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The Grace of Kings

(The Dandelion Dynasty #1)

Ken Liu (Goodreads Author)

3.73 · Rating details · 10,692 ratings · 1,706 reviews

Two men rebel together against tyranny—and then become rivals—in this first sweeping book of an epic fantasy series from Ken Liu, recipient of Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards.

Wily, charming Kuni Garu, a bandit, and stern, fearless Mata Zyndu, the son of a deposed duke, seem like polar opposites. Yet, in the uprising against the emperor, the two quickly b ...more

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Hardcover, 640 pages

Published April 7th 2015 by Saga Press

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Feb 06, 2015 Brightness rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy, disappointing, 2015, reviewed, sexism, science-fiction, 2-stars, nebula

Why two stars?:

*Women* - Where were they? For 400 pages we had one "main" female character, who ended up being treated way too much like a secondary character. The rest of the women were minor characters. And the main female character spent most of her story arc picking herbs, getting pregnant, having babies, encouraging her husband to take a second wife, and then becoming stereotypically jealous of the new woman in her man's life.
We were given one token female warrior characte ...more

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Apr 19, 2017 Mary ~Ravager of Tomes~ rated it did not like it

Shelves: audiobook, 1-star, year-2017

Actual Rating: 1.5 Stars

Yeesh...

It's such a relief to have made it to the end of this book.

So let me start with the positive. I love the Asian influence in the story. We don't see a lot of High Fantasy series with such a rich historical element that are based outside of Europe. This is something I definitely appreciated.

But unfortunately I just could not connect to any other part of this story.

The first 40%-50% of this novel is an absolute jumble. It hops around from character to character telling/>It's ...more

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Sep 27, 2018 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, own, fantasy-all, paperback

Omg!!! This is one of those where you like no one because they either die or piss you off. Sigh.... it was still a 5 star for me!

Now I can't say my favorite character! *shakes fist*

I have the paperback but listened to the audio and realized it was Michael Kramer! I love his narrations so that explains why that was so good! I will be adding it to my Audible library as well!

Happy Reading Y'all!

Mel 🖤🐺🐾

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Aug 25, 2014 Mogsy (MMOGC) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: review-copy, epic, edelweiss, arcs-and-galleys, historical-fiction, fantasy, favorites, war

5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.com/2015/04/20/b...

I was never a really good student of history. But my family background being Chinese, I’ve always been taught to embrace my heritage. I grew up listening and adoring the history and legendary tales of Ancient China told to me by my parents and grandparents, who have learned these things themselves when they were children. My great uncle was also fond of watching old Wuxia operas and historical dramas, and he used to record these and leave the tapes at o 5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.com/2015/04/20/b...

I was never a really good student of history. But my family background being Chinese, I’ve always been taught to embrace my heritage. I grew up listening and adoring the history and legendary tales of Ancient China told to me by my parents and grandparents, who have learned these things themselves when they were children. My great uncle was also fond of watching old Wuxia operas and historical dramas, and he used to record these and leave the tapes at our house for the curious and unsuspecting adolescent me to find. They were…interesting.

It might seem like I’m zipping off on a tangent here, but really, I’m trying my best to explain why I loved this book so much. I read The Grace of Kings with a strange mixture of emotions I’ve never experienced before while reading anything else in my life. It was part giddiness at the familiarity of the topic; the fall of the Qin Dynasty and the subsequent rise of the Han Dynasty being such an important and tumultuous period in China’s classical age, it was instantly recognizable that this interregnum was what Ken Liu was basing his story on. I was like, “Oh, I think I know the story or legend that inspired this scene/character/event, etc.” pretty much every few chapters.

I was also very moved, and I struggle to find the words to explain this. In essence, seeing what the author has done here – taking these snippets of legends and tales from history that I’ve grown up with and incorporating into this novel, forming this wondrous piece of literature – at times it was too much to take. Many of the side stories in The Grace of Kings had the feel and atmosphere of the old anecdotes my elders shared with me when I was younger. At times I got so sentimental that I was nearly moved to tears. It’s also a beautiful book. Anyway, personal aside over. I don’t usually get sappy in my reviews, but I just don’t know how else to describe how much reading this novel affected me. I saw Ken Liu take a historical narrative that I know and love, and transform it into this gorgeous work of art.

While The Grace of Kings is a combination of East Asian sources with Western elements, that’s only just the beginning. It’s also a blend of storytelling traditions from various other cultures and historical eras along with elements from epic fantasy, mythology, and even a bit of steampunk action with airships and war kites and airborne duels thrown in. The novel’s themes speak to the human condition, exploring the corrupting force of absolute power and the chaos that inevitably follows great change, but the original and poignant execution by Liu gives it all a fresh and new perspective.

Indeed, the novel is different from a lot of today’s mainstream fantasy. Expressive modes of storytelling aside, a lot of the nuances can also be attributed to the writing style. It took a long time for me to read The Grace of Kings, for as fervently as I would have liked to devour this book, it just can’t be rushed. In this sense, Liu’s writing reminds me a lot of Guy Gavriel Kay, another author of historical fantasy whose work I greatly admire and respect. Like Kay again, Liu’s evocative prose feels almost like poetry, meant to be savored. In between the major perspectives like those of Kuni Garu and Mata Zyndu, Liu also inserts mini-narratives from those around the main characters. A pantheon of gods stand witness to a group of people whose lives have been touched by the two leaders, and by the events surrounding the uprising against the emperor. War is never insignificant or simple; its effects are felt far and wide by everyone, from all walks of life. Each person has a tale to tell.

