From the Bookshelf of Club Drunk But Not Too Drunk To Read The Book…

The Grace of Kings (The Dandelion Dynasty, #1)

Ken Liu

Finish date: July 19, 2018

Discussion leader: Raymond Fong

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What Members Thought

Jun 27, 2018 Ying marked it as did-not-finish

Writing down my thoughts before I forget

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Jun 27, 2018 Evan rated it it was ok

There were parts of this book that I enjoyed. I haven't read epic fantasy in a while, and this was adequate in filling that hole for a while. And I really liked when Liu introduced a new character, and we'd learn their life story. The fast pacing of Liu's writing worked really well to introduce a character. But he really needed to slow down when it came to the rest of the plot. There were times when he would spend more so much more time introducing a character than they actually deserved for the There were parts of this book that I enjoyed. I haven't read epic fantasy in a while, and this was adequate in filling that hole for a while. And I really liked when Liu introduced a new character, and we'd learn their life story. The fast pacing of Liu's writing worked really well to introduce a character. But he really needed to slow down when it came to the rest of the plot. There were times when he would spend more so much more time introducing a character than they actually deserved for the plot. (view spoiler)

So the pacing of the book (extremely fast) was both a pro and con. There were also sections that I really enjoyed, but I think this happened when the pace slowed. When Kuni was building his forces on Dasu and Rui, this was super interesting. I hoped that this was where the book was going to end, and the next book would be the invasion of the Big Island... But no. The last 15% of the book rushed through the invasion of the entire world! And despite this really rapid resolution of the book, it still felt like the end dragged on.

One of my biggest problems with this book was that it was basically Star Trek in its use of 'ingenious' inventions that got characters out of a pickle. Once or twice, this would have been a good device to turn the tables of a battle. But it seemed like every battle revolved around one side being the underdog, that side using some ancientified modern invention to surprise the enemy and the underdog winning. It got really old.

Okay... So this is turning into a listicle of things that annoyed me, but here's another. Was this book a moral tale? All the characters (excluding Kuni) are so incredibly flawed and make such simple and stupid mistakes. I get that the initial fall of the empire left power vacuums, but surely there are some capable people left in this world!

Finally, I need to talk about the women in this world. Considering the many comparisons that The Grace of Kings gets to A Song of Ice and Fire, this is a major deficiency of this book. Much like ASoIaF, the culture of this world is similar to our history, where women are subjugated and men hold the power. But where GRRM manages to create women characters who have agency, and take advantage of their situation, Liu's women never manage to do this. Jia is both strong and intelligent, but is unable to take any advantage of these characteristics after her marriage to Kinu. And Gin Matiza was a good character, but her rise to power is completely unrealistic and relient of the male characters. Sure, they live in an incredibly misogynistic culture, but this felt like a hamfisted approach to women from an author who really tried, but didn't quite get there. ...more

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