Ken Liu

From award-winning author Ken Liu comes his much anticipated second volume of short stories. Ken Liu is one of the most lauded short story writers of our time. This collection includes a selection of his science fiction and fantasy stories from the last five years—sixteen of his best—plus a new novelette. In addition to these seventeen selections, The Hidden Girl and Other Stories also features an excerpt from book three in the Dandelion Dynasty series, The Veiled Throne.

The Hidden Girl and Other Stories

Cat Tang

Not my favorite collection by Ken Liu, but one of my favorite collections overall still.

Top Two:
Byzantine Empathy, for a beautiful depiction of rational and emotional morality
The Reborn, for a fascinating take on "growth" and the importance of memory

Great foreword as well.

linda

This book really grew on me; recently read a couple of articles about AI from Eric Schmidt, Henry Kissinger, and Daniel Huttenlocher, and Kai-fu Lee's AI Superpowers. Ken Liu really captures the ethical impacts of AI through fiction far better than they can in a nonfiction book or article. I think that's the beauty of storytelling - the reader is able to insert himself/herself into situations, and in that way, the events become more vivid. The singularity, AGI, surveillance capitalism are no longer hypothetical circumstances; the reader experiences the impacts of those developments vicariously. Starting to realize now that sci-fi is the best medium we can use to think about the future of technology.

jam 🍯

If you have read The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories and The Grace of Kings, I would say this collection more closely follows his writing style from The Grace of Kings. Though it is a compilation of stand alone stories, there is a triptych of stories in the middle - "The Gods Will Not Be Chained," "The Gods Will Not Be Slain," and "The Gods Have Not Died in Vain" that are interspersed with other stories that are loosely in the same universe and fit together to form a meta-narrative that Liu attributes to his editor, Joe Monti.

Looking at the collection comprehensively from the start, the initial stories are rife with exposition, making them feel more like story stems and world building exercises than short stories in their own right. For me, the stories do not really "bloom" until 1/3 of the way into the book, when they are strengthened by the meta-narrative. My favorite stories from this collection were (in no particular order): "Grey Rabbit, Crimson Mare, Coal Leopard," "The Message," and "Staying Behind." The last story, "Cutting," is more of an erasure poem than short story (strictly speaking, genre wise), but one I found lovely and pleasurable to read.

I was lucky enough to buy this book during Liu's book tour in March 2020 and hear him speak. At the event, he mentioned how his writing is meant to be more allegorical than strictly predictive of future technologies, and I would keep that in mind when reading some of the stories based around the Singularity. I would recommend this book to people who are interested in reading more science fiction/fantasy, with an emphasis on the fantasy - despite the technobabble in some of the stories, I wouldn't classify this as "hard sci-fi," making it a suitable place for those curious about the genre. 

Liu also mentioned that he purposefully puts stories he considers divisive/challenging at the front of his books to act as a sieve or filter for his audience, because he doesn't want readers to waste their time on books they won't enjoy. While I find that an interesting practice, I would encourage readers to keep going, because I enjoyed the book progressively more as I read.

Sahi K

Average Rating 
: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.9

After really enjoying Ken Liu’s previous short story anthology a lot, there was no way I was letting this ARC go and I jumped at the opportunity to be able to review it. This is another collection of fascinating stories by the author, most of them sci-fi/dystopian but a couple of them are fantasy as well. There are also multiple stories which are interconnected but told in no particular order, so it was fun trying to find the connections between them. 

One theme that I found very dominant in this collection is that of climate change, how we are at a precipice and have to do something substantial from right now if we want to save our planet; but also that as the situation gets worse, all the problems we currently have with wealth inequality and refugees and developed countries exploiting resources disproportionately will only get more exacerbated. This also means that many of the stories in this collection are tragic and depressing, so I would definitely recommend reading them when you are in the right mood and also maybe not binge read the whole thing at once. I would definitely recommend it though, because the concepts are very interesting and the writing for the most part is excellent. 


