MANTICORE is an impressive collection of short stories about the relationships between humans and animals. From her experience interacting with animals, Kolluri paints an inventive picture of the dependence between humans and animals, the needs and reasons of animals to talk to humans, how our environment is perceived through their eyes, and the inner lives of animals.

From a donkey smuggled from Egypt pretending to be a zebra in a zoo to the manticore's insatiable hunger, the vultures' duty to watch over the dead, and an unlikely friendship between a fox and a polar bear, each story is a thought-provoking exploration of how animals have more humanity than we often give them credit for.

My favorite story is "May God Forever Bless the Rhino Keepers," in which a hound dog guards rhinos in a conservatory in Kenya. The story perfectly captures the excitement and loyalty of a dog; it is a testament to the deep bond between humans and animals and how humans don't deserve dogs