|
|
Title | The Grace of Kings
| |
Author | Ken Liu
| |
Cover Art | Sam Webber
| |
Publisher | Simon & Schuster - 2015
| |
First Printing | Simon & Schuster - 2015
|
|
|
|
Title | The Wall of Storms
| |
Author | Ken Liu
| |
Cover Art | Sam Webber
| |
Publisher | Saga Press - 2017
| |
First Printing | Saga Press - 2016
|
|
|
|
Title | The Veiled Throne
| |
Author | Ken Liu
| |
Cover Art | Sam Webber
| |
Publisher | Saga Press - 2022
| |
First Printing | Saga Press - 2021
|
|
|
|
Title | Speaking Bones
| |
Author | Ken Liu
| |
Cover Art | Tony Mauro
| |
Publisher | Saga Press - 2023
| |
First Printing | Saga Press - 2022
|
| |
|
Category | Epic Fantasy
| |
Warnings | None
| |
Main Characters | Kuni Garu, Matta Zyndu, Jia Matiza, Cogo Yelu, Luan Zya, Gin Mazoti, Zomi Kidosu, Thera, Timu, Phyro, Fara, Vadyu Roatan, Kinri and many others
| |
Main Elements | Gods, Silkpunk
| |
Website | kenliu.name
|
|
 The Grace of Kings
As the empire falls, a war will consume all in the name of justice.
The archipelago of Dara was once divided into seven kingdomes, with shifting alliances and constant battles - a tempest of diverse dialects and cultures. When a relentless king united the seven lands into one empire, some thought it would bring peace, an end to the turmoil. Instead, it brought stagnation and suffering, the anger of the gods, and, finally, a rebellion.
Kuni Garu is a wily bandit who is more concerned with finding his next drink and being well-liked than with the affairs of the empire, until he meets his match: Jia. This free-spirited daughter of a well-regarded family has a prophetic vision about Kuni that transcends his slovenly beginnings: He has greatness within him and may be the key to freeing Dara from a cruel despot. Driven by Jia's love and touched by the grace of the common people, Kuni sets out on an unlikely path to heroism - and perhaps a daring wager against the gods.
Mata Zyndu, the last son of a martyred duke, and the scion of a family of renowned warrios and generals, is favoured by the gods. Standing seven and a half fee tall, broad-shouldered and double-pupiled, Mata looks like a hero out of ancient legends. Determined to reclaim his stolen heritage, Mata catches wind of a revolution - and begins a war that wil start him on a journey to become the greatest warrior of his age.
When Mata and Kuni meet, they become fast friends. They are two men with the same goal and whose strengths complement each other. Calling one another brother, Kuni and Mata wage separate wars against vast conscripted armies and silk-draped airships in order to wrest Dara from cruelty as the empire's weaknesses are exploited.
Fans of intrigue, intimate plots, and vast battles will find a new series to embrace in this highly anticipated debut by multiple award-winning author Ken Liu.
The Wall of Storms
The much-anticipated sequel to the Grace of Kings, which NPR called "a magnificent fantasy epic," returns with Kuni Garu, who is well esconced as Emperor Ragin when war arises once again. An unexpected invading force from the far distant east, known as the Lyucu empire, comes to the shores of Dara, and chaos erupts.
Amid traitorous rebellion and false accusations, the emperor's grown children rise to face the invaders, but only one has the guile and savvy intuition to empower the unlikely genius that surrounds her - Emperor Ragin's eldest daughter, Théra.
The Wall of Storms is the breathtaking sequel that builds, with a towering diversity of action and tragedy that embodies the best of epic fantasy.
The Veiled Throne
Princess Théra entrusted the throne to her younger brother in order to journey to Ukyu-Gondé to war with the Lyucu. She has crossed the fabled Wall of Storms with a fleet of advanced warships and ten thousand people. Théra and her companions attempt to overcome every challeng by doing the most interesting thing. But is not letting the past dictate the present always possible, or even desirable?
In Dara, the Lyucu leadership as well as the surviving Dandelion Court bristle with rivalries as currents of power surge and ebb. Here, parents and children, teachers and students, Empress and Pékyu all nurture the seeds of plans that will take years to bloom. Will tradition yield to new justifications for power?
Speaking Bones
The concluding book of the Dandelion Dynasty begins in the middle of two wars on two lands among three peoples separated by an ocean yet help together by invisible strands of love and ideals. Harried by Lyucu pursuers, Princess Théra and Pékyu Takval try to reestablish an ancestral dream even as their hearts grow in doubt. The people of Dara continue the struggle against the genocidal Lyucu as both nations vacillate between starkly contrasting visions for their future. Even the gods cannot see through the Wall of Storms. For only mortal hearts can decide mortal fates.