  Ghost Days


Spanning multiple planets and timelines, this was a nice story about memories and heritage, and how we all carry the legacy of our previous generations within us and why it’s important to preserve their knowledge.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5


  Maxwell’s Demon


Told through a POV of a Japanese American young woman who is sent to Japan as a spy during WWII, this one has a bit of supernatural elements but mostly it’s about the futility of war and how it twists everyone’s morality. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5


  The Reborn


I really don’t think I have much to say about this story. It was interesting to read and a bit tragic too, but don’t think I can explain it. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️


  Thoughts and Prayers


CW: mass shooting, online trolling and harassment

As soon as I saw the title of this story, I could guess what it’s about. It’s about the effects of grief on family members of victims, how each person tries to cope in their own ways and how that might drive them apart. There is also some interesting discussion on activism, politicizing grief and the incessant trolling that comes along with it - I’m still not sure if I agree with all the points made but it’s a lot to think about. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


  Byzantine Empathy


Against a backdrop of a technologically advanced (but current) world with heavy emphasis on VR and cryptocurrencies, this story is all about empathy vs rationality, how do we decide who needs help, and how even being immersed in the pain of others might invoke cynicism in people instead of empathy because we have lost our trust in geopolitics. I can’t really explain the elaborate discussions that happen in this story but it’s very thought provoking and I think everyone should give it a read. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


  The Gods Will Not Be Chained


With the concept of digital immortality, this story tries to explore what would happen if corporations tried to digitize the brains of their dead genius employees for profit and these highly technological brains decided to takeover. A very terrifying tale but definitely thought provoking.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


  Staying Behind


This is almost like a continuation of the previous one, but years later when the technically dead/digitally conscious have taken over (an event called Singularity) and the rest of the living world is just scraping for survival. This was way too depressing and scary to read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️


  Real Artists


Another tale of high technological advancement, this time in the making of movies. I really don’t want to spoil this one at all because I thought the concept was amazing, thought provoking and almost felt like it’s a possible future for us and wouldn’t that be too sad. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


  The Gods Will Not Be Slain


This is a direct continuation of the story “The gods will not be chained” and it’s such a scary and plausible story, what can happen if digital sentiences decide that they want to burn down humanity and plunge it into war, how fragile geopolitics is and how everyone is literally on the brink of war while sitting on a mass pile of nuclear weapons. Really brings some of what’s happening in our current world into perspective. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


  Altogether Elsewhere, Vast Herds of Reindeer


Years after Singularity where only digital beings seem to be existent on our planet, this is the story of how relationships develop even among them, and also how different a three dimensional earth might seem like to a digital being who has never been a human before. Fascinating story. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


  The Gods Have Not Died in Vain


This story a sequel of “The gods will not be slain” is more about how the idea of singularity came to be, how the incessant wars and scarcity of resources may have led people to decide that giving up the body to live digitally might be the only way to survive. There are a lot of interesting points made in the story that leave us with more questions about life. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5


  Memories of My Mother


This was a very very short story about a mother’s love for her child and to what lengths she will go to get the little time to spend with her daughter. It could have been more emotional but I wasn’t feeling it. 

⭐️⭐️.5


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


In a world centuries after climate change has destroyed most of it, where successful countries have managed to migrate to other planets but the poorer people try to survive in ever harsh environments on the ravaged earth - this story is almost like a scary mirror of what our future might be if we don’t start taking decisive action from now on. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


  Grey Rabbit, Crimson Mare, Coal Leopard


Set in a dystopian fantasy world, this was a tale about how power and greed corrupts, leading to the protectors becoming predators themselves - which in turn means that those who are poor or considered prey must rise up in arms and protect themselves. This was a fascinating read and one that I felt could make a bigger story. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


  A Chase Beyond the Storms - An excerpt from The Veiled Throne, The Dandelion Dynasty, book three


Not reviewing this excerpt because I haven’t read this series yet. 


  The Hidden Girl


Set in a fantasy world inspired by 8th century China, this is a story of a young female assassin who’s been trained to kill but starts questioning if her loyalty to her Teacher must supersede her own morality. A lovely read but what made it special were the action sequences which reminded me a lot of the movie Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


  Seven Birthdays


Another story interconnected to the previous ones related to Singularity, this is about one woman’s mission to find a solution to humanity’s problems, but ultimately just be able to spend more time with her mother. I can’t say I understood much of the story in the second half. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️


  The Message


A story about legacy, how even dead civilizations leave messages for anyone who might come eons later; also a tale of a father finally getting to know his daughter - this story was beautiful and emotional but also tragic. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


  Cutting


I’m not sure I can explain exactly what this story was about - but it was something about looking through the unnecessary stuff and finding the truth underneath. 

