we are to be well-written.

“You cannot tell which memories are real and which memories are false, and yet you insist on their importance, base so much of your life on them.”


Thoughts and Prayers: 4/5 stars

If you have lost someone to a mass shooting, be warned that this is a very dark story. Harrowing and thought-provoking, the loss of someone important due to a mass shooting is inexplicable; Liu goes further by exploring another danger that can come after the event through the misuse of technologies and trolling.

“What did I think was going to happen? After decades of watching the exact same script being followed to end in thoughts and prayers, what made me think this time would be different? It was the very definition of madness.”


Byzantine Empathy: 2/5 stars

Same as Reborn, this is one of the longest short stories in the collection, and I honestly didn’t enjoy this one. Empathy, Virtual Reality, and cryptocurrency are relatable topics of discussion, but this story was boring to read.

“A VR rig was the ultimate empathy machine. How could she truly say she had walked in their shoes without suffering as they did?”


The Gods Will Not Be Chained: 4/5 stars

This one was so intriguing and compelling, and it’s the first installment in a mini-trilogy available in this collection. It begins with a story about bullying, then it proceeds to show the limitless capability of technologies, the internet, and digital immortality.

“But the digital world, the world of bits and electrons, of words and images—it had brought her so much joy, felt so intimate that she thought of it a part of her. And it hurt.”


Staying Behind: 3.5/5 stars

Similar to the previous one, this is a short story that explores the idea of “immortality through machines” versus “meaningful life through mortality.” It’s a very interesting read because both factions have believable reasoning that makes sense.

“She taught me that our mortality makes us human. The limited time given to each of us makes what we do meaningful. We die to make place for our children, and through our children a piece of us lives on, the only form of immortality that is real.”


Real Artists: 3.5/5 stars

This is a very short story about doing whatever it takes to make a perfect movie, even if it means allowing technology to do all the heavy lifting.

"I was right about you; a real artist will do whatever it takes to make a great vision come true, even if she has to work with someone else's art."


The Gods Will Not Be Slain: 3.5/5 stars

A direct sequel to The Gods Will Not Be Chained with Maddie as the main character again. The themes of history, human nature, and once again, digital immortality dominate the story.

"They could use a historian," she said. "Someone who knew something about how things used to work."


Altogether Elsewhere, Vast Herds of Reindeer: 4/5 stars

This story shows the life of the people who have decided to go through digital immortality. Food for thought: what if infinity ends up decreasing the meaning of life?

”It's not how long we have that matters, but what we do with the same time we have.”


The Gods Have Not Died in Vain: 3.5/5 stars

The end of the mini-trilogy revolving around Maddie. I think this is the weakest of the mini-trilogy, but the conclusion was satisfying enough.

"We have grown to the point where we must depend on machines to survive," said Mom. "The world has become too fragile for us to count on people, and so our only choice is to make it even more fragile."


Memories of My Mother: 2/5 stars

One of my least favorite from the collection. This one suffers from being way too short; the story ended before I even began to care about the characters.

Dispatches from the Cradle: The Hermit—Forty-Eight Hours in the Sea of Massachusetts: 3/5 stars

The story shows what happened to Earth in the year 2600 after its destruction caused by Climate Change. It's a bit scary to be reading about this because there's a chance of the situation portrayed in this story happening in our life.

"Humanity may have taken to the stars, but we have destroyed our home planet. Such has been the lament of the Naturalists for eons."


Grey Rabbit, Crimson Mare, Coal Leopard: 4/5 stars

The most action-packed story in the collection, and it’s in my favorite genre: fantasy. Three sisters of different bloodlines find themselves united to for a purpose, fight against oppression and dictator. It’s a great fantasy story, and I believe there’s a potential for this one to become a series or a standalone novel.

"Greed and ambition are the rule at court, and the only goal of every governor, general, official, and legate, Revealed or not, is selfish gain, not the good of the people."


