I don't really read science fiction, at least the space battle type. I find war stories painful (tho sometimes worth it) and I'm terrible at strategy, probably because it never holds my interest. Keeping that in mind, this seemed an odd choice for me to read (although the opening line and the concept of tactical linguistics would easily explain the attraction). But it's maybe more meaningful when I say I am madly in love with this book. The ideas are varied and captivating, the story-telling is arrow-sharp, and there's something both entirely novel and entirely familiar in the voice. Familiar isn't the right word. There are just moments of something. Recognition. What I find amazing is that each story has its own context, and world-building is so intrinsic and complete that it feels effortless. In a short story. In each short story. And the strength comes from everything that is left unsaid, that engages the reader's mind. I don't even know how to articulate how amazing that is.

I've just read it on loan and I'm going out to buy my own copy. ( )

The usual mixed bag of stories. ( )

When checking out the works of an authors unknown to you, it's usually best, or, at least, safer, to go for a stand-alone novel or a collection of short-stories. In this case, I went for 'Conservation of Shadows', a book that was (is?) hard to get on European soil. Luckily, an American supplier of the Belgian bookshop Sterling Books (Brussels) had a copy in stock.

This first short-story collection contains sixteen of Lee's stories. While the majority was published previously in magazines like Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Clarkesworld, F&SF, Tor.com, ... Mrs Lee also added one especially for this bundle: 'Iseul's Lexicon', not published before.

The table of contents looks like this: (linked books are just the first links that popped up through the 'Insert book/author' functionality)

00) Introduction by [a:Aliette de Bodard|2918731|Aliette de Bodard|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1261567215p2/2918731.jpg]
01) Ghostweight (2011)
02) The Shadow Postulates (2007) (based on Fermat's Last Theorem, Euclid's fifth postulate)
03) The Bones of Giants (2009) (influenced by Neon Genesis Evangelion)
04) Between Two Dragons (2010) (based on the Imjin War, and the Korean War)
05) Swanwatch (2009)
06) Effigy Nights (2013)
07) Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain (2010) (partly influenced by [b:Freedom Evolves|2071|Freedom Evolves|Daniel C. Dennett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1312345547l/2071._SY75_.jpg|2767774] by [a:Daniel C. Dennett|6952980|Daniel C. Dennett|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1447369488p2/6952980.jpg])
08) Iseul's Lexicon (2013, exclusive)
09) Counting the Shapes (2001) (influenced by [b:Blue Moon Rising|810881|Blue Moon Rising (Forest Kingdom, #1)|Simon R. Green|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1438318554l/810881._SY75_.jpg|1350551] by [a:Simon R. Green|41942|Simon R. Green|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1224555729p2/41942.jpg])
10) Blue Ink (2008)
11) The Battle of Candle Arc (2012) (based on Admiral Yi and the Battle of Myeongnyang)
12) [b:A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel|12229927|A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel|Yoon Ha Lee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1315806892l/12229927._SX50_.jpg|17203579] (2011) (see my review here) (based on [b:Invisible Cities|9809|Invisible Cities|Italo Calvino|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1468623303l/9809._SY75_.jpg|68476] by [a:Italo Calvino|155517|Italo Calvino|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1501975461p2/155517.jpg])
13) The Unstrung Zither (2009) (partly influenced by [b:A Song for One or Two: Music and the Concept of Art in Early China|2628397|A Song for One or Two Music and the Concept of Art in Early China|Kenneth J. Dewoskin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1363585469l/2628397._SX50_.jpg|2653098] by [a:Kenneth J. Dewoskin|5636441|Kenneth J. Dewoskin|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png])
14) The Black Abacus (2002)
15) The Book of Locked Doors (2012)
16) Conservation of Shadows (2011) (partly influenced by The Descent of Inanna and the video game Portal)
** Story Notes **

Mrs Lee has a wide range of imagination. The stories vary in length and take place in very diverse contexts (language, music, physics, philosophy, war, freedom, religion, ...), be they fantasy- or science-fiction-oriented and sometimes hard SF at that.

The story notes are a crucial part of this book, as in them Mrs Lee explains in very honest wording how each story came to be and which influences played a role.

The prose is quite simply amazing and a lust for the eye and mind, even if some themes (mathematics and physics, for example) can be a bit of hurdle, depending on your interests and knowledge.

As Tim Hicks wrote in his review: "If I have a complaint with this collection, it's that it makes me feel less smart than when I started. Lee has a very wide thinking range indeed."

After [a:Ken Liu|2917920|Ken Liu|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1400610835p2/2917920.jpg]'s [b:The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories|32295221|The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories|Ken Liu|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1475009089l/32295221._SY75_.jpg|44534169], and [a:Ted Chiang|130698|Ted Chiang|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1399023404p2/130698.jpg]'s [b:Stories of Your Life and Others|25670162|Stories of Your Life and Others|Ted Chiang|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1506951237l/25670162._SY75_.jpg|216334] and [b:Exhalation|44908536|Exhalation|Ted Chiang|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1554775892l/44908536._SY75_.jpg|64336454], I can heavily recommend 'Conservation of Shadows'... also by an Asian author. An original, mind-bending collection. ( )

Yoon Ha Lee is a Korean-American writer of sf who wrote the trilogy called Machineries of Empire that begins with Nine-Fox Gambit. these are earlier short stories (only one of them set in that empire) that echo his fascinating interweaving of math, magic, and military might in Asian-accented worlds, and they are just as interesting. the intro is by Aliette de Bodard. note to self: the last story is a version of Inanna's journey to the underworld. ( )

Fantasy/sf stories in which spaceships are origami monsters, linguistics is a combat discipline, and books can be drained of their words in order to create monsters to fight invaders. Reminded me of Kelly Link, except more influenced by Korean culture/traditional stories than Link—it’s really more the dream logic that links them. ( )