This collection of narratives therefore makes the widespread conflict feel more realistic, though one downside is that it puts a distance between the reader and the events of the story, making some of scenes featuring significant developments like major victories and defeats feel muted and less impactful. On the other hand, being able to follow a vast network of characters also greatly opens up the world.

That said, the up-close-and-personal relationships are important to the story too. Mata Zyndu appears to be based on the warlord Xiang Yu while Kuni Garu is loosely modeled after Liu Bang, both prominent historical figures during the insurgency in the late Qin Dynasty. Both characters have similar goals during the revolution to overthrow a brutal reign (a friend of mine has playfully compared this to Game of Thrones, calling it “Ned Stark and Robert Baratheon: The Early Years”), but then later on they come to blows. The story immediately picked up for me after the two of them meet, and it just took off from there.

Ken Liu deftly chronicles the relationship between Kuni and Mata, contrasting them and emphasizing their ideological differences from the beginning, despite their easy friendship. Things don’t slow down even after the overthrow of Erishi, Emperor Mapidéré’s weak heir. Honorable, ruthless Mata is often at odds with the fun-loving and merciful Kuni, and the conflict finally boils over in the mayhem that follows. After all, there are many ways to wage a war, with honor and guile being two sides of the same coin. Just when you think things are winding down, the true excitement begins. My favorite character doesn’t even make her first appearance until around the three-quarters mark: Gin Mazoti, who was an orphan born to a prostitute and survived a rough childhood on the streets to become the greatest military strategist the world has ever seen. Gin stormed onto the page amidst the chaos, and I fell in love with her character immediately. I could probably write a whole page about how awesome she is, but there are certain things best left to surprise.

The greatest stories are those that stir both the heart and mind, and The Grace of Kings is one of those rare novels that accomplishes this feat magnificently. Ken Liu gives readers a lot more than just a story about epic battles, friendship and betrayal, compassion and cruelty; he also inspires. After reading this book I wanted to dig deeper into the historical period that the story was based on, to give myself more context to the tales and legends I’ve always heard about. Highly recommended for epic fantasy fans looking to venture beyond traditional boundaries, and for all readers who love being immersed in incredible breathtaking worlds. ...more

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Jun 21, 2015 Bradley rated it really liked it

Shelves: worldbuilding-sf, fantasy, 2016-shelf

This is a very interesting tale, reminding me as I read it just how little I still know of Chinese history. I want to romance kingdoms and wallow in all the warring states, and yet, from everything I do know, this novel is and remains unique.

It borrows from the old histories to make a thoroughly modern fantasy epic.

And when I say epic, I mean epic rises to power and grand falls, with a few memorable characters (mostly women) and an absolutely huge supporting cast. Armies march from the start a ...more

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Jun 09, 2015 Althea Ann rated it liked it

An ambitious, epic fantasy... that at times felt more like reading a history than a novel.

I've become a fan of Liu's short stories, so was eager to read his debut long-form novel. (At over 600 pages, it is pretty long).

We're introduced to the archipelago of Dara, a collection of islands which seem to be constantly at war. The book follows a number of characters who plot coups, rise to power, form alliances, betray each other, and sometimes die miserably and violently. An ambitious, epic fantasy... that at times felt more like reading a history than a novel.

I've become a fan of Liu's short stories, so was eager to read his debut long-form novel. (At over 600 pages, it is pretty long).

We're introduced to the archipelago of Dara, a collection of islands which seem to be constantly at war. The book follows a number of characters who plot coups, rise to power, form alliances, betray each other, and sometimes die miserably and violently.

It's a fantasy-with-not-much-magic. There are gods who spend time commenting on human behavior, and occasionally making suggestions directly to individuals. There are a few fantastic beasts and mysterious occurrences, but largely the laws of physics apply. In that, it reminded me of much of Guy Gavriel Kay's work, especially the recent 'River of Stars.'

The main characters are Kuni Garu, a seemingly 'ordinary man' who may have a great destiny, and Mata Zyndu, who never seemed ordinary - it was always assumed that he was born to be a hero. Their changing relationship is the thread that runs throughout the book - however, there's a sometimes-dizzying cast of other characters.

Dara is described as very ethnically diverse, but culturally, it seems pretty Chinese. I have a sneaking suspicion that if I were more familiar with factual Chinese history, I might find some interesting parallels here. At times, the plot events seem like they must be based on real events, because while their complexity seems like more than a fictional plot would call for, it's very much in line with power struggles that might really have happened, with many different factors coming into play.

Individual chapters here are brilliant. The writing is excellent, and some of the scenes are beautiful, heartbreaking, or thought-provoking. I very much agree with many of the observations and conclusions that are brought to the forefront through the narrative. They include philosophical notes on war and the nature of conflict, human relationships, gender roles, how expectations can twist people, etc. At times they were just slightly too obvious, though. Taken as a whole, the book took a bit of work to get through, and I found myself a little bit distanced from it. Maybe it's the third-person objective point-of-view which contributes to the 'history-book' feeling I mentioned.

...more

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Dec 11, 2017 Samantha rated it it was amazing

This book is AMAZING! A masterpiece. I have so many thoughts! This book had me thinking the whole time I read it. Not just about what would happen with the plot (so many twists! It was fantastic)! But also just with the way it touched on issues and ideas that we find in our own world.
It’s a slower read (to me it reads quite a bit like and old medieval epic) but it’s worth it in the end. Truly an astounding work

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Aug 07, 2017 Michael Finocchiaro rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, fantasy, american-21st-c, novels

As, I suppose, many other readers of The Grace of Kings, I discovered Ken Liu due to his extraordinary translation of Cixin Liu's excellent The Three Body Problem and Death's End as well as his collection of marvelous short stories, The Paper Menagerie. Unlike all of those works, in this first volume of The Dandelion Dynasty series, we are treated to a fantasy universe with middle age technology, interfering gods, and a wonderful mashup stories and legends inspired by classical Chinese and Polyn ...more

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Nov 22, 2016 Philip rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy, not-for-me, on-hold-try-again-later

2ish stars.

