Hidden Girl and Other Stories

(em português, com links → sol2070.in/2024/02/livro-the-hidden-girl-ken-liu/ )

"The Hidden Girl" (2020) is a collection of short stories by award-winning speculative fiction author Ken Liu. Most of them are sci-fi, but there is also fantasy.

It's the book that includes the six stories on which the animated series "Pantheon" is based. I discovered Ken Liu because of this series. I read the book for the same reason and ended up finding several other memorable stories.

Some of them left me with the same impression as reading Ted Chiang, as they are stories that call for reflection, touchingo on deep themes. There are two or three dispensable stories out of a total of 19, which is an excellent average.

Apart from the "Pantheon" stories, the ones I liked the most were:

• "Reborn" - One of the best stories I've seen about coexistence with aliens.
• "Memories of My Mother" - A mother and daughter meet over an abnormal period of time.
• "Thoughts and Prayers" - About gun ownership and 4chan-style trolling. It could be an episode of Black Mirror.
• "The Message" - A xeno-archaeologist and his daughter try to decipher inscriptions on an abandoned planet.
• "Real Artists" - How far will the algorithmization of entertainment go?

I was only a little put off by some of the stories, which show Liu to be a techno-optimist. Considering the way technology has been captured by big techs, this position ends up being compromising. But you can overlook it, since much of science fiction is based on this enchantment.

I'm still reading the author's previous collection ("The Paper Menagerie"), which is said to be better than this one.