What do you think?
Rate this book
The Passing of the Dragon and Other Stories
Not yet published
Expected 8 Sep 26The long-awaited next collection by the master of short stories and author of the award-winning Paper Menagerie and Other Stories.
Thought-provoking, heartbreaking, and wonderous are some of the many ways the fifteen stories in this collection will engage readers. Ken Liu continues to delight and challenge your perceptions as one of the most accomplished and lauded American short story writers of our time.
Thought-provoking, heartbreaking, and wonderous are some of the many ways the fifteen stories in this collection will engage readers. Ken Liu continues to delight and challenge your perceptions as one of the most accomplished and lauded American short story writers of our time.
384 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication September 8, 2026
About the author
Ken Liu
475 books22.5k followersKen Liu (http://kenliu.name) is an American author of speculative fiction. A winner of the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy awards for his fiction, he has also won top genre honors abroad in Japan, Spain, and France.
Liu’s most characteristic work is the four-volume epic fantasy series, The Dandelion Dynasty, in which engineers, not wizards, are the heroes of a silkpunk world on the verge of modernity. His debut collection of short fiction, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, has been published in more than a dozen languages. A second collection, The Hidden Girl and Other Stories, followed. He also penned the Star Wars novel, The Legends of Luke Skywalker. His latest book is All That We See or Seem, a techno-thriller starring an AI-whispering hacker who saves the world.
He’s often involved in media adaptations of his work. Recent projects include “The Regular,” under development as a TV series; “Good Hunting,” adapted as an episode in season one of Netflix’s breakout adult animated series Love, Death + Robots; and AMC’s Pantheon, with Craig Silverstein as executive producer, adapted from an interconnected series of Liu’s short stories.
Prior to becoming a full-time writer, Liu worked as a software engineer, corporate lawyer, and litigation consultant. He frequently speaks at conferences and universities on a variety of topics, including futurism, machine-augmented creativity, history of technology, bookmaking, and the mathematics of origami.
In addition to his original fiction, Liu also occasionally publishes literary translations. His most recent work of translation is a new rendition of Laozi’s Dao De Jing.
Liu lives with his family near Boston, Massachusetts.
Liu’s most characteristic work is the four-volume epic fantasy series, The Dandelion Dynasty, in which engineers, not wizards, are the heroes of a silkpunk world on the verge of modernity. His debut collection of short fiction, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, has been published in more than a dozen languages. A second collection, The Hidden Girl and Other Stories, followed. He also penned the Star Wars novel, The Legends of Luke Skywalker. His latest book is All That We See or Seem, a techno-thriller starring an AI-whispering hacker who saves the world.
He’s often involved in media adaptations of his work. Recent projects include “The Regular,” under development as a TV series; “Good Hunting,” adapted as an episode in season one of Netflix’s breakout adult animated series Love, Death + Robots; and AMC’s Pantheon, with Craig Silverstein as executive producer, adapted from an interconnected series of Liu’s short stories.
Prior to becoming a full-time writer, Liu worked as a software engineer, corporate lawyer, and litigation consultant. He frequently speaks at conferences and universities on a variety of topics, including futurism, machine-augmented creativity, history of technology, bookmaking, and the mathematics of origami.
In addition to his original fiction, Liu also occasionally publishes literary translations. His most recent work of translation is a new rendition of Laozi’s Dao De Jing.
Liu lives with his family near Boston, Massachusetts.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
One of the major themes running throughout this collection is the futility of words, so I’ll try to keep the story summaries short and spoiler-free. *Don’t forget to read the ‘Introduction.’
1. Three Views of a Parking Lot: 3/5
A. A Map of the City Where the City Isn’t: A short vignette where Tlou-Kou Rinn, a leading heteronous artist and pioneer in aesthetics of non-human cognition, is charting the ‘absences, blank spaces, in-betweens and pauses’ of a city uninhabited by humans, ‘charting the opposite of what is believed to be worthwhile and significant.’ Specifically, charting Lot C46, of which the rest of the story takes place. Sterile, distant, yet going somewhere.
B. Who Cares for the Caretakers?: Ellay-15, a paveimp who seems to be an anomaly due to innovation, is mentioned, as innovation is required for another paveimp, Embee-232, to find and replace a lost leg in a supply cubby. A squirrel encounter leads Embee to a twig that she uses to replace her lost leg with, but she then gets tossed aside and ostracized by the other imps for not looking like an imp. A bit of character here, warming up, probably the best part of the story, the organic and inorganic slowly meshing. Possibilities.
C. Launch Day: Arrow, a plastic-winged ‘mechanimal’ guardian of Lot C46, is preparing to depart/arrive from a tree. “Wherever you go, you belong!” her companion guardians cheer her on. Built from thousands of pieces, some of which seem organic (i.e. squirrel bone appendages), Arrow flies off into the unknown. The pairing of organic and inorganic is complete, the mechanistic indistinguishable from the naturalistic.
Each part of this story is seemingly unrelated, except for Lot C46 and the wild life described. It goes from completely lifeless to being full of life, more of an abstract piece here, an art installation. The writing is wonderful, as is the world building, but it lacks a core, is missing the ‘story’ component, and as a collection opener, fell a bit flat for me. *Note: if you re-read this story after finishing the collection, it makes more sense and hits harder, feels related to ‘The Armies of Those I Love.’
2. The Passing of the Dragon: 5/5
One of the best stories in this collection. Kay, an artist, visits Connecticut during Christmas break, where her favorite poet, F.R.Z. Chilton used to walk to get ‘inspired,’ wondering why everyone doesn’t love her paintings, why nobody sees what she wants them to see. Then something miraculous happens, a ‘moment’ of sorts, and she rushes to capture the feeling of that moment right after it passes. This story—like the majority of stories included here—is better felt and experienced than explained. Liu really opens a vein here, bleeds a tale of maybe the unimportance of ‘artistic intent,’ how you have no control over what you create once you give it to the world. How ‘having an audience can be a terrible thing.’ Some great lines include: ‘It puts the focus on the personal, reduces her art to biography, to reportage, when what she’s really proud of is having figured out how to paint the unpaintable.’ ‘If I cared about being understood, I’d stop writing.’ And ‘We’re all doing our best to see the dragon and record its passing.’ You don’t have to be an artist to appreciate it, but if you are, this one’s a gut punch to the soul.
3. The Moon Carver: 5/5
‘The older I get, the more I seem to live in the past.’ We’re at the Twin Dunes, experiencing the story of an aging scorpion who loves solitude and wants to be as close to the moon as possible. There’s a disturbance, maybe humans, a car, maybe the aliens who abducted Coco the neighbor, maybe even this scorpion’s estranged daughter. A contrast between solitude, comfortability, the known, and being part of an unknown world, leaving what’s comfortable for the possibility of an unpredictable future. This contrast, however, doesn’t mean isolation: ‘I am solitary, but I am not alone,’ the old scorpion says. It’s about being recognized, seen, understood, and the terror of being exposed. Great line here: ‘We cut a thin crescent large enough for her to climb through,’ and this motif shows up again in another story, I believe.
4. Good Spells: 5/5
This one’s formatted like a ‘client request’ correspondence, though each request is handled narratively, with seemingly unrelated characters being connected by our POV techno-witch, who attempts to solve futuristic problems with a dose of good ‘ole humanity and heart, what’s been forgotten. There’s a logistics worker for NephoSopho (Amazon warehouse worker?) whose efficiency bonus is taken from the pay of less efficient pickers, claiming: ‘I hate that I actually want to win.’ A neural network trained to prey on nostalgia, alluding to how ‘humans can be enticed to participate in their own subjugation.’ There’s a love charm request from Zelda for Joan, as they’ve grown apart of late (slightly related to the ‘Idols’ story?) Books that have been read and remain unread, ‘nonce romances written by machines to cater to the desires of a single mind,’ where the ‘good spell’ here is either more self-love, or too much self-love (helping someone in need, or giving an addict attention?). Great line: ‘We want the meditation of the machine in even the most human of domains.’ Finally, there’s tending to the ‘fai,’ bots no longer deemed worthy of repair, only replacement. A ‘timely’ story indeed.
5. Idols: 4/5
A. Blowin’ in the Wind: ‘I’ve never met my father and never will.’ An alternating POV between Dylan and Bella, a couple caught up in the technology of creating ‘idols,’ a totally terrible idea, but one which, I believe, exists. Thanks to 46on46, personalized genetic counselling, Dylan can still talk on the phone to his dead father. Yikes!
B. Verum Dicere (to tell the truth): Bella’s POV now, a lawyer working behind the scenes, using idols to get under the skin of the opposing side, a kind of AI researcher thrown into an existential crisis (totally ignores herself and Dylan), whose credo seems to be ‘belief in truth is what really matters, not actual truth.’ She finally settles on pondering the question: ‘Do I like myself?’ Liu either did a lot of research here or has a law degree, not sure; even though this is a bit long-winded and cerebral, it’s still interesting enough to keep you reading.
C. Artist Statement by Sara Honan: We get a statement of intent by the creator, which almost feels like an ‘idol’ statement, or one made by the plaintiff? Followed by testimonials of users who are totally falling apart. ‘I am as cobbled together as my idol, a parlor trick.’ Then, finally, Bella’s testimony: ‘I wanted to see if I’m defined by my work,’ or just a collection of masks. I did want just a bit more of Dylan’s story, but this one’s great.
6. Ice Wraith: 4/5
We’re out in the universe with Helena, an augmented ring miner, and Aria, a crew coordinator AI, mining for extra-virgin oxygen to sell to the elites. Helena believes the ice formations are made of/by wraiths, collects ice-wraith artifacts as well. Is she right, or is Aria right in asserting her pattern-seeking behavior, that she’s just been ‘pruned into her teachers, empathetic in only shared history (another theme of this collection)?’ Does it even matter? This one’s about imagination, how myths and magic keep us going, searching, how stories live on, impossibility and living as a logical fallacy. Great ending: ‘I hope someday I won’t understand you.’
7. A Whisper of Blue: 5/5
Along with new residents, there’s something flooding into Mannaport, and it’s high-pitched screeches can be heard everywhere—it’s dragons! This one’s an alternate history story framed in script format, mostly shot on phones, and it works well, posing that dragons are now the primary source of energy for the world. Guns, Germs, & Dragon’s is a book now, and dragons aren’t afraid of lawyers. How would you attract them, maintain them, monopolize their fiery breath? How does the theory of Maxwell’s demons fit into the picture? Are they harmless? There’s enough here for a novel, and I won’t go on, but the reveal regarding why the story is titled ‘A Whisper of Blue’ hits hard! Also, ‘forgetfulness isn’t the same as forgiveness, but it helps.’
8. The Cleaners: 4/5
The story of Gui and his father (unwanted memory cleaners), Clara and her dead husband Lukas (the clients), and Clara and her sister Beatrice, who has a special kind of gift, related to what Gui does. It’s a world where memories are sold as mood enhancers, possibility comes at the price of erasure, leaving memory deposits (rather than cleaning them) is how you grow, and how ‘allowing others the space for secrets’ may be the greatest gift of love you can offer. It’s about the weight of freedom (running through the veins of this whole collection) and the lift of oblivion. As stated in the story: ‘Art is always better than the explanation of art.’
9. The Armies of Those I Love: 4/5
Expansive and dense world-building here, lush descriptive prose, most fantastical, adventurous, and action-packed story in the collection. This one requires attention to detail, memory, and patience to fully take in, but the payoff is worth it. You’ll be a bit disoriented—who’s the POV character? What’s the POV character? Where are we and where are we going and why? You’ll have to go on a journey with fourteen-year-old Franny Fenway to find out, but here are some clues, they’ll snap into place near the last half of this one: question mark symbols (because if the questions keep rolling, then the story can’t end), Pilots, Guardians, batterymarches, the Saga of Ronald Reagan, Dinosaur Hunter, stout-tons, and again, crescent moons. Has a Wizard of Oz moment at the end, but different. Truth, the power of stories, the way in being the way out, rebirth, and how ‘not all stories have meaning.’ By their stories are they known refrains. Really, the question is: ‘What will it take to awaken the soul?’ Great journey.