An okay book that I recognize has many merits but that I must concede isn't for me.

This book is very well written. Ken Liu uses a very efficient, utilitarian style that somehow also manages to be quite poetic at times and it works well with this mythology-inspired content. I think my biggest issues are personal ones: this isn't what I expected and it's just not my thing.

I was expecting/hoping for fantasy and this really isn't that. As mentioned, there's some East Asia-in ...more

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Jul 05, 2014 Wesley Chu rated it it was amazing

I loved Ken's book so much I blurbed it as the wuxia Game of Thrones. Yes, I went there.

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Jan 26, 2015 Bob rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy-heroic

The Grace of Kings is, in a word, stunning. Normally I try to avoid making comparisons with my reviews, but here it's fitting. Ken Liu's debut possesses all the epic grandeur, intelligence, and dignity of a Guy Gavriel Kay novel, accented by the complexities, intricacies, and smirking humor of Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen. It's a huge, sprawling epic, with a cast of characters that are challenging, but so well-rounded and distinct as to be immediately memorable.

There's The Grace of Kings is, in a word, stunning. Normally I try to avoid making comparisons with my reviews, but here it's fitting. Ken Liu's debut possesses all the epic grandeur, intelligence, and dignity of a Guy Gavriel Kay novel, accented by the complexities, intricacies, and smirking humor of Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen. It's a huge, sprawling epic, with a cast of characters that are challenging, but so well-rounded and distinct as to be immediately memorable.

There's a little bit of everything here, with influences ranging from Asian culture to Middle Eastern mythologies, from the depths of political and ethical philosophy to the heights of steampunk and magic. The storytelling is exquisite, complex and poetic, but natural and easily flowing. It's a narrative that serves to draw the reader in, with characters who insist we stick around and enjoy the story.

Kuni Garu is the charming, clever, personable bandit who grows up to become a rebel leader and political force in his own right. Paradoxically, he's utterly consumed by the ethics of leadership, but wholly defined by the treacherous manipulation of the rules of war. Mata Zyndu, on the other hand, is the very epitome of the noble but ruthless warrior. He would rather be trusted and obeyed than loved and admired, but is crippled by what he sees as the most intimate and personal of betrayals. It's a genuine sort of friendship, one that slowly deteriorates under the pressures of war, until allies become enemies in an unorthodox war. This is so very much not a simple story of good versus evil. It's a novel of complex ambiguity, one where concepts of right and wrong are as ethereal as the gods and goddesses who watch over their children.

While Kuni and Mata are the primary protagonists here, they are just two of the more strategic pieces on a very crowded chessboard. Warriors, rulers, politicians, friends, brothers, lovers, and mothers all have a part to play, and each and every one of them make an impact upon the page, even if they barely have time to exchange names. There were characters I despised with a passion, whom I wanted to see suffer the most horrible atrocities imaginable, and others I absolutely loved, whom I looked forward to meeting again when they weren't the focus, and celebrated when they were. Jia and Risana are far more than just wives and mothers, they're women who help to shape the course of war. Luan and Gin are the most admirable of ordinary people, adventurers and inventors who give of themselves to bring about an end to war. Mira and Kikomo are two of the most tragic figures in the novel, women who understand the definition of sacrifice better than any soldier.

As the novel opens, it seems that this is destined to be the story of one momentous victory, but it's really about a series of multiple victories and even more defeats. It's a conflict that moves forward at a breakneck pace, racing along from one island to another, and one army to another. It's bloody and brutal, but it's also beautiful. This is a story that works on so many levels - the personal, the political, the martial, and the magical. Mythology and science are equal partners in the conflict, both nudging the conflict in the right direction but, at the end of the day, it all comes down to the relationship between Kuni and Mata.

I came away from The Grace of Kings with mixed emotions, entirely satisfied with the way Liu resolved the story, but a little uncertain about how he's left the world. That's not a complaint - in fact, I daresay that's precisely his intent. When a story is so much about uncertainty and ambiguity, it would be the worst of all the betrayals within its pagers for it to end on a note that either simple or clear.

Originally reviewed at Beauty in ...more

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Aug 01, 2018 Mizuki rated it did not like it

Shelves: fantasy, are-you-kidding-me, supernatural-stuff, lost-interest, over-my-dead-body, what-the-hell, only-when-it-is-for-free, no-hell-no, i-guess-not, chinese-authors

DNF-ed at page 340.

Rating: 1 stars on principle of 'I don't think too highly on people passing their fanfics off as published novels/their own original creations'

Random Thoughts when reading the book: The opening scene does remind me of Records of the Grand Historian, and the Biographies of the Assassins.

Actual review starts here:

What I think should be the real title of this book: Chu-Han Contention, the Fanfic.