Ken Liu has created a fascinating fantasy world with gods and mortals playing a game of thrones, and no, I won't compare it to George R.R. Martin's series. While both epic fantasies revolve around a few fighting for power and the consequences for everyone else, they are very different in tone and style.
One of the key features I look for in a fantasy novel, especially a big epic fantasy, is the world building. You can only fill so many pages with plot, you need to create a complex world into which to drop your characters. This world needs a history, a magic system, a mythology and religion, a culture, you have to feel that these people are real, and yet they are not us. Liu succeeds on this regard.
Next, there are the characters. Now this book wasn't perfect, some of the characters were unfortunately a bit too two-dimensional. You know how Eddard Stark was so perfect (guess I lied about the Song of Ice and Fire comparisons...), well for all of Kuni Garu's faults, he was also maybe a bit too perfect. And for all of Mata's qualities, he was a little too faulty. I mean there was never a time when you had to struggle to choose between the two, it was clear who was in the right and who was in the wrong. Although...if you compared the personality traits of Hitler versus Churchill, it would be something kind of like this. Truth really is stranger than fiction, and fantasy gets held to higher standards of believability than the real world. And in the end, I didn't remove a star because I sympathized with both characters, in fact almost all characters, much as I wanted to knock some sense into stubborn Mata.
There were a ton of secondary characters as well, and like any epic series such as this it can be a bit overwhelming to keep track of everyone, but it's worth the effort to remember which god belongs to which Tiro state, who was king of where, and what bandit was stealing from which nobleman. The book conveniently has them all listed in the front for easy reference. In particular I enjoyed the meddling of the gods, much as they claimed they wouldn't meddle.
And of course, plot matters too. A wonderful world with interesting characters would get boring fast. If you enjoy your battles, there is plenty of that. If you enjoy your political intrigue, there is definitely plenty of that. I found that it was well balanced, and I never got bored, and I always enjoyed discovering how Kuni was going to get out of the next mess he got himself into. The ability of Kuni and his advisers to think outside the box led to all kinds of fun.
The novel wraps up neatly, to the point where it could be a standalone. But in a world where powerful ambitions collide, you know it won't stay quiet for long. I look forward to reading the next installment.
And I'll never look at a dandelion the same way again.
December 2024
Almost a decade later I decided to return to this world. Of course I start with the first book again. It seems I got something a little different out of it this time around. While true there was no question between Kuni and Mata, I really enjoyed Kuni's adventures. And the other thing I noticed this time around that I didn't mention before, was the book is driven by a lot of problem solving. I'm an engineer, this figuring out how to resolve complex issues, whether its developping a new weapon or trying to keep nobles in line, I enjoyed the characters trying to figure out not just what path to take, but what was the right path. And how often, even with the best of intentions, might backfire and be taken the wrong way.
In the second book the Lyucu are introduced, a "barbarian" race living in a harsh land. Here again I felt we had a one-dimensional character in their leader. He was just cruel and power hungry and I struggled to find any redeeming feature at all. Sure he was invading Dara to give his people a better land but I think he just really wanted to conquer. At first I didn't want the story to move beyond Kuni, but it is the "Dandelion Dynasty" so I guess I knew this story would span generations. While I never really got interested in the kids that much, other interesting characters were introduced as well.
These books are very long, the last one cracks the one thousand page mark, but I don't get bored reading them. Even when in the third book, in the middle of a war, a group of characters get themselves involved in a competition to decide the best restaurant in the city. Because even during a war life goes on, and once again, it highlights that problem solving thing I liked so much. From figuring out how to rub silk on glass to generate electricity, to learning to create lift gas for airships, these books are definitely Silkpunk, using Asian technology to build your society just as Steampunk is run on Victorian tech.
There are even dragons...that are herbivores, and there's a good reason for that, since exactly how they fly and how they breath fire is worked out in great detail. Am I convinced all the things described would work and could people refine them as fast as they do, not really. Sure you know the characters are going to yank something out of their assess right at the last minute (at least most of the time, they do occassionaly fail spectacularly) but its so much fun finding out what that solution is going to be, you can't help rooting for everyone.
But even the gods can't predict what these humans are going to do, and no matter how they poke and nudge, things don't always go their way as well. Ah it was funny when the Lyucu invaded and started mapping these gods to their own, and this *changed* the gods, because what are they other than what we envision them to be? Even they don't have control of their own fate.
This series also has one of the longest wrap ups after the main climax I've seen other than the Eragon series. But while in Eragon I just got bored, every bit of this wrap up was meaningful. I couldn't think of any loose ends that weren't covered, all at the same time not implying that the story is done, since life goes on.
I don't know if these books are for everyone, like I could see people being annoyed at the cooking competition that lasted around couple hundred pages (or more?), when there's an invasion to repel, but I loved it. And it wasn't entirely unconnected to the rest of the events either. Sometimes the stories aren't just about the kings but the little people just trying to get by.
|