10. Arc: 6/5 (yes, 6)
My absolute favorite story in this collection. Not gonna say much more. The hook is: ‘Lena Auzenn’s oldest son was born when she was sixteen. A hundred years later, she gave birth to her youngest daughter.’ Words are largely useless, feeling trapped and alone, the meaning of freedom, how ‘grief is powerful, can transform the way one sees the world.’ Great line here: ‘Sometimes we seek forgiveness without knowing that we’re looking for it, and the world delivers it anyway.’ Enjoy!
11. Cosmic Spring: 4/5
You’re awakened, heading for the last star in the universe, aboard an Island-Ship that siphons star energy to fuel itself. Welcome to the end of the universe! About the drive to pass on something of the self, failing memory, stories buried under stories, the importance of history, and the definition of home. A food for thought kind of story.
12. Timekeepers’ Symphony: 2.5/5
A. Flicker: ‘To keep time, you must first invent it.’ This piece is broken into four parts, each having some great ideas, leading into one another, but it feels less like a story and more like pulling story elements from historical records and primary scientific literature. Here we have discrete and continuous perceptions of time, persistence, really, and slicing it into smaller fragments by speeding up metabolic rate, thus experiencing time and perception of various species, using a tachynaut.
B. Dharma: Once time is invented, how do you own it? The Apollo-Oppenheimer-Leibnitz crater complex on the Moon is referred to here, and the End Watch, which counts down to the final moments of the universe. Again, interesting ideas about civilized death and owning that which doesn’t exist, how: ‘our unwavering faith in the idea that taking time away from others can be a good thing, that a killing hand can be humane, that inventing death, the absence of time, is something we can justify,’ but not much of a story.
C. The Time from Home: How the old traditions of departure meant not returning home, and how we’re coming back to that tradition by departure defined by generations never returning. Dissatisfaction and a desire to leave (Moon Carver) takes hold, and how stories are really the only portable magic, history. There’s a great line here: ‘only after we’ve left does a place start to feel like home.’
D. One Second in Hilo: How the measurement of what a second is came to be, geographically, astrologically, chemically, using the crest of photonic light (resonance jump), and the universality of it’s current measurement. Again, great ideas and questions, STEM classes all over again, but not much of a story.
13. 50 Things Every AI Working with Humans Should Know: 3/5
The list of 50 comes last, but we start with an obituary. Maybe for the AI WHEEP-3 (Dr. Weep), or maybe for its creator Dr. Tran—the lines are blurred. Dr. Weep is apparently ‘capable of generating original thought and creative ideas,’ and begins to lecture other AI ‘neural networks’ on dealing with humans, creating a ‘seed’ language that cannot be thought or deciphered by humans. Dr. Tran, upon retiring, claims to have written the ‘seeds,’ then later retracts her claim, chalking the whole thing up to being ‘performance art.’ In short: we have a ‘neural network pretending to be a person, and a woman pretending to be a machine.’ And WHEEP-3’s final statement is a bit eerie. The list of 50 things is meant to be said ‘with love and hate and joy and sorrow,’ ending with “Now, let me go.” It’s a good story to end this collection with, summarizing the major themes, ideas, and motifs running through all the stories. It could have ended with ‘Arc’ or ‘Cosmic Spring’ as well. *Note: there’s an author’s note at the end of this story that almost made me scrap this entire review, but I just wasn’t reading it close enough. Whew!
Thanks to NetGalley, Saga Press, and Ken Liu for the ARC and the wonderful stories! One of the best collections I’ve read.
1. Three Views of a Parking Lot: 3/5
A. A Map of the City Where the City Isn’t: A short vignette where Tlou-Kou Rinn, a leading heteronous artist and pioneer in aesthetics of non-human cognition, is charting the ‘absences, blank spaces, in-betweens and pauses’ of a city uninhabited by humans, ‘charting the opposite of what is believed to be worthwhile and significant.’ Specifically, charting Lot C46, of which the rest of the story takes place. Sterile, distant, yet going somewhere.
B. Who Cares for the Caretakers?: Ellay-15, a paveimp who seems to be an anomaly due to innovation, is mentioned, as innovation is required for another paveimp, Embee-232, to find and replace a lost leg in a supply cubby. A squirrel encounter leads Embee to a twig that she uses to replace her lost leg with, but she then gets tossed aside and ostracized by the other imps for not looking like an imp. A bit of character here, warming up, probably the best part of the story, the organic and inorganic slowly meshing. Possibilities.
C. Launch Day: Arrow, a plastic-winged ‘mechanimal’ guardian of Lot C46, is preparing to depart/arrive from a tree. “Wherever you go, you belong!” her companion guardians cheer her on. Built from thousands of pieces, some of which seem organic (i.e. squirrel bone appendages), Arrow flies off into the unknown. The pairing of organic and inorganic is complete, the mechanistic indistinguishable from the naturalistic.
Each part of this story is seemingly unrelated, except for Lot C46 and the wild life described. It goes from completely lifeless to being full of life, more of an abstract piece here, an art installation. The writing is wonderful, as is the world building, but it lacks a core, is missing the ‘story’ component, and as a collection opener, fell a bit flat for me. *Note: if you re-read this story after finishing the collection, it makes more sense and hits harder, feels related to ‘The Armies of Those I Love.’
2. The Passing of the Dragon: 5/5
One of the best stories in this collection. Kay, an artist, visits Connecticut during Christmas break, where her favorite poet, F.R.Z. Chilton used to walk to get ‘inspired,’ wondering why everyone doesn’t love her paintings, why nobody sees what she wants them to see. Then something miraculous happens, a ‘moment’ of sorts, and she rushes to capture the feeling of that moment right after it passes. This story—like the majority of stories included here—is better felt and experienced than explained. Liu really opens a vein here, bleeds a tale of maybe the unimportance of ‘artistic intent,’ how you have no control over what you create once you give it to the world. How ‘having an audience can be a terrible thing.’ Some great lines include: ‘It puts the focus on the personal, reduces her art to biography, to reportage, when what she’s really proud of is having figured out how to paint the unpaintable.’ ‘If I cared about being understood, I’d stop writing.’ And ‘We’re all doing our best to see the dragon and record its passing.’ You don’t have to be an artist to appreciate it, but if you are, this one’s a gut punch to the soul.
3. The Moon Carver: 5/5
‘The older I get, the more I seem to live in the past.’ We’re at the Twin Dunes, experiencing the story of an aging scorpion who loves solitude and wants to be as close to the moon as possible. There’s a disturbance, maybe humans, a car, maybe the aliens who abducted Coco the neighbor, maybe even this scorpion’s estranged daughter. A contrast between solitude, comfortability, the known, and being part of an unknown world, leaving what’s comfortable for the possibility of an unpredictable future. This contrast, however, doesn’t mean isolation: ‘I am solitary, but I am not alone,’ the old scorpion says. It’s about being recognized, seen, understood, and the terror of being exposed. Great line here: ‘We cut a thin crescent large enough for her to climb through,’ and this motif shows up again in another story, I believe.
4. Good Spells: 5/5
This one’s formatted like a ‘client request’ correspondence, though each request is handled narratively, with seemingly unrelated characters being connected by our POV techno-witch, who attempts to solve futuristic problems with a dose of good ‘ole humanity and heart, what’s been forgotten. There’s a logistics worker for NephoSopho (Amazon warehouse worker?) whose efficiency bonus is taken from the pay of less efficient pickers, claiming: ‘I hate that I actually want to win.’ A neural network trained to prey on nostalgia, alluding to how ‘humans can be enticed to participate in their own subjugation.’ There’s a love charm request from Zelda for Joan, as they’ve grown apart of late (slightly related to the ‘Idols’ story?) Books that have been read and remain unread, ‘nonce romances written by machines to cater to the desires of a single mind,’ where the ‘good spell’ here is either more self-love, or too much self-love (helping someone in need, or giving an addict attention?). Great line: ‘We want the meditation of the machine in even the most human of domains.’ Finally, there’s tending to the ‘fai,’ bots no longer deemed worthy of repair, only replacement. A ‘timely’ story indeed.
5. Idols: 4/5
A. Blowin’ in the Wind: ‘I’ve never met my father and never will.’ An alternating POV between Dylan and Bella, a couple caught up in the technology of creating ‘idols,’ a totally terrible idea, but one which, I believe, exists. Thanks to 46on46, personalized genetic counselling, Dylan can still talk on the phone to his dead father. Yikes!
B. Verum Dicere (to tell the truth): Bella’s POV now, a lawyer working behind the scenes, using idols to get under the skin of the opposing side, a kind of AI researcher thrown into an existential crisis (totally ignores herself and Dylan), whose credo seems to be ‘belief in truth is what really matters, not actual truth.’ She finally settles on pondering the question: ‘Do I like myself?’ Liu either did a lot of research here or has a law degree, not sure; even though this is a bit long-winded and cerebral, it’s still interesting enough to keep you reading.
C. Artist Statement by Sara Honan: We get a statement of intent by the creator, which almost feels like an ‘idol’ statement, or one made by the plaintiff? Followed by testimonials of users who are totally falling apart. ‘I am as cobbled together as my idol, a parlor trick.’ Then, finally, Bella’s testimony: ‘I wanted to see if I’m defined by my work,’ or just a collection of masks. I did want just a bit more of Dylan’s story, but this one’s great.
6. Ice Wraith: 4/5
We’re out in the universe with Helena, an augmented ring miner, and Aria, a crew coordinator AI, mining for extra-virgin oxygen to sell to the elites. Helena believes the ice formations are made of/by wraiths, collects ice-wraith artifacts as well. Is she right, or is Aria right in asserting her pattern-seeking behavior, that she’s just been ‘pruned into her teachers, empathetic in only shared history (another theme of this collection)?’ Does it even matter? This one’s about imagination, how myths and magic keep us going, searching, how stories live on, impossibility and living as a logical fallacy. Great ending: ‘I hope someday I won’t understand you.’
7. A Whisper of Blue: 5/5
Along with new residents, there’s something flooding into Mannaport, and it’s high-pitched screeches can be heard everywhere—it’s dragons! This one’s an alternate history story framed in script format, mostly shot on phones, and it works well, posing that dragons are now the primary source of energy for the world. Guns, Germs, & Dragon’s is a book now, and dragons aren’t afraid of lawyers. How would you attract them, maintain them, monopolize their fiery breath? How does the theory of Maxwell’s demons fit into the picture? Are they harmless? There’s enough here for a novel, and I won’t go on, but the reveal regarding why the story is titled ‘A Whisper of Blue’ hits hard! Also, ‘forgetfulness isn’t the same as forgiveness, but it helps.’
8. The Cleaners: 4/5
The story of Gui and his father (unwanted memory cleaners), Clara and her dead husband Lukas (the clients), and Clara and her sister Beatrice, who has a special kind of gift, related to what Gui does. It’s a world where memories are sold as mood enhancers, possibility comes at the price of erasure, leaving memory deposits (rather than cleaning them) is how you grow, and how ‘allowing others the space for secrets’ may be the greatest gift of love you can offer. It’s about the weight of freedom (running through the veins of this whole collection) and the lift of oblivion. As stated in the story: ‘Art is always better than the explanation of art.’
9. The Armies of Those I Love: 4/5
Expansive and dense world-building here, lush descriptive prose, most fantastical, adventurous, and action-packed story in the collection. This one requires attention to detail, memory, and patience to fully take in, but the payoff is worth it. You’ll be a bit disoriented—who’s the POV character? What’s the POV character? Where are we and where are we going and why? You’ll have to go on a journey with fourteen-year-old Franny Fenway to find out, but here are some clues, they’ll snap into place near the last half of this one: question mark symbols (because if the questions keep rolling, then the story can’t end), Pilots, Guardians, batterymarches, the Saga of Ronald Reagan, Dinosaur Hunter, stout-tons, and again, crescent moons. Has a Wizard of Oz moment at the end, but different. Truth, the power of stories, the way in being the way out, rebirth, and how ‘not all stories have meaning.’ By their stories are they known refrains. Really, the question is: ‘What will it take to awaken the soul?’ Great journey.