Just in case you are not familiar with Chinese history and you have no idea what the hell is the Chu-Han C/>What/>Actual/>Random ...more

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Apr 15, 2015 Terence rated it liked it

King Réon of Xana conquered the seven kingdoms of Dara and forged them into The Xana Empire. With his new empire Réon gave himself a new name Emperor Mapidéré. The Emperor had grand plans for The Xana Empire and to accomplish them he plans to enslave many of the conquered men of Dara. As the years pass the people of Dara yearn to be free and two special men rebel against the empire. Kuni Garu an intelligent youth with little motivation and Mata Zyndu the giant last son of the Zyndu Clan fight ba ...more

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Mar 17, 2015 Aliette rated it really liked it

A few disjointed thoughts on the book, which I finished yesterday.
I like this book. I like this book a lot. It's a very important one--it's epic fantasy using Ancient China as its foundation. A cross between the Iliad, Three Kingdoms and Lord of the Rings. But it's also very adult and very modern in its handling of power--who gets it, who is worthy to handle it and how you cling to it. And very very cynical and dark in some ways (the violence is always drily factual, but I'd argue that makes it ...more

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Jun 24, 2017 Manuel Antão rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2017

If you're into stuff like this, you can read the full review.

Intertextual SF: "The Grace of Kings" by Ken Liu

"Lord Garu, you compare yourself to a weed?” Cogo Yelu frowned.
“Not just any weed, Cogzy. A dandelion is a strong but misunderstood flower.” Remembering his courtship with Jia, Kuni felt his eyes grow warm. “It cannot be defeated: Just when a gardener thinks he has won and eradicated it from his lawn, a rain would bring the yellow florets right back. Yet it’s never arrogant: Its ...more

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Feb 12, 2016 Gary rated it it was amazing

I think most literary scholars would agree that it’s a good thing Achilles didn’t survive the Trojan War. Paris, sneaky little turd that he was, was at least a good enough shot to spare Ancient Greece the unenviable task of having to figure out what to do with a guy like Achilles in peacetime: a guy who lives only for blood and glory, who considers the ability to paralyze others with fear by his mere presence a cardinal virtue. The long and the short of it is: you want Achilles to fight your war ...more

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Apr 16, 2017 Kaitlin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: my-sff-faves

I finally got around to picking this book up and I am so glad I did becuase I flipping loved it. It's kind of what I would describe as an Eastern version of Mage's Blood or Game of Thrones, and it's bloody brilliant!

I thought before going into this I would probably like it. It's by Ken Liu and I've read some of his short fiction in The Paper Menagerie and I loved that entire collection. This book is his debut novel, and it's such a strong book.

We follow lots of different I finally got around to picking this book up and I am so glad I did becuase I flipping loved it. It's kind of what I would describe as an Eastern version of Mage's Blood or Game of Thrones, and it's bloody brilliant!

I thought before going into this I would probably like it. It's by Ken Liu and I've read some of his short fiction in The Paper Menagerie and I loved that entire collection. This book is his debut novel, and it's such a strong book.

We follow lots of different characters so this is certainly an epic fantasy story, but the two major protagonists are Kuni Garu and Mata Zyndu. These two characters are the focus for a giant rebellion sweeping the land against Emperor Mapiéré (the tyrant who has united the lands by force in the start of the novel and has proclaimed himself Emperor).

Initially we see Mata and Kuni as young boys in a harsh landscape that is in turmoil. The Emperor is fairly new to his rule and the land is bitter against him but rebellions are quickly quashed. Kuni is a young man who his family believe could become great, but he insists on drinking and joking and playing the fool rather than learning.
Mata's upbringing is less fortunate as he's the orphan and last of his line. His family were once rulers of a large domain, but since the new Emperor came and killed them to unite his lands he's taken in by his last remaining relative, his uncle, and raised by him.
These two young boys grow into young men before our eyes and we see them face challenges to prove their strength of will and character and gather a following. Each is very different, but when they meet a friendship is struck that could spark the end of the Empire...as long as they can trust one another that is...

The world-building of this story is excellent and there were multiple scenes of fighting and warfare (something I am not a huge fan of usually) where I found myself completely drawn in becuase of the use of Eastern techniques and devices like silk airships and kites. The scenery, set-up and unfolding of the story often felt like origami to me, just when you think you've figured something out, there's a new layer to unfold.
I also really enjoyed the metaphors surrounding Chrysanthemums and Dandelions. Both the main characters compare themselves to these flowers for differing reasons and I felt like both were very apt and beautiful descriptions. I have never before liked Dandelions, but after reading this book and learning the different ways it can be represented I think they may be a new favourite flower for me, just as this is a new favourite series :D
There's also a lot of 'silkpunk' elements to the story where new creations are engineered and introduced to help the characters overcome problems of fighting and warfare. I haven't ever really seen a book that I think so aptly describes the need to adapt and improve and invent in times of war, and I think their book did just that.

The magical elements are fairly few and far between but when they do show up they're pretty exciting so we have things like scenes with the Gods and magical ancient texts. The Gods of this world are quite heavily involved in trying to manipulate and inspire the humans of the world to do their will and fight their battles. Sometimes it works and other times it doesn't, but being able to learn about their relationships and motivations was very cool.
The magical book I mentioned is a book gifted to one of the characters. It's super interesting to me becuase it doesn't actually tell you anything you don't already know, but rather it sharpens your thoughts and presents them back to you so you can fit together what you know into a plan for action.
Later in the story there's also smoke magic which again acts upon clearing or clouding the mind with thoughts and I love that this is a continued theme within the world.

The ladies of the book started out with potential but it wasn't until the second half of the book where I fully fell in love with the respect and credit that Ken Liu gave to the women of this world. In the first half we're presented with a few ladies who play minor, but important roles, like Kuni's mother and wife. These characters are big influences on Kuni but the world they live in still rates them as second-class and so it takes a long time for any of them to be able to prove themselves and start to shine.
However, in the second half of the book the women becuase such equal characters to the men I couldn't help but to admire and empathise with them just as much as the male characters who were developed for so much longer. Some of the women in the book, Jia, Gin and more, are just EXCELLENT BOSS-LADIES and it was so very refreshing to see that.
We also have moments where one of the main character tells off his men for saying women are inferior, and small moments like that are something that make this book so very rounded and good in my opinion.

