Book Review: The Passing of the Dragon and Other Stories by Ken Liu

This is a gorgeous set of short stories - and a good deal more accessible than some of the heavyweight prose Liu has previously been involved with. Some of the stories contain sentences which are complex jewels to be savoured.

What I particularly like is the way he moves between almost-prosaic Earth-bound stories to the the most extraordinary flights of fancy. One story might be set in a downtown art gallery, the next in the ice-rings of a far-off planet. The creeping feeling of senescence haunts the reader as they flit from story to story.

Much like his full-length novel All That We See or Seem, Liu has an incredible knack for tapping in to modern fears and weaving tall tales around them. There's a tenderness in all his character - even when a couple of the stories go nowhere, it is still pleasant to spend time in the worlds he has created.

It is, perhaps, missing a cohesive theme - the dragons come and go throughout the stories. Nevertheless, a compelling work chock full of fantastical ideas.

If you're in the mood for a wide and varied selection of stories, this is well worth picking up.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the review copy. Passing of the Dragon is available to buy now.