A Chase Beyond the Storms
An excerpt from The Veiled Throne, The Dandelion Dynasty, book three: No rating

As I mentioned, I’m waiting for The Dandelion Dynasty to be completed first, and I highly prefer not having my reading experience of the series spoiled. I won’t be reading/reviewing this one.

The Hidden Girl: 4/5 stars

Here it is, the titular story in this collection, and this is one of my personal favorite stories within this collection. Filled with Buddhism, The Hidden Girl is a fantasy story about an assassin who's willing to have the bravery to do what's right, even when it means fighting against those who are important to her.

"There's a greater promise we all must live by: to do what our heart tells us is right."


Seven Birthdays : 4/5 stars

I don’t want to say too much regarding this one, let’s just say that I didn’t expect the scope of this short story to be this massive and insane. It reminded me of reading Death’s End by Cixin Liu.

"There is a darkness in human nature that makes certain conflicts irreconcilable."


The Message: 4.5/5 stars

My favorite story in this collection. A heartwarming, meaningful, and lovely story about responsibility, legacy, and family.

"This was a story that would always mean something, a message worth passing on, even in a universe that was cold, dark, and dying."


Cutting: 3/5 stars

The final story in this collection. A good story about cutting unnecessary words from a book to create a relatively better message/content.

"The act of remembering is an act of retracing, and by doing so we erase and change the stencil."


Overall rating for The Hidden Girl and Other Stories: 63/90 stars

That’s it. The Hidden Girl and Other Stories is a clever and thought-provoking collection of short stories by Ken Liu. Diving deep into the possible benefits and destruction caused by technological advancement and digital immortality, Liu conveyed the meaning of life, tragedy, ambition, and so much more in his SFF/contemporary settings. I do think that the personality of the stories listed here lean more towards sci-fi than fantasy, and there’s a good chance that if you love watching The Black Mirror as I did, you’re going to love this one as well. So which Ken Liu’s books I’ll be reading next? Fingers crossed it will be The Dandelion Dynasty series. I already own the first two books in The Dandelion Dynasty for a while now, once there’s an official release date—which I hope will be soon—for The Veiled Throne, I will plan my reading accordingly.

You can order the book from: Book Depository (Free shipping)

The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

You can find this and the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions

Having very much enjoyed Liu's Dandelion War series, I highly anticipated this collection of short stories.

Topics range from alien invasions, Japanese interment, girl assassins and internet trolls. There are also a few interconnected stories that explore the future of humanity.

All of the stories are well written and paced. Interestingly, most are from the perspective of teenage girls. Maybe Liu has a teenager at home he is trying to understand. Regardless, teen girls are very interesting and make excellent subjects in many of the stories.

My favorite story ended up being the title track, Hidden Girl, in which a young girl is taken from her family and trained as an assassin. The girl takes pride in her new skills, but her loyalties are tested on her first assignment.

I also enjoyed Grey Rabbit, Crimson Mare, Coal Leopard. This story features women trying to survive in feudalistic society. I think it has the potential to be expanded into a full novel.

Themes of the environment, government control and the basis of humanity abound in all stories.

This is a mix of short stories, arranged in a meta-narrative about how technology impacts humanity. This includes themes of artificial intelligence, memory, what it means to be human, and climate change.

Some of my favorites: "Ghost Days" and "Maxwell's Demon", two of the earlier stories, utterly captivated me. Both are haunting and touching portrayals of the immigrant experience. "Thoughts and Prayers," about the aftermath of a tragic shooting and a vision of what future extreme trolling could look like struck a nerve. "Byzantine Empathy," about the traditional non-profits versus crowdfunding, was stellar.

About six of the stories are set in the world, some of which are direct sequels. These stories felt like they dragged the most to me. The Dandelion Dynasty excerpt felt like the most out of place— after a valiant effort, I ended up skipping it.