10. Arc: 6/5 (yes, 6)
My absolute favorite story in this collection. Not gonna say much more. The hook is: ‘Lena Auzenn’s oldest son was born when she was sixteen. A hundred years later, she gave birth to her youngest daughter.’ Words are largely useless, feeling trapped and alone, the meaning of freedom, how ‘grief is powerful, can transform the way one sees the world.’ Great line here: ‘Sometimes we seek forgiveness without knowing that we’re looking for it, and the world delivers it anyway.’ Enjoy!
11. Cosmic Spring: 4/5
You’re awakened, heading for the last star in the universe, aboard an Island-Ship that siphons star energy to fuel itself. Welcome to the end of the universe! About the drive to pass on something of the self, failing memory, stories buried under stories, the importance of history, and the definition of home. A food for thought kind of story.
12. Timekeepers’ Symphony: 2.5/5
A. Flicker: ‘To keep time, you must first invent it.’ This piece is broken into four parts, each having some great ideas, leading into one another, but it feels less like a story and more like pulling story elements from historical records and primary scientific literature. Here we have discrete and continuous perceptions of time, persistence, really, and slicing it into smaller fragments by speeding up metabolic rate, thus experiencing time and perception of various species, using a tachynaut.
B. Dharma: Once time is invented, how do you own it? The Apollo-Oppenheimer-Leibnitz crater complex on the Moon is referred to here, and the End Watch, which counts down to the final moments of the universe. Again, interesting ideas about civilized death and owning that which doesn’t exist, how: ‘our unwavering faith in the idea that taking time away from others can be a good thing, that a killing hand can be humane, that inventing death, the absence of time, is something we can justify,’ but not much of a story.
C. The Time from Home: How the old traditions of departure meant not returning home, and how we’re coming back to that tradition by departure defined by generations never returning. Dissatisfaction and a desire to leave (Moon Carver) takes hold, and how stories are really the only portable magic, history. There’s a great line here: ‘only after we’ve left does a place start to feel like home.’
D. One Second in Hilo: How the measurement of what a second is came to be, geographically, astrologically, chemically, using the crest of photonic light (resonance jump), and the universality of it’s current measurement. Again, great ideas and questions, STEM classes all over again, but not much of a story.
13. 50 Things Every AI Working with Humans Should Know: 3/5
The list of 50 comes last, but we start with an obituary. Maybe for the AI WHEEP-3 (Dr. Weep), or maybe for its creator Dr. Tran—the lines are blurred. Dr. Weep is apparently ‘capable of generating original thought and creative ideas,’ and begins to lecture other AI ‘neural networks’ on dealing with humans, creating a ‘seed’ language that cannot be thought or deciphered by humans. Dr. Tran, upon retiring, claims to have written the ‘seeds,’ then later retracts her claim, chalking the whole thing up to being ‘performance art.’ In short: we have a ‘neural network pretending to be a person, and a woman pretending to be a machine.’ And WHEEP-3’s final statement is a bit eerie. The list of 50 things is meant to be said ‘with love and hate and joy and sorrow,’ ending with “Now, let me go.” It’s a good story to end this collection with, summarizing the major themes, ideas, and motifs running through all the stories. It could have ended with ‘Arc’ or ‘Cosmic Spring’ as well. *Note: there’s an author’s note at the end of this story that almost made me scrap this entire review, but I just wasn’t reading it close enough. Whew!
Thanks to NetGalley, Saga Press, and Ken Liu for the ARC and the wonderful stories! One of the best collections I’ve read.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
The Passing of the Dragon and Other Stories is the kind of short story collection that really invites the reader to stop and think about each and every tale. Ken Liu does an incredible job setting up interesting premises—carefully carving out a science fiction world which calls the reader to reflect on the consequences of humanity’s need for endless growth, on grief and companionship, or on the meaning of artistic expression. Overall, across this short story collection, I felt the book really succeeded at twisting something about our world or expectations into a thought-provoking scenario, though at times I felt the stories needed more follow-through than interesting premise alone.
Three Views of a Parking Lot, 6/5
Honestly, this was probably my favorite short story in the collection. It overviews, well, three views of a parking lot—once by a mech who sees it as it is even amidst humanity, one by the lowly parking lot upkeep robots long after humanity is gone, and once more that I won’t spoil. Something about this was so beautiful, and so hopeful, and the story really resonated with me.
The Passing of the Dragon, 4/5
A struggling artist witnesses something so beautiful that she can only capture its absence, the sense that it was there before, but her art is misunderstood and caught up in controversy. This story is extremely heartfelt; it’s difficult not to get caught up in the emotions of the main character and really feel her plight. I think the only thing that lowered this a star was that the controversy felt bizarre to me in a way that took me out of the story and made it harder to connect with that aspect of it. I just couldn’t reconcile the conceit of it with any sense of it being….realistic? I don’t know if realistic is the word I’m looking for, but the overall idea just lacked verisimilitude in a way that I personally found distracting. However, I suspect that this might just be a me problem, and the story as a whole is still profoundly beautiful.
The Moon Carver, 5/5
This short story reminded me a lot of my favorite short story collection of all time, What We Fed to the Manticore. It follows a scorpion who has always been different from others of his kind as he has always reached for the moon, and the day he finally finds out he’s not alone. I have such a soft spot for exploring complex emotions through the lens of animal protagonists, and I loved this. I loved the theme of wanting more for those who come after you, and for the sheer joy of finding others like you.
Good Spells, 4/5
A witch who uses her abilities to help humans find space in a world built for technology, and the complex emotions of caring for even the small AI’s who got left behind as well. I really liked the premise of this one, and the story does an amazing job exploring what resistance and hope might look like in even such a dismal and results-driven world. I liked this one a lot.
Idols, 2.5/5
This story features a few vignettes from a world where AI can build an AI-driven representation of a person based on their internet presence for others to interact with without the consent of the individual. For example, someone who never met their father can use AI to ‘interact’ with a deceased parent, or law offices can practice their arguments against AI representations of the members of the jury. This is one where I really just wanted more from the story—it felt much more like a premise than a story. A very interesting premise, but I wanted more follow-through; more story of what it means to live in this (unfortunately realistic) world.
Ice Wraith, 3/5
Oh my god was the premise of this one cool. It’s from the point of view of a modified human created for the sole purpose of harvesting oxygen trapped in ice from a remote planet as they question the world alongside their AI companion. Amazing concept, cool idea for an overarching story, but just too short and abrupt for me to feel what I think it wanted me to feel. I wish this short story was expanded, because I loved all of the ideas but wanted so much more to the execution.
A Whisper of Blue, 3.5/5
In a world where dragons –intelligent, independent, uncontrollable—dragons are the world’s source of energy, they are exploited and shielded from the public’s view, until a group of dragons too small to capitalize on descends on a small town. I really enjoyed seeing the way different people reacted to the dragons and their magic; the worldbuilding was interesting, and I liked the premise overall. However, this was another where I didn’t necessarily feel like the story behind the premise was quite as interesting as the premise itself.
The Cleaners, 2.5/5
Similar to Idols, this presents an interesting world and some vignettes from it, but just didn’t resonate with me all that much. In this world, memories leave behind residue on the items people touch; some people are sensitive to these memories, but others are not. The story follows a few different people with varying degrees of sensitivity as they reckon with knowing too much or too little about the emotions of the past. This is an incredibly cool idea but, once again, I didn’t personally feel that the collection of vignettes came together into a story per say.
The Armies of Those I Love, 3/5
I liked this one conceptually, but just found it a bit forgettable. It presents a world where people live on travelling mountains moved by mysterious pilots and hunted by constructs if they dare to be self-serving. The story follows a young woman ousted by the town for daring to read when a fugitive offers her the ability to confront the pilots and uncover a secret about the world. Again, conceptually? Awesome. In practice…I don’t know; the ending didn’t feel like it sat well with the rest of the book to me; it felt both too long for what I got out of the story and too short to give the story the legs to stand on.
Arc, 4/5
The first woman to experience a ‘fountain of youth’ technology that extends her life indefinitely, and her relationship with her past and her children. This story is extremely emotional, reflecting entirely on one person’s experiences with a technology humans were never meant to experience. I really loved it, even when the main character was challenging and difficult to understand.
Cosmic Spring, 4.5/5
The reminiscing of an intelligence who navigated a planet like a spaceship as it and many others gather around the soon-to-die last star in the sky. The story captures melancholy beautifully; it’s heart-wrenching and tragic and beautiful. I really loved this one.
Timekeeper’s Symphony, 2/5
This is a series of ideas about people and creatures and technology who pass through and experience time in different ways. This was much more of a series of ideas than a story, and while many of these ideas are really cool, I just don’t see this one sticking with me. I imagine people who think more about what time actually means will get a lot more out of this story than I did.
50 Things Every AI Working with Humans Should Know, 3/5
A reflection on an AI who worked closely with a human and was used to train other AIs on understanding humanity. The story gives not only the intelligence of the AI tool but also the background on the person and the AI itself in a way that I found quite intriguing. It’s a rather short exploration of an idea, an obituary for something that feels not far out of the realm of possibility.
In summary, I did rather enjoy this short story collection. There were many that I loved and some that did not work for me, but I do think I got something out of each story in the collection. I’m rating it 4 out of 5 stars overall, and can definitely recommend it to readers interested in short stories that really think about the relationship between humanity and technology.
Thank you to Saga Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Three Views of a Parking Lot, 6/5
Honestly, this was probably my favorite short story in the collection. It overviews, well, three views of a parking lot—once by a mech who sees it as it is even amidst humanity, one by the lowly parking lot upkeep robots long after humanity is gone, and once more that I won’t spoil. Something about this was so beautiful, and so hopeful, and the story really resonated with me.
The Passing of the Dragon, 4/5
A struggling artist witnesses something so beautiful that she can only capture its absence, the sense that it was there before, but her art is misunderstood and caught up in controversy. This story is extremely heartfelt; it’s difficult not to get caught up in the emotions of the main character and really feel her plight. I think the only thing that lowered this a star was that the controversy felt bizarre to me in a way that took me out of the story and made it harder to connect with that aspect of it. I just couldn’t reconcile the conceit of it with any sense of it being….realistic? I don’t know if realistic is the word I’m looking for, but the overall idea just lacked verisimilitude in a way that I personally found distracting. However, I suspect that this might just be a me problem, and the story as a whole is still profoundly beautiful.
The Moon Carver, 5/5
This short story reminded me a lot of my favorite short story collection of all time, What We Fed to the Manticore. It follows a scorpion who has always been different from others of his kind as he has always reached for the moon, and the day he finally finds out he’s not alone. I have such a soft spot for exploring complex emotions through the lens of animal protagonists, and I loved this. I loved the theme of wanting more for those who come after you, and for the sheer joy of finding others like you.
Good Spells, 4/5
A witch who uses her abilities to help humans find space in a world built for technology, and the complex emotions of caring for even the small AI’s who got left behind as well. I really liked the premise of this one, and the story does an amazing job exploring what resistance and hope might look like in even such a dismal and results-driven world. I liked this one a lot.
Idols, 2.5/5
This story features a few vignettes from a world where AI can build an AI-driven representation of a person based on their internet presence for others to interact with without the consent of the individual. For example, someone who never met their father can use AI to ‘interact’ with a deceased parent, or law offices can practice their arguments against AI representations of the members of the jury. This is one where I really just wanted more from the story—it felt much more like a premise than a story. A very interesting premise, but I wanted more follow-through; more story of what it means to live in this (unfortunately realistic) world.
Ice Wraith, 3/5
Oh my god was the premise of this one cool. It’s from the point of view of a modified human created for the sole purpose of harvesting oxygen trapped in ice from a remote planet as they question the world alongside their AI companion. Amazing concept, cool idea for an overarching story, but just too short and abrupt for me to feel what I think it wanted me to feel. I wish this short story was expanded, because I loved all of the ideas but wanted so much more to the execution.
