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blacksphinx's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Misogyny, Infidelity, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, War, Gore, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Grief, Drug use, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Slavery, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Trafficking, and Kidnapping
Minor: Infertility, Cannibalism, Excrement, and Colonisation
There is lots of talk of forcing women into sexual slavery. Eye injuries.albernikolauras's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A sprawling story covering the fall and rise of dynasties in the Islands of Dara. For a book that is broken into short spurts of time, Liu draws you in to get attached to characters all over the islands. It took me awhile to read through, but it was so rewarding.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Grief, War, and Sexism
sabrinz's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I really enjoyed this book - even if it took me ages to finish. It was more circumstances that kept me from reading more than me not wanting to.
For everyone wanting to read this, this book is best suited when you have time to read for longer periods of time. If you read it chapter by chapter with even some days between chapters, you might lose some of the connections that are woven in the different chapters and that tie the different characters together.
It's a brilliant book about friendship and how things are perceived, but also how you go about doing things.
For everyone wanting to read this, this book is best suited when you have time to read for longer periods of time. If you read it chapter by chapter with even some days between chapters, you might lose some of the connections that are woven in the different chapters and that tie the different characters together.
It's a brilliant book about friendship and how things are perceived, but also how you go about doing things.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery
Moderate: Death of parent, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, Death, Grief, Murder, War, and Violence
mandkips's review
adventurous
challenging
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Torture
Moderate: Suicide and Murder
Minor: Animal death, Grief, and Infidelity
catapocalypse's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I wish I'd rated and reviewed after my first reading, for the sake of seeing how differently I may feel after this one. I feel as if I enjoyed it even more this time around.
This first entry in the Dandelion Dynasty is like a prologue for the rest of the series, in that it focuses on the events that first unify Dara and deals with the generation prior to the central characters of the rest of the books. I don't consider this a weakness; it's an adventurous read as we follow the mighty warrior Mata Zyndu and the cunning gangster-turned-government official-turned-rebel Kuni Garu, and the rise and fall and rebirth of empire. It's an epic fantasy and silkpunk treatment of events in Chinese history leading to the rise of the Han Dynasty, and it's a whole lot of fun.
There's valid criticism about the women and lack thereof in much of the book, which is essentially what prevents it from a full 5 stars for me. I love Gin Mazoti, like Risana and Mira a lot (but they could have had more "screen time!"), but something about Jia is still off, for me. I'm not entirely sure how to articulate it; maybe it's that she becomes too reactive after starting out so strong and proactive?
I look forward to rereading the next installment, and then finishing the series.
This first entry in the Dandelion Dynasty is like a prologue for the rest of the series, in that it focuses on the events that first unify Dara and deals with the generation prior to the central characters of the rest of the books. I don't consider this a weakness; it's an adventurous read as we follow the mighty warrior Mata Zyndu and the cunning gangster-turned-government official-turned-rebel Kuni Garu, and the rise and fall and rebirth of empire. It's an epic fantasy and silkpunk treatment of events in Chinese history leading to the rise of the Han Dynasty, and it's a whole lot of fun.
There's valid criticism about the women and lack thereof in much of the book, which is essentially what prevents it from a full 5 stars for me. I love Gin Mazoti, like Risana and Mira a lot (but they could have had more "screen time!"), but something about Jia is still off, for me. I'm not entirely sure how to articulate it; maybe it's that she becomes too reactive after starting out so strong and proactive?
I look forward to rereading the next installment, and then finishing the series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Violence, War, and Suicide
Minor: Animal death, Death of parent, and Grief
mariebrunelm's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
First of all, I want to praise the diversity and plotting in this book. It is a perfect Asian alternative to G.R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. Now, let's turn to why I nearly threw this book out the window, shall we? Rant ahead!
How fitting that when I tried to find again one quote from this book involving women, I couldn't get my hands on it? I'll paraphrase. At some point in the story, soldiers (men) insult other soldiers (men) by implying they are women. The scene goes on for some time before one of the characters says something like "women are half of the world's population. Why should we be embarrassed to be compared to them?" And honestly, that's something I wished the very author of the book had kept in mind. I don't believe anymore in novels that present to me a fantasy world with lovely worldbuilding but fraught with sexism. Why can you imagine a world with flying, silk-sailed ships and gorgeous air battles between kite riders, but not one in which women are treated as equals to men? Why should women in a fantasy world be reduced to tending babies, cooking or selling themselves? Why should women die to give men reasons to fight? These problems aren't specific to The Grace of Kings, of course. But if an author is praised for their creativity, I expect more. More than what fantasy stories have always told their women readers. In a 620-page book, you can't imagine an interesting woman character on page 466 and hope the last 150 or so pages will make up for the first 466. In my opinion, that's not how it works. If you want to imagine a world of political intrigues and epic battles, have women be generals, soldiers, rulers. Have men tend babies and cook and mend things. And don't ever, ever tell me that your story is inspired by history like G.R.R.M. does, because if you put dragons and gods then clearly you're the one making the rules.
"My only worth to them is my proximity to *him*" says one female character. The author keeps telling us what the problem is, but does he try to solve it? No! I'm sorry for the rant, but that's infuriating.
Now I'll go back to reading The Priory of th Orange Tree or Le Chant des Cavalières.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Grief, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, and Violence
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