I heartily enjoyed a good half of the stories, and I expect others would find others that suit them. I missed the near-transcendent moments of The Paper Menagerie, but I still found this a pleasurable and thought-provoking read.

I am not a fan of “stories” and this book reminds me why. Some of the stories are interconnected and some appear to be continuations of others. If that was to be the case, why not just write a novel? The common thread is technology and the upload or transfer of consciousness into a machine. The idea, at this point, is not entirely novel and many of the stories delve into terms and explanations that do not propel the stories forward. I found it stagnant, frustrating and hard to read.

A solid collection of stories that explore many aspects of science, mathematics and the nature of humans connecting with them. I really enjoyed the various characters and the writing style.

SCI-FI LOVERS THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU!!!!

Ok ok I am a true lover of short stories and I respect the he'll out of Ken Liu, Oh dear when it comes to
sci-fi, I'm lost. Just gimme the cheat sheets.

I have to say I did really enjoy a few stories , but I'm still lost.

But hey, I gave it a try. Special thanks to NetGalley, Ken Liu and Saga Press.

Not a genre I typically read but I’m trying to broaden my horizons and this book definitely did that. At times disturbing but always thought provoking. I liked the short story format and would probably read a full length novel by this author.

"I am the Hidden Girl, and my loyalty is to the tranquillity yearned by all."

I have to be up front with you and admit that science fiction and fantasy are definitely not my most favourite of genres, so when I was approached by Amber at Midas PR, with the request for a review of this book, I gave great thought as to whether I was going to be the best person for the job. However, due to the rather tight Blog Tour time schedule for a full read and review and given my admission about the book's storyline, Amber and I agreed a compromise that I might possibly read a small selection of the stories and see how I got on with that.

How surprised and how totally wrong could I have been about what to expect from my albeit reduced reading from the collection. This is a book I shall be dipping in and out of often, until I have read all the stories!

I decided that the opening story of the book Ghost Days, would be an automatic choice, as would The Hidden Girls, from which the book takes its title. The other two stories were picked totally at random, and if I am being completely honest, based solely on the fact that neither had titles which sounded too obviously science fiction or fantasy oriented.

Each of the stories I feature, were strong and totally engaging; intriguing and very thought provoking. I don't know if it was a sheer coincidence, but all my choices had strong women as their central characters, although all the storylines were well rounded and written with an even hand.

Each story had a stand out theme and moral, relevant to modern day life, although all took me to dark places, which were chilling and ominous in their reality and their implications for the future of humanity itself.

Spanning multiple timelines, the stories touched on the legacy of our inherited memories and heritage and how we should strive and fight to retain them and their imparted knowledge, for as long as we possibly can, with the warning that humanity's belief in itself as a transformational species, is flawed beyond repair.

All the stories were tinged with a melancholy air and for me personally, the epithet that nobody walks the earth, or any other sphere, totally trouble free. Hence none had a particularly happy ending and with unwritten prophecies, which were chilling in their implications.

As short stories, each one of my selection, with their diverse and complex themes, felt remarkably and satisfyingly complete, written as they were, by an author supremely confident enough in his ability and self-imposed high standards, to cross the genre divide at will and who does so with such consummate ease, that I didn't even notice it had happened.

As only a very occasional short story reader, I was hooked by Ken Liu's natural range of storytelling abilities and his often provocative characters, who I found myself both sympathising and empathising with, almost from the first time they spoke, such were the powerful connections made by Ken with his characters and his characters with one another. His thought provoking narrative and dialogue, played on many of my emotions and his lapidary prose and use of language, were a joy to immerse myself in.

I shall definitely be revisiting the book, as and when my schedule permits, to finish reading the other stories in the collection, confident that my experience with the science fiction and fantasy elements of Ken's writing, won't reinforce my previous reluctance to embrace them as part of my future regular reading journey.

"What makes reading so wonderful, is that every reader takes a different journey!"