A Whisper of Blue, 3.5/5
In a world where dragons –intelligent, independent, uncontrollable—dragons are the world’s source of energy, they are exploited and shielded from the public’s view, until a group of dragons too small to capitalize on descends on a small town. I really enjoyed seeing the way different people reacted to the dragons and their magic; the worldbuilding was interesting, and I liked the premise overall. However, this was another where I didn’t necessarily feel like the story behind the premise was quite as interesting as the premise itself.
The Cleaners, 2.5/5
Similar to Idols, this presents an interesting world and some vignettes from it, but just didn’t resonate with me all that much. In this world, memories leave behind residue on the items people touch; some people are sensitive to these memories, but others are not. The story follows a few different people with varying degrees of sensitivity as they reckon with knowing too much or too little about the emotions of the past. This is an incredibly cool idea but, once again, I didn’t personally feel that the collection of vignettes came together into a story per say.
The Armies of Those I Love, 3/5
I liked this one conceptually, but just found it a bit forgettable. It presents a world where people live on travelling mountains moved by mysterious pilots and hunted by constructs if they dare to be self-serving. The story follows a young woman ousted by the town for daring to read when a fugitive offers her the ability to confront the pilots and uncover a secret about the world. Again, conceptually? Awesome. In practice…I don’t know; the ending didn’t feel like it sat well with the rest of the book to me; it felt both too long for what I got out of the story and too short to give the story the legs to stand on.
Arc, 4/5
The first woman to experience a ‘fountain of youth’ technology that extends her life indefinitely, and her relationship with her past and her children. This story is extremely emotional, reflecting entirely on one person’s experiences with a technology humans were never meant to experience. I really loved it, even when the main character was challenging and difficult to understand.
Cosmic Spring, 4.5/5
The reminiscing of an intelligence who navigated a planet like a spaceship as it and many others gather around the soon-to-die last star in the sky. The story captures melancholy beautifully; it’s heart-wrenching and tragic and beautiful. I really loved this one.
Timekeeper’s Symphony, 2/5
This is a series of ideas about people and creatures and technology who pass through and experience time in different ways. This was much more of a series of ideas than a story, and while many of these ideas are really cool, I just don’t see this one sticking with me. I imagine people who think more about what time actually means will get a lot more out of this story than I did.
50 Things Every AI Working with Humans Should Know, 3/5
A reflection on an AI who worked closely with a human and was used to train other AIs on understanding humanity. The story gives not only the intelligence of the AI tool but also the background on the person and the AI itself in a way that I found quite intriguing. It’s a rather short exploration of an idea, an obituary for something that feels not far out of the realm of possibility.
In summary, I did rather enjoy this short story collection. There were many that I loved and some that did not work for me, but I do think I got something out of each story in the collection. I’m rating it 4 out of 5 stars overall, and can definitely recommend it to readers interested in short stories that really think about the relationship between humanity and technology.
Thank you to Saga Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!
An amazing collection full of really high quality stories. Liu's writing is consistently beautiful, poetic, and moving, and he has the gift of fusing character stories and worldbuilding together into one narrative that feels perfectly natural. The quality of the last two stories took a slight dip, but otherwise this is an entirely excellent collection.
Three Views of A Parking Lot: A really cool idea, and I absolutely adored the section focusing on the parking lot cleaning bots in the post-apocalypse, and the way they changed over time. 5/5
The Passing of the Dragon: An intriguing look into the purpose of art and criticism. I also appreciated Liu lambasting the stupidity of internet commentators so pitch perfectly. 4/5
The Moon Carver: I just loved the whimsy and hope of this. I thought it was going to go in a cliche direction with the humans bringing some kind of disaster to the scorpion town, but Liu did something much more hopeful and clever. 5/5
Good Spells: A terrifying view of the potential future of AI-enabled late stage capitalism. If anyone wants to know the world I DON'T want to live in, it’s this! I did enjoy the note of hope and continued defiance in this - that the way to resist the slide into the techno hell future is to help each other and bots. 4/5
Idols: The idea of constructing virtual recreations of jurors was terrifyingly real. I really liked the meditation on our own sense of self, and how we construct our own identities; whether there is a core to who we are or if we’re just a series of different faces we show to the world. This is one of the stories that gripped me most in the collection. 5/5
Ice Wraith: Really cool ideas for the MCs body mods. I liked the sly commentary on consumerism with the “special oxygen.” Don’t know if the whole story quite had enough substance or context for the scale of the decision the MC made. I did like the idea of the space miners telling each other stories of ice wraiths. 3/5
A Whisper of Blue: I wasn’t entirely sure what the message was here, but I did like the inventiveness of all the ideas and worldbuilding on show. I liked that there were a lot of mysteries around the dragons, some of which were answered by the final theory, some of which weren’t. 4/5
The Cleaners: I loved this idea and how the worldbuilding was there, but took a backseat to the carefully crafted character drama. A quiet story about live and loss, but impactful. 4/5
The Armies of Those I Love: Absolutely my favourite in this collection! Liu builds a post-apocalyptic world so intriguing here that I think he could've written a whole novel about it (and I kind of wish he would!) This world has shades of Mortal Engines and Horizon Zero Dawn, without feeling at all derivative. This is the longest story in the collection but it didn't feel like it; it is paced perfectly, and I devoured it, needing to know what came next. Liu perfectly weaves together this fascinating world with the human emotions and relationships at the story's core. Would give it a ten out of five if I could. 5/5
Arc: Another amazing fusion of an interesting worldbuilding idea with a really strong character story and contemplation on the meaning of living and existing in the world. Thoughtful in the best way. I loved that the main character was far from perfect, made mistakes and struggled, but still came to understanding and happiness near the end. 4/5
Cosmic Spring: Has the distinction of being the only story in this collection to make me cry. Only a few pages long, but packs a hell of a punch. A sweeping, incredibly bittersweet look at the end of the universe. I don’t want to say anything further to spoil it, so. 5/5
Timekeepers' Symphony: There were some fun and also some poignant ideas here, but ultimately, this felt more like a science lecture than a story. I really liked the idea of the planet where different species have such drastic differences in perception of time, and the idea of the “End Watch” on the moon recording all the ways people steal time from others with horrible methods. However, the narrative elements of the piece felt at odds with the science lecture tone of the other half of the story. It felt like this was trying to be two different things at once - a prose story and an essay - and it wasn’t 100% working as either. 3/5
50 Things Every AI Working with Humans Should Know: I enjoyed the faux-journalism tone of the article about the interesting AI agent, and the “50 things” list was really compelling in many ways. It’s clear Liu has done his homework and knows a lot about AI. Unfortunately, this story was written using AI, and given my views on using AI in storytelling, that really soured it for me. I’m also not entirely sure what the point of this story was, or the message it was trying to convey. Given LLMs are known for writing text which seems poignant but is in fact vague and devoid of focused themes, this seems like a darkly appropriate conclusion to draw. 3/5
An amazing collection full of really high quality stories. Liu's writing is consistently beautiful, poetic, and moving, and he has the gift of fusing character stories and worldbuilding together into one narrative that feels perfectly natural. The quality of the last two stories took a slight dip, but otherwise this is an entirely excellent collection.
Three Views of A Parking Lot: A really cool idea, and I absolutely adored the section focusing on the parking lot cleaning bots in the post-apocalypse, and the way they changed over time. 5/5
The Passing of the Dragon: An intriguing look into the purpose of art and criticism. I also appreciated Liu lambasting the stupidity of internet commentators so pitch perfectly. 4/5
The Moon Carver: I just loved the whimsy and hope of this. I thought it was going to go in a cliche direction with the humans bringing some kind of disaster to the scorpion town, but Liu did something much more hopeful and clever. 5/5
Good Spells: A terrifying view of the potential future of AI-enabled late stage capitalism. If anyone wants to know the world I DON'T want to live in, it’s this! I did enjoy the note of hope and continued defiance in this - that the way to resist the slide into the techno hell future is to help each other and bots. 4/5
Idols: The idea of constructing virtual recreations of jurors was terrifyingly real. I really liked the meditation on our own sense of self, and how we construct our own identities; whether there is a core to who we are or if we’re just a series of different faces we show to the world. This is one of the stories that gripped me most in the collection. 5/5
Ice Wraith: Really cool ideas for the MCs body mods. I liked the sly commentary on consumerism with the “special oxygen.” Don’t know if the whole story quite had enough substance or context for the scale of the decision the MC made. I did like the idea of the space miners telling each other stories of ice wraiths. 3/5
A Whisper of Blue: I wasn’t entirely sure what the message was here, but I did like the inventiveness of all the ideas and worldbuilding on show. I liked that there were a lot of mysteries around the dragons, some of which were answered by the final theory, some of which weren’t. 4/5
The Cleaners: I loved this idea and how the worldbuilding was there, but took a backseat to the carefully crafted character drama. A quiet story about live and loss, but impactful. 4/5
The Armies of Those I Love: Absolutely my favourite in this collection! Liu builds a post-apocalyptic world so intriguing here that I think he could've written a whole novel about it (and I kind of wish he would!) This world has shades of Mortal Engines and Horizon Zero Dawn, without feeling at all derivative. This is the longest story in the collection but it didn't feel like it; it is paced perfectly, and I devoured it, needing to know what came next. Liu perfectly weaves together this fascinating world with the human emotions and relationships at the story's core. Would give it a ten out of five if I could. 5/5
Arc: Another amazing fusion of an interesting worldbuilding idea with a really strong character story and contemplation on the meaning of living and existing in the world. Thoughtful in the best way. I loved that the main character was far from perfect, made mistakes and struggled, but still came to understanding and happiness near the end. 4/5
Cosmic Spring: Has the distinction of being the only story in this collection to make me cry. Only a few pages long, but packs a hell of a punch. A sweeping, incredibly bittersweet look at the end of the universe. I don’t want to say anything further to spoil it, so. 5/5
Timekeepers' Symphony: There were some fun and also some poignant ideas here, but ultimately, this felt more like a science lecture than a story. I really liked the idea of the planet where different species have such drastic differences in perception of time, and the idea of the “End Watch” on the moon recording all the ways people steal time from others with horrible methods. However, the narrative elements of the piece felt at odds with the science lecture tone of the other half of the story. It felt like this was trying to be two different things at once - a prose story and an essay - and it wasn’t 100% working as either. 3/5
50 Things Every AI Working with Humans Should Know: I enjoyed the faux-journalism tone of the article about the interesting AI agent, and the “50 things” list was really compelling in many ways. It’s clear Liu has done his homework and knows a lot about AI. Unfortunately, this story was written using AI, and given my views on using AI in storytelling, that really soured it for me. I’m also not entirely sure what the point of this story was, or the message it was trying to convey. Given LLMs are known for writing text which seems poignant but is in fact vague and devoid of focused themes, this seems like a darkly appropriate conclusion to draw. 3/5
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
⭐⭐⭐½/5
This was a very mixed bag for me. Liu’s writing is solid throughout, and I found myself most engaged when the big speculative ideas were paired with characters I could actually ground myself in. When the stories became more conceptual and I wasn’t sure exactly who or what I was following, I had a much harder time connecting—but there were definitely some standouts.
🤖 Three Views of a Parking Lot — ⭐⭐⭐
Three different perspectives of the same parking lot gradually blur the lines between the organic and artificial. I liked the changing perspectives and the way the natural and mechanical worlds slowly merged, but it felt more abstract than like a fully developed narrative.
🎨 The Passing of the Dragon — ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A struggling artist tries to capture something extraordinary through her art, only to discover that other people don’t necessarily see what she sees. I really liked the questions about artistic intent, recognition, and whether we create for ourselves or for an audience.
🦂 The Moon Carver — ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
An aging scorpion who has always dreamed of being closer to the moon watches the humans camping nearby while helping his daughter pursue a dream of her own. This was probably my favorite—the scorpion POV was bizarre but surprisingly relatable, and I loved the idea of dreaming differently from what others consider normal or valuable.
🧙 Good Spells — ⭐⭐⭐½
A witch in a hyper-efficient, AI-driven future helps people push back against a world that has turned everything into productivity, competition, and optimization. I liked the idea that human value shouldn’t be measured by efficiency or usefulness, but the concept worked better for me than the actual story.