Overall, it was just an excellent read and the only reason it's not quite 5*s is becuase I wanted more and I feel like there's a tiny bit more room to improve still (luckily there's a second book which I have pre-ordered in paperback and hope to get to in June!) 4.5*s from me, and so highly recommended. :D

Side note: I will say I think this is far better to be read on kindle/in physical than as an audiobook as I imagine it would be fairly confusing on audio ...more

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Apr 15, 2015 Mike rated it liked it

Shelves: far-east, reviewed, fantasy

I am somewhat conflicted by this book. On the one hand it has some fantastic world building and a fast paced story. On the other hand the characters felt very undeveloped and descriptions suffered from too much telling, not enough showing. In the end I decided on three stars for much the same reason I gave Name of the Wind: it felt like lots of yummy, but ultimately empty, calories (albeit with a much, much, much less aggravating protagonist).

So first the good, namely the world building. I am somewhat conflicted by this book. On the one hand it has some fantastic world building and a fast paced story. On the other hand the characters felt very undeveloped and descriptions suffered from too much telling, not enough showing. In the end I decided on three stars for much the same reason I gave Name of the Wind: it felt like lots of yummy, but ultimately empty, calories (albeit with a much, much, much less aggravating protagonist).

So first the good, namely the world building. The world and culture of this book are very much modeled on the ancient dynastic Chinese societies: autocratic government with an emperor at the top and nobles below, heavy emphasis on filial duty, academies of learning that revere ancient teachers of proper governing and moral principles, the importance of seating positions in social interactions. A criminally underused cultural influence that I always find fascinating to explore. Liu does a wonderful job exploring the various nooks and crannies of the world. Even though there is really just one big island with some smaller ones around it, different areas have their own cultures.

Liu also explores the cultural assumptions and how they affect governmental policy:

"Treason was a taint in the blood, and a traitor's sin was borne by the whole family.

This belief resulted in a policy of punishing the family of those who are punished for treason. For the old Emperor this resulted in widespread resentment and resistance. But it also reflects the prevailing cultural view that there was an intrinsic quality to an individual's blood. The nobles were inherently better and it was right that they ruled. Liu does an very good job translating this cultural ideas into real world impacts and character motivations.

Liu also delivers a fast paced, engaging story. He isn't afraid to jump ahead several months or years at a time and this certainly keeps the action moving. The chapters are typically short and self contained entries that waste little time with frilly development. They have a purpose and usually achieve them very well, be it a battle (which are rarely described in depth), a character's backstory, or some political scheming. I found it very difficult to put down once it built up momentum.

Liu also does a wonderful job highlighting the perils of too much power. As much as people say power is just a tool, it is much more insidious. It corrupts people with the delusion that because they have power they are somehow above the common cut of people, seeing clearly where others have their head in the mud.

"The world was so imperfect, and great men were always misunderstood by their own age"

Even worse, power warps the very morality that a person holds dear.

"The grace of kings is not the same as the morals governing individuals."

Fights started with the best of intentions devolve into naked power grabs as the spirit is brought to heel by vainglorious power. Once again: autocracies are a terrible form of government.

Finally Liu does turn some damn nice phrases:

"I have seen the poor suffer when nobles seek the purity of ideas. I have seen the powerless die when princes believe in the nostalgia of their dreams. I have seen the common people torn from peace and thrown into war when kings yearn to test the clarity of their vision."

~~~

"... The crowd erupted in applause, and by acclamation, Kuni Garu became the Duke of Zudi. A few pointed out that titles of nobility couldn't be handed out in such a democratic fashion, but these killjoys were ignored."

