Reviews

The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu

meanna's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

cassidy_gillum's review against another edition

reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

danielscones's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

blackringbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

novelideea's review against another edition

challenging dark informative tense slow-paced

3.0

mmmlysaght's review against another edition

I tried; I wanted to like this story so much, but I just couldnt do it after five tries.
It felt like Patrick Rothfuss set in an Asian setting. It bears mentioning that I hate Name of the Wind - so I suppose if that's what lights your fire, you'll love this story, but I personally prefer being able to connect emotionally with likeably flawed characters, instead of emotionally inaccessible characters who are good at everything they do.

kim012's review against another edition

2.5

It reads like a history article on Wikipedia, with characters falling in and out of the narrative, always told with enough distance that you never feel like you get close to them. A few stay throughout the whole story, function as anchors as the history unfolds. It’s not really my style, but it is good at what it tries to do. Once you get into it and let go of the expectations modern fantasy has given you, it is a quite captivating read. The latter half is a lot better than the first, which I think is a large part due to the introduction of a handful of female characters, which are blatantly missing in the first half. A game of thrones style adaptation of this - where the characters are fleshed out and the story is allowed to span over seasons - would be incredible I think. 

thepreach3rman's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

aimer263's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

bottle671's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0