🤖 Idols — ⭐⭐⭐⭐
AI creates digital versions of people using everything they’ve left behind online, and those “idols” are used for everything from job selection to interacting with deceased loved ones. Fascinating and honestly kind of terrifying, especially the idea that our data could be used to build a version of us—or weaponize that version against us.
🧊 Ice Wraith — ⭐⭐⭐
Helena, an augmented miner on a distant planet, becomes convinced she’s discovered an artifact left behind by mysterious ice wraiths—something no one else can see. I liked the idea of pursuing something others can’t see or understand and pushing beyond what’s considered possible, but I struggled to fully connect with the story.
🐉 A Whisper of Blue — ⭐⭐⭐½
In an alternate world where dragons have become a major source of energy, a small town suddenly finds itself dealing with a group of unusually small dragons, while a grieving girl believes they may be connected to memory. There were a lot of interesting ideas here, but there were so many concepts happening at once that I had trouble focusing on what the story was ultimately trying to do.
🧹 The Cleaners — ⭐⭐⭐½
In a world where objects retain the memories of the people who touched them, professional cleaners can remove those memories from people’s belongings. I thought the concept was fascinating, particularly the questions around loss, how much memory lives in an object versus in us, and why getting rid of someone’s things can carry so much emotional weight.
🏔️ The Armies of Those I Love — ⭐⭐⭐½
A strange post-apocalyptic world of floating cities, mysterious Pilots, and people who can be cast out for asking too many questions follows an outsider who sets out to uncover the truth. The world-building was interesting, but I struggled to find my footing with the characters and the world, which made it difficult for me to fully connect with the story.
♾️ Arc
A woman who has lived for an extraordinarily long time reflects on motherhood, her children, grief, and what it means to live across generations. The premise sounds like one of the more character-focused stories in the collection, so I’m interested to see how this one lands for me.
🌌 Cosmic Spring
At the end of the universe, a consciousness aboard an island-ship travels toward the last remaining star while reflecting on memory, history, home, and what we leave behind. The themes sound beautiful, particularly the idea of preserving something of yourself as everything else disappears.
⏳ Timekeeper’s Symphony
This story explores time from different perspectives, looking at how it can be measured, experienced, and understood across different beings and civilizations. It sounds like another very idea-driven story, so this one could go either way for me.
🤖 50 Things Every AI Working with Humans Should Know
The collection closes with an AI reflecting on humanity and offering advice to other artificial intelligences about understanding and interacting with humans. It seems like a fitting way to bring together the collection’s recurring questions about AI, identity, language, and our relationship with technology.
There are some genuinely memorable stories here, and The Moon Carver is easily my standout. The Passing of the Dragon was another favorite, while Idols and The Cleaners gave me concepts I kept thinking about afterward. The rest were more of a mixed bag for me.
This was a very mixed bag for me. Liu’s writing is solid throughout, and I found myself most engaged when the big speculative ideas were paired with characters I could actually ground myself in. When the stories became more conceptual and I wasn’t sure exactly who or what I was following, I had a much harder time connecting—but there were definitely some standouts.
🤖 Three Views of a Parking Lot — ⭐⭐⭐
Three different perspectives of the same parking lot gradually blur the lines between the organic and artificial. I liked the changing perspectives and the way the natural and mechanical worlds slowly merged, but it felt more abstract than like a fully developed narrative.
🎨 The Passing of the Dragon — ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A struggling artist tries to capture something extraordinary through her art, only to discover that other people don’t necessarily see what she sees. I really liked the questions about artistic intent, recognition, and whether we create for ourselves or for an audience.
🦂 The Moon Carver — ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
An aging scorpion who has always dreamed of being closer to the moon watches the humans camping nearby while helping his daughter pursue a dream of her own. This was probably my favorite—the scorpion POV was bizarre but surprisingly relatable, and I loved the idea of dreaming differently from what others consider normal or valuable.
🧙 Good Spells — ⭐⭐⭐½
A witch in a hyper-efficient, AI-driven future helps people push back against a world that has turned everything into productivity, competition, and optimization. I liked the idea that human value shouldn’t be measured by efficiency or usefulness, but the concept worked better for me than the actual story.
🤖 Idols — ⭐⭐⭐⭐
AI creates digital versions of people using everything they’ve left behind online, and those “idols” are used for everything from job selection to interacting with deceased loved ones. Fascinating and honestly kind of terrifying, especially the idea that our data could be used to build a version of us—or weaponize that version against us.
🧊 Ice Wraith — ⭐⭐⭐
Helena, an augmented miner on a distant planet, becomes convinced she’s discovered an artifact left behind by mysterious ice wraiths—something no one else can see. I liked the idea of pursuing something others can’t see or understand and pushing beyond what’s considered possible, but I struggled to fully connect with the story.
🐉 A Whisper of Blue — ⭐⭐⭐½
In an alternate world where dragons have become a major source of energy, a small town suddenly finds itself dealing with a group of unusually small dragons, while a grieving girl believes they may be connected to memory. There were a lot of interesting ideas here, but there were so many concepts happening at once that I had trouble focusing on what the story was ultimately trying to do.
🧹 The Cleaners — ⭐⭐⭐½
In a world where objects retain the memories of the people who touched them, professional cleaners can remove those memories from people’s belongings. I thought the concept was fascinating, particularly the questions around loss, how much memory lives in an object versus in us, and why getting rid of someone’s things can carry so much emotional weight.
🏔️ The Armies of Those I Love — ⭐⭐⭐½
A strange post-apocalyptic world of floating cities, mysterious Pilots, and people who can be cast out for asking too many questions follows an outsider who sets out to uncover the truth. The world-building was interesting, but I struggled to find my footing with the characters and the world, which made it difficult for me to fully connect with the story.
♾️ Arc
A woman who has lived for an extraordinarily long time reflects on motherhood, her children, grief, and what it means to live across generations. The premise sounds like one of the more character-focused stories in the collection, so I’m interested to see how this one lands for me.
🌌 Cosmic Spring
At the end of the universe, a consciousness aboard an island-ship travels toward the last remaining star while reflecting on memory, history, home, and what we leave behind. The themes sound beautiful, particularly the idea of preserving something of yourself as everything else disappears.
⏳ Timekeeper’s Symphony
This story explores time from different perspectives, looking at how it can be measured, experienced, and understood across different beings and civilizations. It sounds like another very idea-driven story, so this one could go either way for me.
🤖 50 Things Every AI Working with Humans Should Know
The collection closes with an AI reflecting on humanity and offering advice to other artificial intelligences about understanding and interacting with humans. It seems like a fitting way to bring together the collection’s recurring questions about AI, identity, language, and our relationship with technology.
There are some genuinely memorable stories here, and The Moon Carver is easily my standout. The Passing of the Dragon was another favorite, while Idols and The Cleaners gave me concepts I kept thinking about afterward. The rest were more of a mixed bag for me.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Ken Liu is a top three author for me. He manages to captures the beautiful and messy nature of humans.
This collection is a testament for the yearning and near impossibility for absolute understanding and transcendent communication.
Standouts for me:
THE PASSING OF THE DRAGON:
This captures the frustration of an artist of being unable to capture a sublime moment. It is a raw look at an artist’s feelings of inadequacy as well as the complicated relationship between art and inspiration.
It’s the fashion among some "aspiring artists" at the co-op to formulate their critiques in the harshest terms possible in the belief that they are doing the victim a favor because a "thick skin" is necessary for artists. She’s never really understood their logic, however, since a thin skin, a vulnerability, a sensitivity toward the nuances of reality—a readiness to perceive dragons—is necessary to see the world’s beauty, to feel the tingling in the fabric of the cosmos that is at the foundation of all art.
IDOLS:
This is Liu flexing his speculative imagination. Humans have developed the technology to develop a simulacrum of others, used to model celebrities, lost relatives, to prepare for court cases…
Maybe there is nothing to this "self" we prize so much except the totality of this collection of masks. Or maybe there is some essential thing beneath the layers of masks, a beating heart, raw, bloody, vulnerable, yearning to connect, hungering to know where we come from and whither we go.
This is existential, analysing what is our ‘self’, what makes an individual ‘me’.
A WHISPER OF BLUE:
This was the most magical.
Dragons exist in an alternate Earth and have been used to harness energy.
This is a soft story about the personal over capitalism. It’s about wonder and steadfast commitment.
THE CLEANERS:
Whilst not the most satisfying in terms of plot and character arcs, I appreciated what Liu made me reflect on.
In a world where objects carry memories that can literally hurt people, cleaners are hired to rid objects of the memories of those who previously handled them.
And since they didn’t want a buyer in America to unwrap their brand-new phone only to be burned by the anguish of a foreigner, to be infected by a psychic wound like a virus—didn’t lifestyle gurus all say it was important to insulate oneself from the suffering of others, not to be dragged down by negativity one was powerless to stop?—they hired American workers to sit in warehouses to clean the phones and then to coat them with a spray of anonymized all-American fresh-product good cheer.
ARC:
The first human to achieve immortality reflects on motherhood, identity, freedom, and purpose.
Poignant, piercing, and powerful.
50 Things Every AI Working with Humans Should Know:
This was the closing story and my least favourite.
It seems fitting that it was the final story in a collection about different forms of communication considering AI’s unrelenting prevalence, but I admit to feeling uncomfortable whenever AI and art overlap.
Overall, I enjoyed this collection.
It leaned more sci fi and speculative which is the best genres for short stories to explore concepts, anxieties and hopes.
It doesn’t come close to The Paper Menagerie which is one of my rare six-star reads, but it’s on par, or slightly better than, The Hidden Girl and Other Stories.
Physical arc gifted by Head of Zeus.
Bookstagram
Tiktok
This collection is a testament for the yearning and near impossibility for absolute understanding and transcendent communication.
Standouts for me:
THE PASSING OF THE DRAGON:
This captures the frustration of an artist of being unable to capture a sublime moment. It is a raw look at an artist’s feelings of inadequacy as well as the complicated relationship between art and inspiration.
It’s the fashion among some "aspiring artists" at the co-op to formulate their critiques in the harshest terms possible in the belief that they are doing the victim a favor because a "thick skin" is necessary for artists. She’s never really understood their logic, however, since a thin skin, a vulnerability, a sensitivity toward the nuances of reality—a readiness to perceive dragons—is necessary to see the world’s beauty, to feel the tingling in the fabric of the cosmos that is at the foundation of all art.
IDOLS:
This is Liu flexing his speculative imagination. Humans have developed the technology to develop a simulacrum of others, used to model celebrities, lost relatives, to prepare for court cases…
Maybe there is nothing to this "self" we prize so much except the totality of this collection of masks. Or maybe there is some essential thing beneath the layers of masks, a beating heart, raw, bloody, vulnerable, yearning to connect, hungering to know where we come from and whither we go.
This is existential, analysing what is our ‘self’, what makes an individual ‘me’.
A WHISPER OF BLUE:
This was the most magical.
Dragons exist in an alternate Earth and have been used to harness energy.
This is a soft story about the personal over capitalism. It’s about wonder and steadfast commitment.
THE CLEANERS:
Whilst not the most satisfying in terms of plot and character arcs, I appreciated what Liu made me reflect on.
In a world where objects carry memories that can literally hurt people, cleaners are hired to rid objects of the memories of those who previously handled them.
And since they didn’t want a buyer in America to unwrap their brand-new phone only to be burned by the anguish of a foreigner, to be infected by a psychic wound like a virus—didn’t lifestyle gurus all say it was important to insulate oneself from the suffering of others, not to be dragged down by negativity one was powerless to stop?—they hired American workers to sit in warehouses to clean the phones and then to coat them with a spray of anonymized all-American fresh-product good cheer.
ARC:
The first human to achieve immortality reflects on motherhood, identity, freedom, and purpose.
Poignant, piercing, and powerful.
50 Things Every AI Working with Humans Should Know:
This was the closing story and my least favourite.
It seems fitting that it was the final story in a collection about different forms of communication considering AI’s unrelenting prevalence, but I admit to feeling uncomfortable whenever AI and art overlap.
Overall, I enjoyed this collection.
