The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories

De: Ken Liu

Narrado por: Corey Brill, Joy Osmanski

Featured in the Netflix series Love, Death & Robots

Bestselling author Ken Liu selects his multiple award-winning stories for a groundbreaking collection—including a brand-new piece exclusive to this volume.

With his debut novel, The Grace of Kings, taking the literary world by storm, Ken Liu now shares his finest short fiction in The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories. This mesmerizing collection features many of Ken’s award-winning and award-finalist stories, including: “The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary” (Finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Theodore Sturgeon Awards), “Mono No Aware” (Hugo Award winner), “The Waves” (Nebula Award finalist), “The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species” (Nebula and Sturgeon Award finalists), “All the Flavors” (Nebula Award finalist), “The Litigation Master and the Monkey King” (Nebula Award finalist), and the most awarded story in the genre’s history, “The Paper Menagerie” (The only story to win the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards).

Insightful and stunning stories that plumb the struggle against history and betrayal of relationships in pivotal moments, this collection showcases one of our greatest and original voices.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"I know this is going to sound hyperbolic, but when I’m reading Ken Liu’s stories, I feel like I’m reading a once-in-a-generation talent. I’m in awe." (Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet)

Questions of identity galvanize the 15 stories in this outstanding collection of fantastical fiction, giving them extraordinary gravity and resonance. In "Good Hunting," the human companion of a supernatural creature from Chinese folklore contrives an ingenious way to help her adapt to a steampunk future. The title tale (which swept the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards), in which a mother expresses love for her son through the magically animated origami animals she creates, is one of several in which the author uses Chinese-American experience to explore how all individuals assimilate into society. Whether writing about Asian culture and history, as in "The Literomancer" and "All the Flavors," or extraterrestrial civilizations, as in "The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species" and "An Advanced Reader's Picture Book of Comparative Cognition," Liu (The Grace of Kings) universalizes the experiences of his characters, who realize at some point, as the protagonist of "Mono No Aware" does, that "we are defined by the places that we hold in the web of others' lives." Gracefully written and often profoundly moving, these stories are high-water marks of contemporary speculative fiction. (Mar.) (Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW)

These remarkable stories highlight Liu’s themes of family, love, and politics and gathered in one collection pack an even bigger punch. Those who revere shorter speculative works will definitely want this book. (*STARRED REVIEW, Library Journal)

Emotionally unpredictable, Liu's stories take off in unexpected directions and arrive at destinations both startling and satisfying. (Shelf Awareness, *STARRED REVIEW)

Liu’s wondrous tales eloquently explore the place where ordinary and the extraordinary meet. (The Washington Post)

Selected as “14 of the Most Buzzed About Books of 2016” (BuzzFeed)

There is a dark and sometimes shocking edge to some of these stories, but nearly all are provocative, and several are brilliant. (The Chicago Tribune)

Liu's book compiles brilliant stories written in several different, overlapping modes, a technically dazzling collection of compulsively readable narratives, presenting characters with agonizing moral dilemmas and never forgetting the heart. (The Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee))

Liu’s talent in evoking atmosphere and culture make these tales more than stories – they’re journeys. If you’re looking to dream of another world, or reflect on our own, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of The Paper Menagerie. (Muggle.net)

Great group of stories

I picked this up because I saw the love death and robots sticker. Each story was great unto itself and together made for a happy listening exp

Fantastic collection, great stories!

Ken Liu is an incredible talent and mesmerizing storyteller. His tales remind me of the creativity of Phillip K. Dick.

I wished Audible listed the chapter NAMES in the listings, instead of just the chapter numbers.

1. Introduction
2. The Book Making Habits of Select Species
3. State Change
4. The Perfect Match
5. Good Hunting
6. The Literomancer
7. Simulacrum
8. The Regular, Part 1
9. The Regular, Part 2
10. The Paper Menagerie
11. An Advanced Reader’s Picture Book of Comparative Cognition
12. The Waves
13. Mono no aware
14. All The Flavors, Part 1
15. All The Flavors, Part 2
16. A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel
17. The Litigation Master and the Monkey King
18. The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary, Part 1
19. The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary, Part 2

Strong and powerful

I found this book refreshing and engaging. I can't wait to read it again. I'd definitely call it a triumph!

Fantastic!

Amazingly done and also an artful and poignant look into Chinese and Chinese-American culture. An extremely significant work of art.

The Ken Liu Touch

When you mix culture with science and add human experience to it. Ken Liu happens.

Everything I read science fiction for!

While I like a good space battle as well as the next person, I ultimately read science fiction for the ideas. This book is filled with wonderfully crafted stories which examine fascinating questions. What does it do to the human heart when it is possible to suppress emotions? If it is possible to go back in time and witness history, should we do it? What is our real connection to the past?

Be patient and savor these gems. Great stories. Great characters. Loving performances.

Brilliant.

Outstanding

Picked this up after listening to the author’s Audible Original, “The Armies of Those I Love.” I really enjoy Ken Liu’s prose, and these short stories (more often than not) are a wonderful blend of heart, unique ideas, history, and sci-fi/fantasy. Also, both narrators were fantastic!

Outstanding short stories

Some of the most fascinating, insightful and beautifully written sets of short stories I’ve read to date. Nearly every story shines and left me thinking about something new, and they’re brought to life by the two narrators in this audiobook. Many are also told in unique styles and formats. Would absolutely recommend if you’re a fan of science fiction, historical fiction, or unique cultural insights and perspectives. If I see a physical copy on the shelf somewhere, I’m adding it to my collection.

Pretty good!

There were several stories I really loved and some that were just Ok. Two Thumbs up

Imaginative, thought provoking, cheesy

I'm impressed. Fifteen stories, each set in its own richly developed world, unique and yet just like ours in the most important ways. Thought-provoking questions.

And yet many stories suffer from the same flaw: just when the world is developed, the story seems to be told, and things are winding down a new details pops in, unbelievable and disjointed. This "there's one more thing" is always too unexpected and just a little too cheesy to fit with the rest of the story. The grandfather reveal in The Man Who Ended History is one example, but several stories contain this. I feel like this devalues the otherwise very well written stories and wish the author spent a bit more time integrating these plot points into the stories.

Still, the stories made me think and it was interesting to explore each new world. I am still recommending this book to friends.