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

by Ken Liu

But while he wishes to restore the world to a state that never was, I wish to bring it to a state that has not yet been seen.

Yet, for most people—the fishermen, the peasants, the prostitutes and beggars and longshoremen—life did not change. They went on suffering as they had before: Officials remained corrupt, tax collectors stayed cruel, the corvée assignments were still onerous, and the threat of war ever present.