4.25 stars. I was immensely pleased by this collection focusing more on sci fi (less on war and Chinese History) and could see his maturation as a writer when compared to Paper Menagerie (less heavy handed, less telling vs showing, his words flowed more smoothly). I almost didn't read this because I read Paper Menagerie first, but I'm glad I did! I loved the stories focusing on the Singularity, they had a definite lighthearted version of Permutation City feel. I loved and was deeply bothered by The Reborn and Maxwell's Demon. Memories Of My Mother made me cry. If you're more of a sci fi person and felt a bit meh about Paper Menagerie, or if you found the descriptions of torture in Paper Menagerie to be too much, you'll enjoy this one much more.

There were a few stories I didn't care for/were just okay, mostly the pure fantasy ones like Grey Rabbit... and The Chase... , which is the only reason for 4.25.