Ghost Days: ☆☆☆
What would be the most important thing to a dying civilization? Whether alien or not, we all want to think we won’t be erased completely by history. A group of humans is trying to colonize an inhospitable planet. Their solution: hold onto Earth’s memories and traditions and imbue them on a hybrid generation. But would the new generation value them as much as the humans do?

I liked how a rebellious hybrid teen came to realize the importance of being remembered. The opening reminded me of how the book, The Girl with All the Gifts, started. I loved that one too.

Maxwell’s Demon: ☆☆☆☆
The aftermath of the event that led to the US participating in WWII serves as the backdrop of this story. An American woman of Okinawan descent — just one of the many living in internment camps — becomes the “No-No Girl” when she fails to answer a complicated question about her allegiance with a “yes” or “no”. She is forced to return to Japan and spy for her country. A heartbreaking story that couldn’t have ended in a positive way.

One of my favorites!

The Reborn: ☆☆
With an Altered Carbon flavor, this story describes a world where the aliens subjugating humans can literally become other “better” or reborn versions of themselves. But can humanity forgive what was done to them?

It isn’t that I didn’t like the story. I just found it too familiar, so it didn’t surprise me.

Thoughts and Prayers: ☆☆☆
A mass shooting claims the life of a young girl. The story follows what happens when her mother takes her grief online and public. Thus, it shows how the effects of trolling and cyber-bullying can seep into real life.

Well-written. At first, I thought the parts about the release of porn featuring the girl were unrealistic. But then the deepfake technology came to mind. We’ve just gotten it and there’s plenty of time to misuse or weaponize it!

Byzantine Empathy: ☆☆
A cryptocurrency based on empathy to help people in war-torn countries arrives on the scene. The trouble is its presence undercuts the role of charities with global reach. The story follows two friends with opposing POVs.

I loved the idea and wanted to steal it — relax, I didn’t. But what detracted me from fully enjoying it was the author’s diplomatic way of presenting both sides of the argument. I know, it isn’t easy to decide who’s right, especially where people’s lives are at stake. But I’d still leave the decision in the hands of those doing the dying!

The Gods Will Not Be Chained: ☆☆☆
This story is part of a series placed within this anthology. All of the stories in that series examine the state of the world after human intelligence is uploaded onto a digital interface. Each bit helps us see more of the big picture after that event.

In this one, a girl who’s being bullied begins chatting with someone who converses only in emojis.

I liked this one because of how the author describes the father-daughter relationship. Guessing the identity of the emoji-user was a minor turn-off, though.

Staying Behind: ☆☆
Another post-singularity breadcrumb like the story before this one. It takes us to the stage where, except for a few pockets of people, most of the world has agreed to escape death by uploading themselves.

Interesting to think that almost every religion is based on the ephemeral nature of life and eternity of death. If we can change that, what happens to the concept of doing good, so you’d end up in the good place? And will there even be a need for good or bad in a world that exists only digitally?

Real Artists: ☆☆☆
This one looks at what art could come to mean in the future. Should “real” art be something that sells or something that dares to challenge perceptions? The story follows an aspiring filmmaker disillusioned when she discovers that reality.

I liked this short because of how easily it can become a reality. After all, networks have been known to cancel amazing shows like Brooklyn 99 because of the small size of viewership. It makes no sense to me but it is what it is!

The Gods Will Not Be Slain: ☆☆
Maybe the series of shorts based in this world should have been grouped together in the anthology? Anyway, this one shows cyber-intelligence giants — or gods — fighting each other. Some of them are mad at how they were created and they’re taking it out on the world.

I liked the cute beginning that showed us more of that father-daughter time. But then things got dark. The cliffhanger didn’t make sense at all.

Altogether Elsewhere, Vast Herds of Reindeer: ☆☆
It was at this point that I tired of reading about the same thing from different angles. Something about however wonderful AI is, it can’t be as great as the real world.

