The Wall of Storms (The Dandelion Dynasty, #2)

by Ken Liu

Is this truly a sign? Could Noda be right?

“Where’s the court historian? He must record this tale of the dyran-wise teacher and falcon-brilliant students!”

They’re full of swindlers.”

Life with Kuni Garu is always interesting.

Is this what it’s like to defy the gods? she thought. Is this how I will die?

It was the fate of the poor to toil and endure, wasn’t it?

Don’t you know that nothing good ever comes from bothering the gods when they don’t wish to be bothered?”

There aren’t always answers, only stories.”

Their love was one that would play out over eons,

Through minute gestures measured in inches and centuries,

Through whispers that would echo down dusty shelves of history, Through a single glance penetrating the scale of creation and a Single dance that Would outlast the ...

Islands of Dara Into...

Aki looked at her daughter. She is an extraordinary child. What if the king took an interest in her?

Men of talent should be honored to serve the emperor.

What’s it like to ponder such questions all day?

Mimi thought. To not limit one’s thoughts to the weather and the harvest and the fishing haul, to not have to struggle to plan for the next meal and the meal after that, but to be able to imagine and debate the substance of the sun and to believe

that it is possible to read the larger pa...

What’s it like to have so many tools of the mind at your disposal that you could dissect reality and put it back together as skillfully as my mother can scale and gut a fish within minutes and turn

it into a delicious dinner?

Could not such knowledge be turned into silk clothes and white rice?

Into servants and carriages and clinking coins that would relieve my mother and me from toil?

Into arrogant looks and proud gazes directed at the road ahead instead of at the thr...

“Look at you two,” teased Puma Yemu. “Still acting like newlyweds!”

“I wasn’t drunk! I was only . . . wakefully weak.”

The Four Placid Seas are as wide as the years are long.

A wild goose flies over a pond, leaving behind a voice in the wind.

A man passes through this world, leaving ...

Will heroes be forgotten? Will faith...

Though stars tremble in the storm, our heart...

Our hair may turn white, but our blood re...

Does the emperor’s absence indicate his support for the empress?

A mind on fire. A flower of frozen lava. Open, my stony soul! A breeze over the heart.

Is she talking about Mother or Queen Gin?

we should cherish the time we have been given.”

“You are truly a Pearl of Fire,” said Luan.

You are a fledgling eagle heading for the skies; you’re the hatchling turtle diving into the sea.

It’s time to abandon old machines and remake the minds of Dara.”

No real farmers would do things this way, right?

Rénga.”

The first storm of merciless spring;

The fall of the walls of Boama.

A summer of fame fo...

The sundered ship feels wint...

What need is there for a Farsight Secretary if there are no plots and rebellions against the emperor?”

Have you ever known me to shy away from a fight?

Let old heroes fade into story and song; the world will be remade by new heroes.

What boy didn’t wish to emulate his father?

My strength is great enough to pluck up mountains.

My spirit is wide enough to cover the sea.

In life I was the King...