⭐️⭐️.5

Jennifer

Being a STEM major, I enjoy discovering stories inspired by the subject that I study. The Hidden Girl and Other Stories is a futuristic collection of Sci-Fi short stories inspired by various branches of modern physics. One thing that I enjoyed with these short stories is the way an author incorporates the speculative elements to explore human nature: something that's done pretty well in this particular anthology.

Quotes I enjoyed:


  "See how the universe is straightforward, but to understand it with the intellect, to turn it into language, requires a twist, a sharp turn? Between the World and the Word, there lies an extra curve."


  "The pure beauty of mathematics and the landscapes of the imagination are very lovely, but they are not real."


  "We must be open to change, to adaption, to seeking a new path in a sea of fragility."


Something that I enjoyed about this sort of writing style: it's eloquent, thought-provoking, and it also allows non-STEM readers to connect to the story (through the exploration of the human themes).

On the flipside, I think The Hidden Girl still falls prey of the common short story anthology pitfalls: while there were some very memorable & engaging short stories in the collection, the quality of the short stories aren't always very consistent. Anoher short story pitfall is that there's simply not enough pages for me to sink my teeth into the characters and the worldbuilding.

These few issues aside, The Hidden Girl and Other Stories is nevertheless a modern & refreshing collection of speculative short stories. Incorporating the frontiers of maths & physics with notion of humanity, Sci-Fi enthusiasts will definitely find at least a few short stories that resonate.

N.B. This book contains following content warnings: grief / loss of loved ones, death, and violence 

(3.5 stars out of 5)

Ashley

Thank you to Saga Press and Simon and Schuster for this ARC of 'The Hidden Girl' by Ken Liu.

3.5/5

Short story collections are not my go-to. I feel like that is a needed caveat when considering my rating. And while I know most who give half ratings round up, I couldn't justify it for myself. This was my first experience with Ken Liu's writings.

Overall, I enjoyed this collection. The title story, The Hidden Girl, was, in my opinion, the most interesting. The one that pulled me in, took me along, and left me wanting to read more. It made me wish that there was a full novel about The Hidden Girl, her teacher, and if / how she might have crossed paths with the characters in the future. 

For me, the stories pertaining to what happened after AI technology had been created and human consciousnesses had lived within the network for centuries was where Liu shined the most. The politics behind whether or not it is right or wrong for humans to essentially download themselves into a network to live forever is one I've read or watched before. But the exploration of other planets, the building of worlds, that was where I found myself most invested into the story.

In the second to last story, Messages, where James and his daughter Maggie come together for the first time since her birth and then explore a planet with dead aliens, trying to decipher the messages left behind. This story wasn't about AI, though there was an AI in it. It wasn't really about aliens or uncharted territories or new planets, though all of those things were featured. It was a story about a broken family trying to find a way to come together again. It was beautiful.

There is also a reoccurring theme of a deceased or distant parent within the these stories and I honestly am not sure if that was an intended theme, if there was a purpose behind it, or if I just happened to notice it. 

Ultimately, I rounded down because though I enjoyed the collection overall, it didn't really change my opinion about works of short stories? Would I read a full-length novel by Ken Liu, absolutely. And I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of short stories in general.

Ben Nathan

An excellent collection of stories. He definitely answers the question that so many novels this past year or two have asked "What do I do if I have an idea for a world but there really isn't a novel in there?" The others chose "write a mediocre novel with no real story" while Liu chose "write a bunch of freakin' awesome interrelated stories in that world." There were a couple I was only ok on, but the upload ones were other level good.

Jeremy Cote

Reviewing a book like this isn't easy, since there are so many smaller units of story contained within. Still, I thought that Liu had a great diversity of stories here. Many were fun to read, some were strange, but all were done well. My personal favourite was "The Message", which had the perfect layers of metaphor and action weaved in.

I haven't read Liu's other collection of stories, but I'm curious to do so now.

The Hidden Girl and Other Stories

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