While the title of the story doesn’t indicate that it is part of the singularity series, I took it to be so. My justification: humans being able to reproduce in silico were the themes common between this story and the one before it.

The Gods Have Not Died in Vain: ☆☆
The mini-series came to an end with this story even though we find similar themes underlying other stories in this anthology. A girl who lost her father when he was uploaded to a digital interface and chose to give his life to keep intelligences like himself from ruining the world. Her posthuman sibling born in silico who has experienced everything and yet nothing. This story asks whether such a divide would bring people together or not.

Like I said, I started to tire of this concept. So, the story didn’t seem as exciting to me as it could have.

Memories of My Mother: ☆☆☆
Imagine if patients with terminal diseases had the option to stay in stasis, just so they can watch their kids grow up or how their family members fare in the future. Would the relative in question resent their never-growing-old presence or feel blessed for these brief moments?

I loved the lyrical way in which this story was written. It was also heartbreaking to read about all this from the daughter’s POV who couldn’t decide if she loved her mother breezing in at different times in her life or hated it!

Dispatches from the Cradle: The Hermit– Forty-Eight Hours in the Sea of Massachusetts: ☆☆☆☆
Earth floods over. Most people leave off to colonize other planets. Those who remain, adapt. A hermit visits those settlements all around the world and writes about her experiences.

A beautifully written story with breathtaking descriptions of such a post-apocalyptic world.

A sideline: the hermit continuously refers to them as settlements or colonies. The people of those “colonies” don’t like the description. Brings to mind all the displaced and refugees who cannot shake off similar descriptions even after several generations of theirs have called another country home.

Grey Rabbit, Crimson Mare, Coal Leopard: ☆☆☆☆
Another post-apocalyptic world. The survivors adapt by evolving another bestial form. If that form is big and strong — and if they can pay their way– they may join the ranks of nobles. The rest of them live on the fringes. We follow a trio of women who fall in the latter group.

I loved this one for several reasons. One, its plot deviated from all the AI and alien stuff. Two, it had the right quantity of scifi and UF. Three, the women didn’t choose to fight each other but came together to kick ass. Win-win!

A Chase Beyond the Storms: ☆☆
An excerpt from the third book in The Dandelion Dynasty Series. We meet a ship full of people who are trying to outrace their enemies and don’t have the resources to mount a direct full-scale attack.

It lacked the smooth flow that the short stories are told in — one big reason why I fell in love with them. But since I haven’t yet the series, I can’t say more.

The Hidden Girl: ☆☆☆☆
The titular short about an old woman who steals girls and trains them to become assassins. The said assassins can move between dimensions and do all sorts of cool ninja stuff. But the last girl balks at murdering a target who seems like an honorable man to her.

Very Raʾs al-Ghūl type of thinking from the old woman who has the girls kill just to add to the chaos of an already chaotic world — there’s the matter of money too, sure. But I loved the Kill Bill-esque descriptions and the poetic language.

Seven Birthdays: ☆☆
A mother who is often too busy, trying to save the world. A daughter who feels neglected as a child but understands her mother better when she grows up.

I found the story confusing to follow, especially the events at the end.

The Message: ☆☆☆
Ancient civilizations leave behind messages. A man tries to preserve them before all evidences of it are erased to make way for a new colony/civilization. His daughter — whom he finds out about too late — joins him on one of these trips. Together, they decipher a cryptic message unable to overcome their curiosity.

I liked it but found the ending depressing.

Cutting: ☆☆☆
A poem about a brotherhood of monks who cut parts out of a holy book to preserve it.

I liked how the cutting was both a religious ritual and yet potentially completely changed the message of a sacred text. After all, that is what many of us do: follow the teachings that are in our favor and ignore the ones that aren’t. We may not physically cut them out but that is what our selectivity is doing. However, I’d have loved the poem more if I knew which book it was from.

This is my first book from Netgalley and Ken Liu, and I’m so glad I requested it.