It leaned more sci fi and speculative which is the best genres for short stories to explore concepts, anxieties and hopes.
It doesn’t come close to The Paper Menagerie which is one of my rare six-star reads, but it’s on par, or slightly better than, The Hidden Girl and Other Stories.
Physical arc gifted by Head of Zeus.
Bookstagram
Tiktok
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
3 stars, Metaphorosis reviews
Summary
A collection of some of Ken Liu’s short stories.
Review
I've been a fan of Ken Liu for over a decade now, largely for his short work. Despite what I saw as a stumble in his first novel, The Grace of Kings, I was very much looking forward to this new collection. Unfortunately, either my tastes have changed or the writing has, and these stories don't have the old spark.
Broadly, many of the stories could be said to be about memory, which seems fertile ground. And some of them are excellent. But a lot of them also seem clinical and dry. A few are downright dull. And too many feel like the products of a day reading New Scientist to harvest story ideas.
To my mind, the collection gets off to a weak start with an author's foreword that, to use Liu's own words, seems awfully precious, or at least dry and verging on pretentious. The first actual story has very little actual story to it. 'Dry' is a fairly apt descriptor for many of the stories in this. Though the prose is generally excellent, with some beautiful turns of phrase ("I understood then what was buried in those little foot-shaped graves behind me."), few of the characters are really engaging, and I felt little in the way of emotion from most stories. Some are more statement and social critique than real story. Too many are told by simply aggregating a few different perspectives on the same concept, making them feel less like stories than writing exercises.
The centerpiece, certainly, is "The Passing of the Dragon", which I'd read previously at Tor.com. "The Armies of Those I Love", while it starts and ends weakly, is a strong second - preachy, but interesting. The rest are less distinctive. "The Cleaners" is a good story, though it struck me in some ways as a rewrite of "Dragon" - different setting, concept, and characters, but the same theme.
There's good writing here, but this collection is far more uneven than The Paper Menagerie. Get it for the few really good stories in here, and expect a fair amount of filler (albeit with good prose). The best stories are:
"The Passing of the Dragon" - about inspiration, as told by an artist whose work is misunderstood. Beautifully written and very effective, this is the Ken Liu whose stories I remember.
"The Armies of Those I Love" - post-environmental collapse, humans cling to the surfaces of mobile cities. A weak start and ending, but an intriguing middle.
"The Cleaners" - removing the memories that build up on human possessions, as seen by three people with different sensitivities. Effective, though similar in theme to "The Passing of the Dragon".
"A Whisper of Blue" - dragons as an energy source. While not in the league of the three above, it's an interesting story, though somewhat hampered by far too many perspective shifts.
"The Moon Carver" - post-apocalypse, as seen by a scorpion. Interesting, but dry.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
Summary
A collection of some of Ken Liu’s short stories.
Review
I've been a fan of Ken Liu for over a decade now, largely for his short work. Despite what I saw as a stumble in his first novel, The Grace of Kings, I was very much looking forward to this new collection. Unfortunately, either my tastes have changed or the writing has, and these stories don't have the old spark.
Broadly, many of the stories could be said to be about memory, which seems fertile ground. And some of them are excellent. But a lot of them also seem clinical and dry. A few are downright dull. And too many feel like the products of a day reading New Scientist to harvest story ideas.
To my mind, the collection gets off to a weak start with an author's foreword that, to use Liu's own words, seems awfully precious, or at least dry and verging on pretentious. The first actual story has very little actual story to it. 'Dry' is a fairly apt descriptor for many of the stories in this. Though the prose is generally excellent, with some beautiful turns of phrase ("I understood then what was buried in those little foot-shaped graves behind me."), few of the characters are really engaging, and I felt little in the way of emotion from most stories. Some are more statement and social critique than real story. Too many are told by simply aggregating a few different perspectives on the same concept, making them feel less like stories than writing exercises.
The centerpiece, certainly, is "The Passing of the Dragon", which I'd read previously at Tor.com. "The Armies of Those I Love", while it starts and ends weakly, is a strong second - preachy, but interesting. The rest are less distinctive. "The Cleaners" is a good story, though it struck me in some ways as a rewrite of "Dragon" - different setting, concept, and characters, but the same theme.
There's good writing here, but this collection is far more uneven than The Paper Menagerie. Get it for the few really good stories in here, and expect a fair amount of filler (albeit with good prose). The best stories are:
"The Passing of the Dragon" - about inspiration, as told by an artist whose work is misunderstood. Beautifully written and very effective, this is the Ken Liu whose stories I remember. "The Armies of Those I Love" - post-environmental collapse, humans cling to the surfaces of mobile cities. A weak start and ending, but an intriguing middle.
"The Cleaners" - removing the memories that build up on human possessions, as seen by three people with different sensitivities. Effective, though similar in theme to "The Passing of the Dragon".
"A Whisper of Blue" - dragons as an energy source. While not in the league of the three above, it's an interesting story, though somewhat hampered by far too many perspective shifts.
"The Moon Carver" - post-apocalypse, as seen by a scorpion. Interesting, but dry.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
August 16, 2026
What I like about Liu is the accessibility of his short fiction - these are stories with overt meaning, often spelled out for us. The main theme running through this collection is memory and time, with many stories either taking place over lengthy timespans or set in post-anthropocene universes. There are some obvious standouts but also some real duds. My (very) brief thoughts on each story below.
Three Views of a Parking Lot: A perspective on the longevity of human infrastructure, including robotics and how nature might adapt toward biorobotics. Probably only needed to be part 3 fleshed out, with parts 1 and 2 feeling superfluous.
The Passing of the Dragon: An almost autofictional perspective on internet-age reviews and death of the author. It feels very meta to write a review of a piece about the effectsof reviews on an artist. Also delves into how works are misinterpreted, but that's art for you.
The Moon Carver: Inspired by astrology, a story of Scorpio and wanderlust. The POV character felt a bit pointless as it's his daughter who has a far more interesting goal.
Good Spells: Eeminds me of a novel I read this year 'The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances' which I did not like. This story has a couple of things to say about the productivity cliff and planned obselecence.
Idols: A concept we've seen a lot in science fiction with machines replicating humans and asking how much fidelity can they really achieve, but it puts the characters in thoughtful dilemmas.
Ice Wraiths: Cool transhuman worldbuilding, but I found the ending to be really abrupt.
A Whisper of Blue: Dragons as a hungry power source, feeding on knowledge. Nice imagery
The Cleaners: People literally clean belongings of memories in a world where touching objects inspires recall and empathy. Shows the value of forgetting and being able to move on.
The Armies of Those I Love: Like a cross between Mortal Engines and Horizon: Zero Dawn. One of those stories which describes ordinary objects from the POV of someone who doesn't know what they are and you have to guess what mundane thing they are referring to. Long-winded.
Arcs: This was cool, from very macabre beginnings to a sweeter ending. Would work as a longer piece.
Cosmic Spring: Melancholy at the universe ending and being the lifeboat to witness it. Hard to engage with the character.
Timekeepers' Symphony: Second person POV with no real character to follow the story with, however a great way to count down humanity's self-destruction.
50 Things Every AI Working with Humans Should Know: The list itself makes you think about what it takes to understand being human. There's a framing story which is less interesting. Is it moral to use 'robo_ken' to help write the story, even as only an experiment, trained only on Liu's data? I think if he's using the tool the story could be far more metafictional and self-referential.
Three Views of a Parking Lot: A perspective on the longevity of human infrastructure, including robotics and how nature might adapt toward biorobotics. Probably only needed to be part 3 fleshed out, with parts 1 and 2 feeling superfluous.
The Passing of the Dragon: An almost autofictional perspective on internet-age reviews and death of the author. It feels very meta to write a review of a piece about the effectsof reviews on an artist. Also delves into how works are misinterpreted, but that's art for you.
The Moon Carver: Inspired by astrology, a story of Scorpio and wanderlust. The POV character felt a bit pointless as it's his daughter who has a far more interesting goal.
Good Spells: Eeminds me of a novel I read this year 'The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances' which I did not like. This story has a couple of things to say about the productivity cliff and planned obselecence.
Idols: A concept we've seen a lot in science fiction with machines replicating humans and asking how much fidelity can they really achieve, but it puts the characters in thoughtful dilemmas.
Ice Wraiths: Cool transhuman worldbuilding, but I found the ending to be really abrupt.
A Whisper of Blue: Dragons as a hungry power source, feeding on knowledge. Nice imagery
The Cleaners: People literally clean belongings of memories in a world where touching objects inspires recall and empathy. Shows the value of forgetting and being able to move on.
The Armies of Those I Love: Like a cross between Mortal Engines and Horizon: Zero Dawn. One of those stories which describes ordinary objects from the POV of someone who doesn't know what they are and you have to guess what mundane thing they are referring to. Long-winded.
Arcs: This was cool, from very macabre beginnings to a sweeter ending. Would work as a longer piece.
Cosmic Spring: Melancholy at the universe ending and being the lifeboat to witness it. Hard to engage with the character.
Timekeepers' Symphony: Second person POV with no real character to follow the story with, however a great way to count down humanity's self-destruction.
50 Things Every AI Working with Humans Should Know: The list itself makes you think about what it takes to understand being human. There's a framing story which is less interesting. Is it moral to use 'robo_ken' to help write the story, even as only an experiment, trained only on Liu's data? I think if he's using the tool the story could be far more metafictional and self-referential.
Review of advance copy
‘Exiles and outcasts don’t have electricity—the guardians cull them ruthlessly—She was an exile—In love with the sinful—bones. Always had been—I made a promise; I must keep it.’
Love them all (immensely fascinating, highly engaging, and (needless to ‘say’) tremendously brilliant as well), but I think my favourite at the moment/ if I had to choose one : (most probably) ‘The Armies of Those I Love’ (side note: my favourite Ghibli film is 'Princess Mononoke', but I love this 'story' by Ken Liu a thousand times more (at least), I feel). It also very slightly reminds me of Hernan Diaz's latest one, Ply, but this one (Ken Liu's) somehow 'proves' / (rather?) 'shows' that one can 'say' a lot more with a lot 'less' sometimes. Fuller RTC at a later date.
'‘We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent.'’
‘The guardians—are made of both machine and flesh—As the world was ending around the, those oldizens who had the most power sought a way to survive the collapse—and left the rest of the people to die. Instead of repenting, they asked their thinking machines to design a way to allow them, and only them, to continue to enjoy the luxuries of the—old ways—They were ticks designed to suck out the last of the world’s blood—Pilots weren’t enlightened. They were the most selfish oldizens of all.’
‘—renews itself by feeding upon the dead, survives in a poisoned and depleted world by consuming the residue of the past. The world of the oldizens was too toxic, too infected by plagues—the selfishness of people who could not see beyond the span of a season, much less the duration of generations. They choke the lungs of the world—defiled the flesh with gaping scars—prized the Now over the Evermore.’
‘‘You are the best decision I’ve ever made in my life. (They) said it was selfish of me to save a baby with no connection to us, to put the whole village at risk when we didn’t know why you had been abandoned—But I asked her, how could I be the selfish one when they were willing to watch someone die?’’
‘‘They are terrified of you because you love to know—to ask questions. You make them ashamed—Survive and never be anything except (you). Be curious. Be full of doubts—Promise me that.’’
‘Getting those cakes wasn’t easy—It’s a selfish act, she knows, to draw electricity on your own—The oldizens were selfish, vain, corrupt people. They thought they owned the world, coveted what wasn’t theirs, sought mastery over the universe— ‘Why are you living outside your village like some exiled beggar—And you dropped everything to be out here—wandering in the wilderness with a stranger. Who does that unless there’s a good reason?’’
‘(If you refuse, you’ll simply die and be consigned to oblivion, absorbed as mere meat—You cannot change the way the world is, only accept it. Come, be selfish. Be with those you love. Be with me. It would be so easy to give in, to be a servant) But that’s not a story that makes any sense. Not a story that feels true—There must be meaning to this, all of this. To believe otherwise, to accept, to not even try—is the only thing that is truly selfish—She turns and—refuses to concede, the one and only question that matters: What will it take to awaken the soul?’
