Udy Kumra’s Reviews > The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories > Status Update

“The Paper Menagerie”—ok, this is still 5 stars, and my favorite Ken Liu story. It still makes me tear up more than any other 15 page story I’ve ever read.

“The Regular” — DNF 18 pages in. SO MUCH POV SWITCHING! I couldn’t stand it. I gave it a good shot, read nearly half. Next one is The Paper Menagerie 😍😍

“Simulacrum” — 5 stars. I’ve read this one before and still really like it. The form is unique and creative and the characters are well drawn. I love this one.

“The Literomancer” — 5 stars. These characters were amazing, the setting vivid, the story heartbreaking. One of my favorite short stories I’ve ever read.

“Good Hunting” — This story is alright, but I have a soft spot for it because much of it is set in Hong Kong. 4 stars.

“The Perfect Match”—5 stars. This is one of the most compelling SFF short stories I’ve ever read, about the ways in which corporations surveil us in the modern world.

State Change: 2 stars. It’s always sus when male authors write about women exploring their sexuality and this story proves why. It’s SO male gaze-y in extremely subtle ways.

"The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species" – 3 stars. Interesting idea to do a worldbuilding-focused short story instead of character-centric as is usually the case, but it didn't really land for me. Giving it 3 stars mostly because it was a cool idea and the worldbuilding here was REALLY cool, but I found myself getting bored without characters. Too experimental for me lol.