If Ken Liu decides to write full fledged novels of any one of these stories/all of these stories I would read them all. I was honestly upset when they would end... but I guess that’s the beauty of the short story collection.

I loved Ken Liu's sci-fi/fantasy short story collection The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories and was so excited when I heard about this next collection coming out. Liu has a unique way of blending the historical, futuristic, and fantastical, transcending genres; I especially loved the stories with cultural influences.

My favourites from this collection:

• "Ghost Days" follows three characters who are connected 400 years apart by an ancient artifact:
- Nova Pacifica, 2313 - Ona (an alien) is given a human artifact to present about for school.
- Connecticut, 1989 - Fred Ho and Carrie Wynne attend a high school Halloween dance.
- Hong Kong, 1905 - William and his father prepare for Yu Lan (Ghost Festival).

• In "Maxwell's Demon," a Japanese-American physicist is released from the Tule Lake War Relocation Center to work as a double agent in Japan during WWII.

• "Byzantine Empathy" explores using blockchain and virtual reality as social technologies to generate empathy but also commodify pain. (I can see how some people could potentially find this story a bit more technical than their usual taste, but this story also tackles very relevant moral questions. For example, the challenges in this story can be applied to the topic of trauma porn, which has been discussed widely in the bookstagram and publishing communities lately.)

• In "The Message," a xenoarchaeologist explores an extinct alien civilization and reconnects with his estranged daughter. (To be adapted by the team that brought Ted Chiang's "Story Of Your Life" to life in Arrival!)

Amongst the stories in this collection are three that make a novelette--"The Gods Will Not Be Chained," "The Gods Will Not Be Slain," "The Gods Have Not Died In Vain"--and those made my favourites as well. They explore the idea of singularity, which involves the fusion of man and machine by consciousness uploading, introducing a human vs. post-human world.

Some concepts in the novelette were explored in other short stories in the collection as well, and these were interspersed between the three parts of the novelette, so the three parts were not placed in the collection consecutively.

Around this point in the collection (the middle), a few stories blurred and became repetitive. I don't mind exploring the same themes, especially when they're explored in different ways that add complexity, but there were some stories that I found much meatier and others that were only meaningful to me as bonuses in a collection but that I probably wouldn't have been invested in if they stood alone, though there's definitely potential for that and I would love to explore those ideas more deeply.

That said, this is a collection, so perhaps that's an unfair criterion. But if every short story in a collection could stand on its own, that would really be quite exceptional.

(So in summary, the middle of the collection was a bit of a muddle for me, but the novelette at the core of the middle was super interesting. The stories in the first third and last third were the easiest for me to distinguish; 3 of my 4 favourites were in the first third, and the 4th favourite was in the last third.)

This is a collection of short stories. Both fantasy and sci-fi.

I enjoyed the stories but there is a depressed feeling to the majority. There are good and not so good stories but overall it's worth a read.

This was a very well constructed short story collection. I enjoyed a lot of the individual stories, but enjoyed even further that many of them were set in the same world as each other, or were continuations of each other. At one point I was thinking, hm, interesting choice to use the same name for a character. OH that IS the same character. Should have been more obvious with the titles, but for me that was a fun unexpected twist to the collection to get multiple snapshots of the same characters as they progressed.

This collection focused a lot on technology and our interactions with it today, and there were many aspects that felt relevant and interesting. There also is a nice mix of Chinese influence too, which would would expect with Liu's writing background.

I requested and received a copy of this book for honest review, thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and author.

This was an incredible collection of mostly previously published work, primarily SF with a couple fantasy items thrown in. It being Liu there are obvious linguistic nods throughout the whole collection, but also a patchwork of similar themes explored throughout – family bonds in odd time scales pop up frequently, societies grappling with dystopic conditions versus singularity as well. For me the majority of stories contained are 5-star near perfection, however the collection as a whole maybe felt like it should have been edited of a couple stories (including the title story) that just feel totally disconnected from what could have been a thematically cohesive collection – or maybe I’m just not quite smart enough for some of these. It also contains a short excerpt from Dandelion Dynasty Book 3, which I am sure everyone out there is hyped to check out.