~~~

"What is fate but coincidences in retrospect?"

~~~

"Emperor, king, general, duke. These are just labels. Climb up the family tree of any of them high enough and you'll find a commoner who dared to take a chance."

That being said, the fast pace and story style did not lend itself to very much character development. Even the two main characters didn't so much develop as see their underlying qualities in the early part of the book grow in intensity by the end. I felt like most of the characters could be described with a few qualities and lacked depth. They were mostly there to fulfill some story telling device instead of being flesh and blood creations. Too often I was told about the qualities of a character instead of discovering them through the action in the book.

The time jumps also don't help with this either. Because Liu's chapters are so focused on moving the action forward very little time is spent on the characters changing based on past events. I would say that the few female characters are poorly developed but that is a systemic problem that impacts most of the male characters as well. As great at the story was I didn't really feel the characters' joys and sorrows very deeply.

In the end I enjoyed the experience of reading this book very much, but the story was a bit light and simplistic. It is a fun ride but a bit empty in retrospect (and no where close to being a Wuxia version of Game of Thrones as the book jacket would have you believe). ...more

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Apr 01, 2015 Laura rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy, dude-bros-only-adventure

It is hard to know where to start with this book. What was lovely about it (and redeemed it up to two stars), or the reason I will not be reading past book one of this series?

I suppose I'll start with what there is to glow about. Silkpunk!! I never knew how much I wanted to read Silkpunk until Liu wrote it. Beautiful. Adventurous. Complex. Thoughtfully crafted and researched. Wow do I love Liu's prose and ability to put together an epic, multi-threaded story. This lives up to all the It is hard to know where to start with this book. What was lovely about it (and redeemed it up to two stars), or the reason I will not be reading past book one of this series?

I suppose I'll start with what there is to glow about. Silkpunk!! I never knew how much I wanted to read Silkpunk until Liu wrote it. Beautiful. Adventurous. Complex. Thoughtfully crafted and researched. Wow do I love Liu's prose and ability to put together an epic, multi-threaded story. This lives up to all the promise we've seen in his short stories and delivers more in terms of structure and visuals.

Now for the problem: this is a dude-bros only adventure. Yes, Liu has created a unique fantasy genre in 2015 and he still has chosen that only boys & men go on adventures while women stay home and support them or need saving.

.................... -_- ....................

(my not impressed face for you while that is contemplated, sorry I'm too old to gif it, we'll have to be happy with ASCII). Ah yes, one day maybe I will stop getting sucker punched because I expected better. There's been so much love for this book that I just didn't see that one coming.

Ok, so this aspect is his personal artistic choice for his unique melding of Chinese and Western story-telling traditions. But did he not read Kameron
Hurley's excellent, award winning essay "'We Have Always Fought': Challenging the 'Women, Cattle and Slaves' Narrative" . Just because women haven't been in the stories, doesn't mean they weren't there doing all the things, so WHY WHY WHY, is someone still inventing a new genre where women don't do all the things in 2015????? ARGH. I can give Tolkien a pass for having created his tale based on epic traditions in the 1930s, but Liu has created his in 2015 and he gets no passes.

At 25% there is still no woman in this book who isn’t a whore to be ridiculed (fortunately very few of those, though I am left wondering if it is only because the hero who visits "loose women" gets married relatively early in the tale), a wise wife who’s life’s mission is to be supportive of her husband or a mother to be defensive of her son (sons only, not daughters of course).

As excited as I was about Liu's new "Silkpunk" esthetic, ~~this is not a book that cares whether it has a female audience~~ (see update below), and I for one will read no more of The Dandelion Dynasty. If however, you are a reader who doesn't mind dude-bros only adventuring - well see my second paragraph. There are definitely good reasons people are raving about this book and I'm pretty disappointed that I'm not.

UPDATE: The author has responded on-line to other people talking about my criticism here, and I feel obliged to make note of it. Quoting from Twitter (and hopefully not editing too much as to mis-represent): "I did understand that approaching gender this way is risky.”, "and it’s problematic in some ways. I was hoping to develop the issue over a longer arc over the series.”, "but I think some readers will not have patience. And I have learned a lesson.”

So I am one of the readers without the patience. My comment above on the book not caring whether it has a female audience was probably too harsh, but it does not change the fact that that is an easy interpretation to make from what is on the pages of Volume 1. Given the many positive attributes, there may be a day when I'm willing to come back to this - but certainly not before the whole series is done.

...more

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Oct 29, 2017 Manisha rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: fans of historical fiction with a fantasy element.

Shelves: 501-1000, sff-adult, series-trilogy, fantasy

“If blood for blood were all that mattered, history would be easy to write.”

I’m going to do something I rarely do, and state what I disliked about this book first.

The Writing Style

I’m a lawyer by profession. I spend my days reading summary judgements for various cases. The last thing I want to do is to read a summary of an epic fantasy tale based on historical China when reading the story would have been way more entertaining. And yet, this is what ‘The Grace of Kings’ was. This was not/> ...more

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May 20, 2017 Angus rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites, 2018

This book straight up blew my mind.

Betrayals. Twists. Sacrifices. Honor. Love. Lust. Loss. This story has everything I could possibly want...

The Grace of Kings, hands down, has the greatest depiction of war i have ever read. Ken Liu is a genius at crafting war strategies, which are incredibly intricate and complex from every possible direction. The large scale battles are insane and seeing these different strategies play out is so intense. However, it's not only the war strategy that gets me, but also the hidde/>The/>Betrayals. ...more

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Apr 15, 2017 Basia rated it it was amazing

Oh WOW. So The Grace of Kings. What an ENORMOUS REVIEW this is!

I am frankly surprised that the book has a less than 3.75 rating, but only a little. I've had it for a year, at least. But it had that long cast of characters in the front. And of course, it was over 600 pages long! Definitely a commitment equal to the time I'd need to read 2 or 3 other books.

But then life got a little messy, and it was difficult to focus on READING books. So I started to LISTEN to this one. And it was a Oh WOW. So The Grace of Kings. What an ENORMOUS REVIEW this is!

I am frankly surprised that the book has a less than 3.75 rating, but only a little. I've had it for a year, at least. But it had that long cast of characters in the front. And of course, it was over 600 pages long! Definitely a commitment equal to the time I'd need to read 2 or 3 other books.

