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Title | The Grace of Kings
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Author | Ken Liu
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Cover Art | Sam Webber
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Publisher | Simon & Schuster - 2015
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First Printing | Simon & Schuster - 2015
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Title | ---
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Author | Ken Liu
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Cover Art | ---
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Publisher | ---
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First Printing | ---
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Category | Epic Fantasy
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Warnings | None
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Main Characters | Kuni Garu, Matta Zyndu, Jia Matiza, Cogo Yelu, Luan Zya, Gin Mazoti, and many others
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Main Elements | Gods
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Website | kenliu.name
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 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.
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.
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