Separate from the individual stories there is also a triptych of stories spread through the collection - The Gods Will Not Be Chained, The Gods Will Not Be Slain, and The Gods Have Not Died In Vain. This trio really could have been released as a novella, but they also have wonderful interplay with the themes of other stories, so it makes sense how they are broken up. The story follows a young girl who discovers there are ghosts in the machine, and they speak to her via emoji. There is a brilliant storytelling approach mixing standard narrative, emoji conversations, and news briefings (bulleted lists of headlines) that make for something unique.


-------------------------------------


Ghost days - Snippets of different lives. Genetically engineered plant-human children learn dead computer languages to honor the human past they are completely cut off from. A young Chinese man who came to America with parents as refugees around Tiananmen Square, has an honest conversation with his date's father. A forger of items in nearer modern times.

Maxwell’s Demon - A prisoner in Japanese-American internment camp is coerced to renounce her citizenship in order to serve her country. A very powerful depiction of identity and home.

The Reborn - Reverse alien abduction, partial memory wipes, and anti-alien terrorist plot. We are each composed of many men.

Thoughts and Prayers - The perspectives of family members of a girl who is a victim in a mass shooting. They all feel digital memories of her aren't enough for them, but they might be able to make a difference if shared. A chilling look at social media and online culture. (If this isn’t made into an episode of Love Death an Robots they have made a serious mistake.)

Byzantine Empathy - A cryptocurrency/blockchain powered direct charitable donation program is launched (seems similar to Kiva, but crypto), VR experiences of project applicants submitted are causing ethical disagreements from two women, former college roommates, who are now on opposing sides in prominent positions. Leads with the tech, then builds into a philosophical argument of extreme rationality versus extreme empathy.

Staying Behind - The world is breaking down into a chaotic dystopia, people are escaping it by uploading their consciousness. Told in fragments of family life as they try to retain some normalcy that eventually turns into historical re-enactment and stagnation in absence of a world where progress is possible.

Real Artists - A woman has dreamed of working at Semaphore her whole life, then she finally gets a look behind the curtain.

Altogether Elsewhere Vast Herds of Reindeer, Memories of My Mother & Seven Birthdays - Explorations of parenthood in distorted time.

Dispatches from the Cradle: the Hermit - Forty Eight Hours in the Sea of Massachusetts: A tech giant quits her job to settle as a hermit and poet floating above the drowned Boston area.

Grey Rabbit, Crimson Mare, Coal Leopard - In a society where shapeshifters hold the power, the least expected are most prepared to stand up to corruption.

The Hidden Girl - A girl is raised as a thief and assassin by a mysterious nun.

The Message - A parent and his child show up alone to research and understand an abandoned alien city before it is destroyed.

Cutting - An erasure poem of monks cutting away their holy book.

With "The Hidden Girl and Other Stories", Ken Liu once again proves he's one of the top short story writers in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. From AI to climate change, the stories collected in this volume are largely preoccupied with the fallout of modern humanity's choices. The true standout of the book though, is the title story "Hidden Girl". A rare fantasy in this collection, the story focuses on a young Chinese girl stolen from her home by a highly skilled assassin seeking to train her to follow in her footsteps. While firmly rooted in Chinese fantasy conventions, Liu brings his gift for the unexpected to the story and transforms what in other hands would be a simply tale into an imaginative and unforgettable experience. All around, this is a solid short fiction collection that both Ken Liu fans and lover of the SF/F genre will enjoy.

I heard a lot of good things about Ken Liu and I'm more than happy that I got this arc that is my introduction to his work.
I liked the style of writing and I think that most of the stories are fascinating.
I hope to read soon other works by this author.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.