But then life got a little messy, and it was difficult to focus on READING books. So I started to LISTEN to this one. And it was amazing. I literally began to feel myself rise up again.

It didn't happen immediately. Oh no. Not even close. Anyone who's read an audio book, you know what I mean when I tell you that I had the rewind 30 seconds button finger-smudged for over 100 pages. But then, around page 120? I was enveloped by this story, suddenly. It was literally like that scene from Trainspotting (albeit, a completely different context, eh hem). I felt myself sinking into the story like the guy did, into that red carpet. All around me were rebels and Kings and nobles that are far from noble and peasants with the GRACE of Kings, and I WAS HOOKED! Oh my goodness, people, this BOOK!

Yes, my 1st impulse is to say it's like GRRM in the dynasty days of a Chinese-like epic fantasy. But it just isn't. It's unlike ANYTHING. I have never read anything of this SCOPE, DEPTH. This book is so big, so powerful. It made me laugh when I thought there was no way the situation could be funny; it made me cry with the way Liu arranged some of the words in here: such placid and ancient beauty!!

I highly, HIGHLY recommend this book. It is so much more than anything I could possibly write about it.

Oh, and a word or two about Michael Kramer's narration. I am blown away by the man's ability to pronounce all of these often difficult-sounding words. Plus his reading of the book was so fun. LOVED the inflections! Thank you.

An awesome narrator. If only he'd keep the "h" in herbs silent, I'd tell you he could do no wrong. However, it's nails on a chalkboard for me.
I know! Ridiculous!!! But I'm being honest.

Thank you!! To Ken Liu, to his partner, his wife, for developing this concept and writing these books, and to Mr Kramer for reading them for us. 😊

...more

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Apr 15, 2015 Standback rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, soapbox, epic, literary, adventure, read-it-it-s-good-for-you, hugo2015-reading, administration-fantasy

Alas. Grace of Kings breathes Chinese mythology into the modern epic fantasy -- a worthy cause. But for me, I found this book to be a mythology with no grandeur, and an epic with no gravity.

It also suffered from constant speedbumps, painstakingly recorded for your amusement and edification at the end of this review. But here's the overview:

It's a story of rebellion against a callous empire. And it's a story about power - who has it; how to get it; how to keep it; and at what price it will come. The two cent/>It's ...more

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Jan 22, 2015 Rob rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2015, not-a-bookclub-club, audio-book, own, fantasy, author-male

Executive Summary: I enjoyed parts of this book a lot, but overall found it a bit to uneven and slow in places. It's another one that suffers from lack of half star ratings. It's a solid 3.5 star book, that I initially gave 4 stars, but on collecting my thoughts for this review decided to round down to 3 stars instead.

Audio book: Finding out Michael Kramer did the audio from this made it go from wait for a library copy to buy it on audio. I was initially underwhelmed. It's probably not his best performa/>Audio Executive Summary: I enjoyed parts of this book a lot, but overall found it a bit to uneven and slow in places. It's another one that suffers from lack of half star ratings. It's a solid 3.5 star book, that I initially gave 4 stars, but on collecting my thoughts for this review decided to round down to 3 stars instead.

Audio book: Finding out Michael Kramer did the audio from this made it go from wait for a library copy to buy it on audio. I was initially underwhelmed. It's probably not his best performance.

But even a so-so Michael Kramer reading is leaps and bounds above many narrators out there. This became even more obvious when I started my next book. I immediately missed his reading. You really can't go wrong with the audio though. I definitely wouldn't have finished this book so quickly if I was reading it.

Full Review
This book starts slow, but I enjoyed meeting some of the characters and the world building. Far too many fantasy worlds are based on medieval Europe. So it's nice to have one based on Asia instead.

I think the best aspect of this book for me was the gods as characters. This isn't the first fantasy series to do this, but it meshed in well and added an interesting element to the overall story.

Things built up slowly and then finally became interesting, but then seemed to slow way down again. Then it got interesting again before slowing down as things were sort of wrapped up in the final section. This made the pacing pretty uneven to me. The fight scenes and the actual rebellion didn't do much for me. And that's a large part of this book.

What I did enjoy was the actual plotting and administration of government. I appreciated the contrast between Kuni, Mata and the various Kings/Emperors. In some ways it was a bit too optimistic. Kuni is far from a perfect person, but seems incredibly proficient as a leader. Meanwhile Mata is entirely too stupid. Some of the characters actions just didn't make a lot of sense to me.

The other main issue I had was the female characters. This book had some really great ones. Jia, Soto and another I'll refrain from naming. However it felt like it took him far too long to include them as more than just minor characters in the book. I felt Jia was especially underused. I would have liked more time and involvement from them.

For much of the book it seems to be yet another fantasy world where women are relegated to the side lines/dismissed by most male characters. I get that's often how things have worked in our history, but does that mean it needs to be the case in EVERY fantasy series too? I'm hopeful that will be less of the case in future books though.

Overall there is enough here for me to want to check out the next book, but I found myself a bit underwhelmed after all the early buzz. ...more

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Sep 02, 2015 Mike (the Paladin) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: epic-fantasy

Look, this is a good book. I was "mostly" interested in it all the way through...mostly. The sad thing is that (and maybe I can start calling this the Robert Jordan syndrome as I've seen it before) the writer just has so much detail to relate about the world, the people, the geopolitical situation(s) and so on that he apparently can't bear to let any of it go.

Even if we already put it together from what we saw or heard through another character's viewpoint....we get it again from the ...more

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Jun 15, 2017 daisy rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I'm still really not sure how I feel about this one. The rating may change later, after I've thought about it some more, and I'll have a review up later since I'm about to start work.

~~Tentative 3 stars - RTC!~~ Been thinking about this more and honestly, the premise was INCREDIBLE, the writing was really lovely, but this one was thoroughly ruined for me via all of the gross sexist fantasy setting tropes, so... 2-2/5 stars.

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Apr 09, 2017 David Katzman rated it liked it

Brilliant in many ways yet in the end not my cup of tea. The Grace of Kings is the story of the overthrow of a king/tyrant. Yet the question remained, what was he being replaced with? Who and what? Many individuals in this story battled to become his replacement, but is the new boss same as the old boss? If the system does not change, do we only live better thanks to the grace of kings? Or queen as the case may be? Are we simply dependent on the generosity of the rich and powerful?