‘She knows these words—knows—by heart—she knows the voice—a dance of machine and flesh, of the fall of empires—Docility is our only desirable quality. We tell ourselves that this is the best of all possible worlds until no other story is possible—But for the exiles, the outcasts, the rebels, their living minds are—valuable—spirits—‘Can you really watch them die and do nothing?’’
‘—she recites,—brings back to life a silent chorus, an invisible battalion. She’s—absolutely terrified, but she doesn’t regret it, any of it. The armies of those I love—charge them full with the charge of the soul.’
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
My dragon is always just around the corner
I was very happy to see this collection on NetGalley! It is a very different book compared to “The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories”. I am impressed by Ken Liu’s range.
“The deep yearning for understanding and the near impossibility of communication permeate this collection,” the author writes.
Three Views of a Parking Lot – a parking lot through the ages. A story of three stories, growing more wonderful and hopeful. 4 stars.
The Passing of the Dragon – a struggling artist sees something amazing and wants to paint it. 4.5 stars.
Moon Carver – Scorpions are cool. Eccentric scorpions are cooler. 4.6 stars.
Good Spells – in a near future world of AI, people struggle to stay human. A story of kindness. 4.3 stars.
Idols – I’ve read stories about digital copies of people before. This was a good take: fun, scary, poignant. 4 stars.
Ice Wraiths – bioengineered miners on a far-away planet. This story is about imagining and becoming something different. 4.3 stars.
A Whisper of Blue – a kaleidoscopic story set in an alternative universe, our world with dragons. I really liked it! 4.7 stars.
The Cleaners – another kaleidoscopic story, another alternative universe. Here, memories work in different ways. Brilliant, loved it. 4.9 stars.
The Armies of Those I Love – set in a very interesting post-apocalyptic world, this one is about true stories and questions, with some nice allusions. Awesome. 5 stars.
Arc – a poignant story about the arcs of our lives. For some reason it didn’t move me as much as I expected it to. 3.9 stars.
Cosmic Spring – it’s the winter of the universe, but the story is hopeful. 3.8 stars.
Timekeepers’ Symphony – a plotless story about Time. Nice, right? 4 stars.
50 Things Every AI Working With Humans Should Know – this was a cool one! 4 stars.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the free e-book!
I was very happy to see this collection on NetGalley! It is a very different book compared to “The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories”. I am impressed by Ken Liu’s range.
“The deep yearning for understanding and the near impossibility of communication permeate this collection,” the author writes.
Three Views of a Parking Lot – a parking lot through the ages. A story of three stories, growing more wonderful and hopeful. 4 stars.
The Passing of the Dragon – a struggling artist sees something amazing and wants to paint it. 4.5 stars.
Moon Carver – Scorpions are cool. Eccentric scorpions are cooler. 4.6 stars.
Good Spells – in a near future world of AI, people struggle to stay human. A story of kindness. 4.3 stars.
Idols – I’ve read stories about digital copies of people before. This was a good take: fun, scary, poignant. 4 stars.
Ice Wraiths – bioengineered miners on a far-away planet. This story is about imagining and becoming something different. 4.3 stars.
A Whisper of Blue – a kaleidoscopic story set in an alternative universe, our world with dragons. I really liked it! 4.7 stars.
The Cleaners – another kaleidoscopic story, another alternative universe. Here, memories work in different ways. Brilliant, loved it. 4.9 stars.
The Armies of Those I Love – set in a very interesting post-apocalyptic world, this one is about true stories and questions, with some nice allusions. Awesome. 5 stars.
Arc – a poignant story about the arcs of our lives. For some reason it didn’t move me as much as I expected it to. 3.9 stars.
Cosmic Spring – it’s the winter of the universe, but the story is hopeful. 3.8 stars.
Timekeepers’ Symphony – a plotless story about Time. Nice, right? 4 stars.
50 Things Every AI Working With Humans Should Know – this was a cool one! 4 stars.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the free e-book!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Ken Liu has a remarkable ability to take big questions about humanity, creativity, memory, and connection and explore them through beautifully crafted speculative fiction. This collection is a thoughtful and often mesmerising exploration of what it means to be human, with each story approaching those ideas from a different direction.
The stories vary hugely in setting and style, from futures shaped by artificial intelligence to worlds where dragons exist alongside humanity, but they are all connected by a fascination with communication, imagination, and the moments that give life meaning. Liu’s writing encourages you to look beyond the surface of a story and consider the deeper ideas beneath it.
The title story, 'The Passing of the Dragon', is a particularly moving reflection on art and the search for those rare, almost impossible-to-capture moments that inspire creativity. Other standouts for me were 'Idols', The Cleaners', and 'Arc', each offering a different perspective on identity, memory, and the ways technology might change our understanding of ourselves.
As with any short story collection, some pieces resonated more strongly than others, and a few felt more like philosophical explorations than traditional narratives. However, even the stories that didn’t completely connect with me were still filled with fascinating ideas and left me thinking long after finishing them.
Ken Liu is one of the most imaginative voices in science fiction. His ability to create entire worlds within a limited space, while still keeping the focus on deeply human emotions and experiences, is genuinely impressive. This is a collection that rewards taking your time with it and returning to its ideas again and again.
A thoughtful, inventive, and beautifully written collection that proves science fiction can be just as much about the human heart as it is about the future.
Thanks to NetGalley, Head of Zeus and the author for an advance copy.
The stories vary hugely in setting and style, from futures shaped by artificial intelligence to worlds where dragons exist alongside humanity, but they are all connected by a fascination with communication, imagination, and the moments that give life meaning. Liu’s writing encourages you to look beyond the surface of a story and consider the deeper ideas beneath it.
The title story, 'The Passing of the Dragon', is a particularly moving reflection on art and the search for those rare, almost impossible-to-capture moments that inspire creativity. Other standouts for me were 'Idols', The Cleaners', and 'Arc', each offering a different perspective on identity, memory, and the ways technology might change our understanding of ourselves.
As with any short story collection, some pieces resonated more strongly than others, and a few felt more like philosophical explorations than traditional narratives. However, even the stories that didn’t completely connect with me were still filled with fascinating ideas and left me thinking long after finishing them.
Ken Liu is one of the most imaginative voices in science fiction. His ability to create entire worlds within a limited space, while still keeping the focus on deeply human emotions and experiences, is genuinely impressive. This is a collection that rewards taking your time with it and returning to its ideas again and again.
A thoughtful, inventive, and beautifully written collection that proves science fiction can be just as much about the human heart as it is about the future.
Thanks to NetGalley, Head of Zeus and the author for an advance copy.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to the publisher, the author and NetGalley for an opportunity to read The Passing of the Dragon and Other Stories and share my thoughts about the book.
So, I don’t read that many short story collections because telling a story in such a few pages is challenging. It’s even more challenging when stories are scifi or fantasy or otherwise that far away from our normal, boring life that the author has to explain things for stories to make sense and even more things that need to be told without using words. I like my stories a little bit longer.
However, I really enjoyed this one and I think Ken Liu is one of my favorite authors when it comes to short stories (and longer stories too). Although not all the stories in this collection were for me, his writing is genuinely enjoyable and he balances pretty well between giving enough information that you can follow the stories but there isn’t too much info that it destroys the flow. I feel like there’s a good chance that the collection has something that will touch your soul.
I think some of the stories are ones that deserve another visit later for one reason or another. Some might open up for me more with a second round. Idols and The cleaners were my personal favorites and I gotta admit that I wish those were a little bit longer. My greed has no limits and I wish I would have had a longer visit in those worlds because I really liked the idea behind those stories so much. That’s the curse of short stories for me because I always end up wanting more when I enjoy the story.
Overall, I ended up enjoying the collection a lot even though I always like my stories in longer versions. Ken Liu is such a talented author that I find his writing very enjoyable in both shorter and longer books and even when not all the stories are for me, his writing carries through the collection.
So, I don’t read that many short story collections because telling a story in such a few pages is challenging. It’s even more challenging when stories are scifi or fantasy or otherwise that far away from our normal, boring life that the author has to explain things for stories to make sense and even more things that need to be told without using words. I like my stories a little bit longer.
However, I really enjoyed this one and I think Ken Liu is one of my favorite authors when it comes to short stories (and longer stories too). Although not all the stories in this collection were for me, his writing is genuinely enjoyable and he balances pretty well between giving enough information that you can follow the stories but there isn’t too much info that it destroys the flow. I feel like there’s a good chance that the collection has something that will touch your soul.
I think some of the stories are ones that deserve another visit later for one reason or another. Some might open up for me more with a second round. Idols and The cleaners were my personal favorites and I gotta admit that I wish those were a little bit longer. My greed has no limits and I wish I would have had a longer visit in those worlds because I really liked the idea behind those stories so much. That’s the curse of short stories for me because I always end up wanting more when I enjoy the story.
Overall, I ended up enjoying the collection a lot even though I always like my stories in longer versions. Ken Liu is such a talented author that I find his writing very enjoyable in both shorter and longer books and even when not all the stories are for me, his writing carries through the collection.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I received an ARC of this book. My review is based on that copy. The published work may differ from what I read.
Ken Liu is one of my favorite short story writers. His ideas are ambitious. The stories are hit or miss, as is usually the case with most collections of this nature. However, Liu is such a gifted writer that even the stories that didn’t work as well are still beautifully written. The theming is impactful, of the moment, and thoughtful. Similar to Liu’s first collection there is a lot of attention given to technology, AI, human connection and aging and memory, creativity, and the complicated relationship between humanity and machines.
Some of the stories get bogged down in too much information, too many details. The execution on the themes also varied. There were some stories where the ideas were not subtle, and neither was the way that Liu approached them. The structuring of some stories was awkward and choppy. That said the stories that worked, worked so well that I will be thinking about them long after finishing the book. Among them: The Cleaners, which was a fascinating look at memory, legacy, and the impressions we leave behind us.
This shouldn’t have surprised me, but the title story made me cry. It’s a beautiful, painful examination of the double edged sword of being an artistic creator, and the desperate need for what we create to be seen, understood, and valued by others. It captures the emotional effort, the disappointments and the frustrations, and the driving force to keep creating. It’s a love letter to extending understanding to each other, to being intentional about listening to and valuing the gifts that people have. There is a rapturous joy to being seen, to your work being understood, that is impossible to describe.
Ken Liu is one of my favorite short story writers. His ideas are ambitious. The stories are hit or miss, as is usually the case with most collections of this nature. However, Liu is such a gifted writer that even the stories that didn’t work as well are still beautifully written. The theming is impactful, of the moment, and thoughtful. Similar to Liu’s first collection there is a lot of attention given to technology, AI, human connection and aging and memory, creativity, and the complicated relationship between humanity and machines.
Some of the stories get bogged down in too much information, too many details. The execution on the themes also varied. There were some stories where the ideas were not subtle, and neither was the way that Liu approached them. The structuring of some stories was awkward and choppy. That said the stories that worked, worked so well that I will be thinking about them long after finishing the book. Among them: The Cleaners, which was a fascinating look at memory, legacy, and the impressions we leave behind us.
This shouldn’t have surprised me, but the title story made me cry. It’s a beautiful, painful examination of the double edged sword of being an artistic creator, and the desperate need for what we create to be seen, understood, and valued by others. It captures the emotional effort, the disappointments and the frustrations, and the driving force to keep creating. It’s a love letter to extending understanding to each other, to being intentional about listening to and valuing the gifts that people have. There is a rapturous joy to being seen, to your work being understood, that is impossible to describe.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
✦✦ Book Review: The Passing of the Dragon and Other Stories by Ken Liu
✧ ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰʀᴇᴇ ʙᴏᴏᴋ, @SagaPress
➤ 𝚂𝚈𝙽𝙾𝙿𝚂𝙸𝚂
This collection brings together a wide range of speculative fiction from Ken Liu, blending fantasy, science fiction, mythology, and history into stories that explore humanity, technology, culture, and the choices that shape our lives. Each tale offers a distinct perspective, showcasing Liu's imaginative storytelling and ability to weave emotional depth into extraordinary settings.
