The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by Ken Liu. I highly, HIGHLY enjoyed this book and even the stories that were less successful were still really enjoyable. There are 15 stories in this collection, and there was only one that I didn’t really enjoy. That’s a pretty astonishing for a collection of short stories. But most successfully, this has made me extremely excited for Liu’s novel The Grace of Kings. I’m having a hard time picking out a favorite […]
Tidbits from the world of the First Law.
This is a solid 3.5 star anthology collection. Most of the stories were good, not great, and a few were wonderful. I’m thinking particularly of “The Beautiful Bastard,” which shows us a pre-Gurkish torture ruination Glokta, and the very entertaining “Two’s Company,” which takes two characters that form the backbone of this collection, and pairs them with my personal favorite Abercrombie character, Whirrun of Bligh, aka Cracknut (’cause his nut is cracked). Even though all of these stories could be read on their own, Abercrombie […]
Using Uncertainty to Create a Sense of Unease and Eeriness
“It came from the woods. Most strange things do.” You know how horror movies can be super effective when they create a sense of unease just by making you know that something is not quite right? But you can’t determine what that thing that’s not right is, and therefore you have no idea what to do or how to fix the situation? How the idea of a monster is almost scarier than when you actually see what it is, because of the way your imagination […]
I Feel Like I’m Taking Crazy Pills
It’s a terrible feeling to hear praise heaped upon a new book, read it yourself and…not get it. Your mind starts playing games with itself: Everyone else liked this book, what’s wrong with you? Do you just not understand it? Is that it, you idiot? You focus on the book a little harder, maybe if you squint at the freaking book, all of this praise will make sense. But still…it’s just not there for you. That was my experience with Kelly Link’s collection of short […]