The Grace of/>The Brilliant in many ways yet in the end not my cup of tea. The Grace of Kings is the story of the overthrow of a king/tyrant. Yet the question remained, what was he being replaced with? Who and what? Many individuals in this story battled to become his replacement, but is the new boss same as the old boss? If the system does not change, do we only live better thanks to the grace of kings? Or queen as the case may be? Are we simply dependent on the generosity of the rich and powerful?

The Grace of Kings is set in a quasi-Chinese medieval world with elements of both magic and steampunk. Liu does a nice job of building a coherent and consistent world to play out his continent wide story of intrigue and warfare. He deftly shifts back and forth between individual characters and shifting political alliances to play out both human and geo-political stories. I found the decisions he made as to how political actors would vie back and forth for power to be both unexpected and believable. He has a knack for interweaving different levels of self-interest and greed, ignorance and fear, nobility and empathy, and the detached tyranny of royalty who have no relationship to lower classes. He also has a strong feminist sensibility wherein women are both oppressed and underrated actors who can assume great positions of power when they are clever enough to maneuver for position. In fact, women as political actors is not implied, it's a distinct vein of the story.

With so much going for it, why didn't I love this political fantasy? Primarily because it was so militaristic and geo-political, it's not a world I enjoyed living in for 600 some-odd pages. A bit too much like a very clever game of Risk. I prefer a story closer to the characters. I found that Liu kept us at arm's-length from the characters. Mostly believable characterizations yet I never felt close to them or that I really knew them, with intermittent exceptions.

Nonetheless, I can recommend this story to lovers of epic fantasy. It's quite well written with impressive understanding of both military and political strategy as well as the human cost of war and dictatorships. ...more

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Oct 07, 2017 Solseit rated it it was amazing

Many fantasy authors have used history - events, wars, people - as inspiration (if not more) to write their books.

This is no different, based on the events surrounding the Tang Dynasty; it actually goes a bit further, also by using poems and retelling them in this book to adapt them to the story (for instance, the retelling of the Tang Dynasty “Ode to Chrysanthemum” by Huang Chao is transformed in the Mata Zyndu’s poem).

This is a story of rebellion against an unfair emper ...more

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Mar 21, 2015 Joanne Harris rated it it was amazing

Airship skims the high clouds
Dandelion scatters
Chrysanthemum blooms.

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Aug 31, 2017 Esme rated it really liked it

I don’t know how I feel about this book. I’m giving it a four because I recognize it was well written, tons of detail, tons of world building, lots of history and lore and culture.

But I just didn’t connect to a single character which I find sort of problematic in a book of this length.

There were tons of interesting characters who I was getting excited about, but their entire life story was there and gone in a matter of pages, and that happens more than once. I feel like i I don’t know how I feel about this book. I’m giving it a four because I recognize it was well written, tons of detail, tons of world building, lots of history and lore and culture.

But I just didn’t connect to a single character which I find sort of problematic in a book of this length.

There were tons of interesting characters who I was getting excited about, but their entire life story was there and gone in a matter of pages, and that happens more than once. I feel like if it was more focused and organized I would have enjoyed this one a lot more. I actually put the book down for a bit and picked it back up with the audiobook since I love Michael Kramer. He did a really good job with it, and with the different voices it was easier for me to keep track of who was who. There are tons of characters in this book and many threads going at the same time.

Many people call this the Chinese Game of Thrones…. but honestly I don’t feel that way. I get the comparison, a civil war, lots of characters, lots of depth…. but I feel sucked into game of thrones not because of the plot so much, but because I love the characters and want to see more of them. I have gotten deeply attached to multiple characters in that book but didn’t find a single on in this one.

It takes about 1/4 – 1/3 of the book before you realize who the book is going to be about since there are so many characters coming and going at first. Kunni is one of the characters that really comes into focus and unfortunately I just didn’t care much for his story line or his wife. His wife was like “brooooo, get a second wife and shit” “UGH IM SO JEALOUS”. I really f’n hate love triangles, and this is one of the worst kinds for me. His wife is an herbalist and pretty smart, so I liked her at first, but her story line gets covered over with this multiple wife story line which would have been fine if it were done differently. It’s just annoying to read that someone is jealous when they were the one who pushed for the situation in the first place.

I did really like the politics in the book though, in that respect it was sort of like ASOIAF. There was a lot of warfare strategy, lots of advisers who are really back stabbers, within family fighting, old Houses fighting one another.

This world was pretty brutal and unforgiving, in the time of these emperors treason is considered a blood taint, and therefore if one person is guilty so is their whole family. Children, parents, aunts and uncles will all be put to death for one family members treason. There are lots of things like that, boys over 14 can be conscripted to work as slave labor, minor offenses can get you executed or put into slave labor for these huge infrastructure projects.

I really enjoyed the fact the gods are real, that adds so much to the depth of the world and the flow of the story.

The writing is very story-telling-esque which is what kept me going with this book, you feel sort of like someone is sitting there telling you a story – kind of like King Killer Chronicles… kind of.

Overall, I don’t regret reading the book, I don’t dislike it, but I don’t think I’ll be continuing on either. ...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Fantasy Buddy Reads: The Grace of Kings [Aug 10, 2018]	13	35	Aug 30, 2018 02:40PM
Am I the only one who noticed this?	1	21	Aug 11, 2018 05:41AM
Dragons & Jetpacks: The Grace of Kings / Overall discussion / *SPOILERS*	18	40	Aug 08, 2018 04:12AM
Fantasy Buddy Reads: The Grace of Kings [October 2017]	19	50	Oct 18, 2017 10:53AM
Norwescon: October Book Club	1	5	Sep 07, 2017 04:28PM

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About Ken Liu

Ken Liu

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Ken Liu (http://kenliu.name) is an American author of speculative fiction. He has won the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy awards, as well as top genre honors in Japan, Spain, and France, among other places.

Ken’s debut novel, The Grace of Kings, is the first volume in a silkpunk epic fantasy series, The Dandelion Dynasty, in which engineers play the role of wiz ...more