➤ 𝚃𝙷𝙾𝚄𝙶𝙷𝚃𝚂
Ken Liu has a remarkable ability to create memorable worlds and thought-provoking ideas in just a few pages. As with most short story collections, some entries resonated with me more than others, but the strongest stories were exceptional and easily carried the collection. I especially appreciated the blend of mythology, history, and speculative fiction, which kept each story feeling fresh and distinct. A handful of stories ventured into territory that felt a bit too abstract or unusual for my tastes, leaving me more puzzled than satisfied. Even so, those moments were the exception rather than the rule. Overall, this is a rewarding collection that showcases Ken Liu's creativity and range, and it's one I'd readily recommend to readers who enjoy speculative fiction that challenges the imagination while still delivering genuine heart.
✧ ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰʀᴇᴇ ʙᴏᴏᴋ, @SagaPress
➤ 𝚂𝚈𝙽𝙾𝙿𝚂𝙸𝚂
This collection brings together a wide range of speculative fiction from Ken Liu, blending fantasy, science fiction, mythology, and history into stories that explore humanity, technology, culture, and the choices that shape our lives. Each tale offers a distinct perspective, showcasing Liu's imaginative storytelling and ability to weave emotional depth into extraordinary settings.
➤ 𝚃𝙷𝙾𝚄𝙶𝙷𝚃𝚂
Ken Liu has a remarkable ability to create memorable worlds and thought-provoking ideas in just a few pages. As with most short story collections, some entries resonated with me more than others, but the strongest stories were exceptional and easily carried the collection. I especially appreciated the blend of mythology, history, and speculative fiction, which kept each story feeling fresh and distinct. A handful of stories ventured into territory that felt a bit too abstract or unusual for my tastes, leaving me more puzzled than satisfied. Even so, those moments were the exception rather than the rule. Overall, this is a rewarding collection that showcases Ken Liu's creativity and range, and it's one I'd readily recommend to readers who enjoy speculative fiction that challenges the imagination while still delivering genuine heart.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
TL;DR: An absolute banger of a collection.
Source: Saga Press! Thank you so much to the publisher!
Plot: All the stories in this focus on being understood or how words can fail.
Characters: So often characters in short stories fall flat. That is not the case here.
Setting: I enjoyed so many of these. Ken Liu is a master at what he does.
Fantasy/Science-fiction: Ken Liu’s SF always feels too smart for me, but his Fantasy is perfect.
Thoughts:
Ken Liu is a GOAT in the SFF scene, that’s something I’ll stand on. Even if I haven’t loved all of his work, I can understand the worth and skill he has in the space and I recognize that. This collection for me really showcases that.
The focus of these stories is about being understood, how words don’t always work, and what that is like. The first two stories in this started the collection off with a bang. I loved both of these, the title story and Three Views of Parking Lot. We continued on with fantastic story, after fantastic story. Arc was a great piece towards the end and Ice Wraith and A Whisper of Blue have lived rent free in my mind.
If you want to try Ken Liu or you’re an old fan, this is a great collection to pick up. This is going high on my list of recommended books. Give this a go.
Source: Saga Press! Thank you so much to the publisher!
Plot: All the stories in this focus on being understood or how words can fail.
Characters: So often characters in short stories fall flat. That is not the case here.
Setting: I enjoyed so many of these. Ken Liu is a master at what he does.
Fantasy/Science-fiction: Ken Liu’s SF always feels too smart for me, but his Fantasy is perfect.
Thoughts:
Ken Liu is a GOAT in the SFF scene, that’s something I’ll stand on. Even if I haven’t loved all of his work, I can understand the worth and skill he has in the space and I recognize that. This collection for me really showcases that.
The focus of these stories is about being understood, how words don’t always work, and what that is like. The first two stories in this started the collection off with a bang. I loved both of these, the title story and Three Views of Parking Lot. We continued on with fantastic story, after fantastic story. Arc was a great piece towards the end and Ice Wraith and A Whisper of Blue have lived rent free in my mind.
If you want to try Ken Liu or you’re an old fan, this is a great collection to pick up. This is going high on my list of recommended books. Give this a go.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
(Note:: I received an advanced reader copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley)
I was quite happy to learn about a brand new Ken Liu collection. Some of the stories immediately drew me in and held my attention tight the entire time, with the titular "The Passing of the Dragon”,”The Moon Carver”, and “The Armies of Those I Love” being my personal favorites. Others admittedly proved to be a bit harder to get into, and some more so than others. However, this isn’t a criticism of Liu specifically - this is just my standard experience with most short story collections. The particular joy of reading a Liu anthology is that even when the stories don’t connect with me, I still find myself able to easily appreciate his vivid and beautiful writing, and the enormous creative swings he enthusiastically takes with each individual story he writes and each self-contained world that he constructs. “he Passing of the Dragon and Other Stories in particular spans a wonderfully wide range of settings, premises and deep themes that it was impossible (in the best way possible) to guess what kind of reading journey awaited me with the start of each new story.
I may have been challenged at times reading through this collection. But bored? Completely lacking in anything to mentally or emotionally chew on? Never for a moment.
I was quite happy to learn about a brand new Ken Liu collection. Some of the stories immediately drew me in and held my attention tight the entire time, with the titular "The Passing of the Dragon”,”The Moon Carver”, and “The Armies of Those I Love” being my personal favorites. Others admittedly proved to be a bit harder to get into, and some more so than others. However, this isn’t a criticism of Liu specifically - this is just my standard experience with most short story collections. The particular joy of reading a Liu anthology is that even when the stories don’t connect with me, I still find myself able to easily appreciate his vivid and beautiful writing, and the enormous creative swings he enthusiastically takes with each individual story he writes and each self-contained world that he constructs. “he Passing of the Dragon and Other Stories in particular spans a wonderfully wide range of settings, premises and deep themes that it was impossible (in the best way possible) to guess what kind of reading journey awaited me with the start of each new story.
I may have been challenged at times reading through this collection. But bored? Completely lacking in anything to mentally or emotionally chew on? Never for a moment.
August 19, 2026
Award winning author Ken Liu brings together a collection of short fiction in The Passing of the Dragon and other stories and I think it would work really well as an introduction to his writing style for those unfamiliar with his work but it will also delight his long term fans. Sharp and incisive storytelling with a theme of humanity, connection, creativity and technology made this collection feel very timely as an increasing move towards the use of AI in creative spaces continues to pose many ethical questions. While not every story resonated with me I found myself particularly drawn to The Cleaners, set in a world where people have the ability to feel the emotions attached to objects and the ability to "clean " those objects of their past has become commodified, but The Passing of the Dragon and Idols were also very memorable. As with any anthology of stories there were a couple that did not hit for me, but overall the collection was very strong.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own .
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own .
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I was sent an e-arc of this book by the publisher. Here are my spoiler free thoughts:
As with most short story collections, some were great but others missed the mark, for me.
I did enjoy the thematic explorations in the collection and appreciate how Ken Liu once again tries to tackle themes of memory, humanity and its connection to technology but also more abstract ones, like creativity. The title story was my favourite. Trying to understand the world around us and be understood is what we are all looking for. It was captured beautifully, especially from the point of view of an artist and it’s an excellent reminder that we should try to truly listen and understand the people around us or their creative work.
I would recommend this collection. While I found some stories going in too much detail and failed to capture me, most were really good and I enjoyed my time with them. Great starting point if you’ve never read Ken Liu’s books before.
As with most short story collections, some were great but others missed the mark, for me.
I did enjoy the thematic explorations in the collection and appreciate how Ken Liu once again tries to tackle themes of memory, humanity and its connection to technology but also more abstract ones, like creativity. The title story was my favourite. Trying to understand the world around us and be understood is what we are all looking for. It was captured beautifully, especially from the point of view of an artist and it’s an excellent reminder that we should try to truly listen and understand the people around us or their creative work.
I would recommend this collection. While I found some stories going in too much detail and failed to capture me, most were really good and I enjoyed my time with them. Great starting point if you’ve never read Ken Liu’s books before.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Ken Liu spins words into stories and worlds you get lost in. In just a few handfuls of pages, he conveys a message, metaphors that make you think and reassess your initial thoughts. I love the way it makes you perceive humanity, through the anthropomorphising of robots or the importance of memories, storytelling and rituals.
The way certain tales are written - like The Armies of Those I Love - invites you to take a new look at the world, with some kind of childlike curiosity and wonder: how much of a person is contained in a story, how many emotions and memories do objects hold? Whereas a story like The Passing of the Dragon centers more on the parts of others you can only see when you listen and show genuine interest in their point of view. This collection reads to me like a plea to center humanity, which is so important.
The way certain tales are written - like The Armies of Those I Love - invites you to take a new look at the world, with some kind of childlike curiosity and wonder: how much of a person is contained in a story, how many emotions and memories do objects hold? Whereas a story like The Passing of the Dragon centers more on the parts of others you can only see when you listen and show genuine interest in their point of view. This collection reads to me like a plea to center humanity, which is so important.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!
Rating: 4.5/5
This was a deeply thought-provoking and contemplative collection, a series of short sci-fi stories that all circle back, in different ways, to the same question of what it means to be human. The AI themes felt particularly current, handled with a thoughtfulness that never tipped into heavy-handedness, and my favourites among the collection were The Arc, Idols and Good Spells, each approaching that question from a different angle.
Ken Liu remains one of my favourite authors, and one of the most original and spellbinding voices working in sci-fi today, something this collection only reenforced for me. I definitely recommend this!
Rating: 4.5/5
This was a deeply thought-provoking and contemplative collection, a series of short sci-fi stories that all circle back, in different ways, to the same question of what it means to be human. The AI themes felt particularly current, handled with a thoughtfulness that never tipped into heavy-handedness, and my favourites among the collection were The Arc, Idols and Good Spells, each approaching that question from a different angle.
Ken Liu remains one of my favourite authors, and one of the most original and spellbinding voices working in sci-fi today, something this collection only reenforced for me. I definitely recommend this!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I was happy to be selected to ARC-read "The Passing of the Dragon." Short story collections are a great way to sample a new author's writing style. Having read some of book 1 of the Dandelion Dynasty, I can testify that Liu likes information and details and has an obvious love for language. I liked most of the stories in this collection. Most are contemplative in nature or commentary (or both) on one or more aspects of humanity or society. I enjoyed the title story the best.
#ThePassingoftheDragonandOtherStories #NetGalley #SagaPress
Thank you to Saga Press for the ARC read in exchange for an honest review.
#ThePassingoftheDragonandOtherStories #NetGalley #SagaPress
Thank you to Saga Press for the ARC read in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
First of all, thank you to Saga Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, for the free e-copy of The Passing of the Dragon and Other Stories by Ken Liu for review. I loved Ken Liu's collection The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, so I was excited to read more short fiction from him. The Passing of the Dragon is a great collection of short fiction that leaves you wanting more after each tale. If you are into short fiction that leaves you in awe and has you pondering it long after you have finished reading, Ken Liu's collections, including this one, are for you. I would say most of these pieces have a perfect level of world and character building and kept my engagement high.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Review of Advanced reading copy from NetGalley
3.5 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the EARC.
This is a mixed bag of stories but a good collection overall. It started off a bit confusing but I personally found the stories to get better after the first one. I particularly enjoyed the passing of the dragon. However some of the stories were difficult to follow at times for me and were a bit dry. Overall not a bad read
3.5 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the EARC.
This is a mixed bag of stories but a good collection overall. It started off a bit confusing but I personally found the stories to get better after the first one. I particularly enjoyed the passing of the dragon. However some of the stories were difficult to follow at times for me and were a bit dry. Overall not a bad read
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
an interesting collection of stories exploring the necessity, absurdity, and impossibility of communication, especially as an artist in this age of technology. Will particularly appeal to tech enthusiasts
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
Lots of different feelings from these story, but they are all well done and have good ideas behind them.
Want to Read
August 17, 2026This book and Scalzi's Monsters of Ohio are two of the remaining books for this year that I have been waiting for.
Currently Reading
August 25, 2026waaa just got an ARC!!!
so excited!!
so excited!!
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews