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1jessml's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
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? No
3.5
loveat1stsite's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
elkcat's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
sevenlefts's review against another edition
3.0
I really liked the idea of this book -- a resetting and re-imagining of early Chinese empire power struggles, told as a story between two friends who later become bitter enemies. As you might imagine, there are a lot of names to juggle, although a cast of characters at the beginning helps figure things out.
The story shifts between three levels: the main protagonists and their families and allies, a pair of brothers who end up fighting for each, and the gods who attempt to manipulate the course of events. The first group was of most interest to me as a reader. The brothers and the gods, ultimately, didn't seem necessary.
Liu writes really well about intrigue and trust, and about power and the various ways it can be wielded. But there are so many battles that are described in a mere paragraph or two that I felt the plot was being pushed a long by a series of "and then this happened, and then that happened." Too much was crammed into one book, I think.
Not sure how I feel about it overall. I'm intrigued enough to want to read further ones in the series.
The story shifts between three levels: the main protagonists and their families and allies, a pair of brothers who end up fighting for each, and the gods who attempt to manipulate the course of events. The first group was of most interest to me as a reader. The brothers and the gods, ultimately, didn't seem necessary.
Liu writes really well about intrigue and trust, and about power and the various ways it can be wielded. But there are so many battles that are described in a mere paragraph or two that I felt the plot was being pushed a long by a series of "and then this happened, and then that happened." Too much was crammed into one book, I think.
Not sure how I feel about it overall. I'm intrigued enough to want to read further ones in the series.
littlelynn's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
I got to the end of this through some combination of sunk cost fallacy and sheer bloody-mindedness.
My main complaint is that it was boring, I was bored. This is mostly due to the style of writing, an awful lot happens, empires are toppled and built and toppled again, alliances are forged and betrayed and forged over and over again, and through all of that, I didn't feel like I got to know a single character in a meaningful way.
I know a lot about Kuni, and I know a lot about Mata, but I don't think I have a single emotion towards either, except maybe annoyance. I heard about what they were doing, it was never shown to me, I never got to witness it through actions or conversations. I'd be told about a thing that happened and then essentially told how to feel about it as well. And then we'd move on. What's more, very little of what we're shown actually makes anyone likable, spoilers for why:Mata is a horrible brute who believes the physically strong have a right to do what they like with the physically weak, Kuni starts well but eventually becomes an irritating adulterer who doesnt seem to give a single solitary toss about his children most of the time.
What dialogue there was felt over manufactured and wooden. I'd come out of passages of dialogue and my only real thought would be 'no one speaks like that' - it was more telling you what to think, rather than showing you two characters conversing and letting you make up your own mind.
I could write an entire essay on the women in the book. It takes hundreds of pages for any female characters to become remotely prominent - or frankly important to the story in the slightest. If I'm being generous then I feel like the author's heart was in the right place, but at the end of the day to me the female characters came over as flat and falling into stereotypes. I found one part particularly ironic as a female character bemoaned that she was so much more than a pretty face, while we were constantly reminded that she was absolutely beautiful and her entire storyline (which barely lastes 40 pages iirc) relies on her being so pretty she can play two men who had previously been unfailing loyal to each other off against each other (that old chestnut).
Another gripe: a huge portion of this book feels like it should be politicking, but plans are revealed to you immediately, conceived, carried out, and moved on from usually in less than five pages.
I guess mostly it boils down to endless telling and very little showing.
The worldbuilding owes what was intricate to history, and the rest felt slapdash. Also, if you're going to give me a bunch of warring states...600 pages should be enough to make me a) remember their names and b) be able to tell them apart. And I honestly could not.
I've no idea how this series has the popularity it does, my honest advice is to take the plunge and go read Malazan instead. Or, if you like history retellings with a fantasy twist, then Guy Gavriel Kay cannot be matched.
My main complaint is that it was boring, I was bored. This is mostly due to the style of writing, an awful lot happens, empires are toppled and built and toppled again, alliances are forged and betrayed and forged over and over again, and through all of that, I didn't feel like I got to know a single character in a meaningful way.
I know a lot about Kuni, and I know a lot about Mata, but I don't think I have a single emotion towards either, except maybe annoyance. I heard about what they were doing, it was never shown to me, I never got to witness it through actions or conversations. I'd be told about a thing that happened and then essentially told how to feel about it as well. And then we'd move on. What's more, very little of what we're shown actually makes anyone likable, spoilers for why:
What dialogue there was felt over manufactured and wooden. I'd come out of passages of dialogue and my only real thought would be 'no one speaks like that' - it was more telling you what to think, rather than showing you two characters conversing and letting you make up your own mind.
I could write an entire essay on the women in the book. It takes hundreds of pages for any female characters to become remotely prominent - or frankly important to the story in the slightest. If I'm being generous then I feel like the author's heart was in the right place, but at the end of the day to me the female characters came over as flat and falling into stereotypes. I found one part particularly ironic as a female character bemoaned that she was so much more than a pretty face, while we were constantly reminded that she was absolutely beautiful and her entire storyline (which barely lastes 40 pages iirc) relies on her being so pretty she can play two men who had previously been unfailing loyal to each other off against each other (that old chestnut).
Another gripe: a huge portion of this book feels like it should be politicking, but plans are revealed to you immediately, conceived, carried out, and moved on from usually in less than five pages.
I guess mostly it boils down to endless telling and very little showing.
The worldbuilding owes what was intricate to history, and the rest felt slapdash. Also, if you're going to give me a bunch of warring states...600 pages should be enough to make me a) remember their names and b) be able to tell them apart. And I honestly could not.
I've no idea how this series has the popularity it does, my honest advice is to take the plunge and go read Malazan instead. Or, if you like history retellings with a fantasy twist, then Guy Gavriel Kay cannot be matched.
rufussnailhat's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
vespix's review against another edition
The difference between history books and novels is bigger than changing names and adding a few gods to provide running commentary every chapter. For starters, you're supposed to start the story somewhere, and Ken Liu failed at that rather spectacularly.
The first 20% of this 640-page book is pure exposition. We hop between characters every half chapter, most of whom never get a PoV again. Those that reoccur we meet in snippets too short to grow attached to them before Liu moves us another five years forward. There's no storyline in this part, no more than there's a storyline in history. There are just threads that may eventually converge, but at 30% the rivals promised by the blurb haven't even met!
What we get instead is an endless collage of people suffering under a bad government. It's a worn theme, but there are writers that can make it stab you in the feels. Ken Liu is not one of them. Quite the opposite; he managed to exaggerate it to the point of tedium. Yes, yes, people dying on the side of the road, children and mothers crying, you've told us. Repeatedly. The bad guys are also villainous to the point of caricature. Who needs inept or overambitious leaders when you can make them all idiots obsessed with palaces. How else, after all, could Liu make his Gary Stus shine?
Mata Zyndu is the most "I wrote him when I was a 12-year-old boy" character I've seen in a while. He's Xiang Yu except 8-feet tall, double-pupiled (but with extra sharp sight) and dual-wields a 2-handed sword and mace studded with teeth. Michael Kramer didn't help by giving him the most extra deep and gravelly voice he could manage. Sure, it probably fits the author's intentions, but made it absolutely impossible for me to take Mata seriously.
Liu Bang — sorry, Kuni Garu — was better done, but had such a small role in the story so far that it's not enough to make me continue.
I'm glad I didn't go for the Broken Binding set...
The first 20% of this 640-page book is pure exposition. We hop between characters every half chapter, most of whom never get a PoV again. Those that reoccur we meet in snippets too short to grow attached to them before Liu moves us another five years forward. There's no storyline in this part, no more than there's a storyline in history. There are just threads that may eventually converge, but at 30% the rivals promised by the blurb haven't even met!
What we get instead is an endless collage of people suffering under a bad government. It's a worn theme, but there are writers that can make it stab you in the feels. Ken Liu is not one of them. Quite the opposite; he managed to exaggerate it to the point of tedium. Yes, yes, people dying on the side of the road, children and mothers crying, you've told us. Repeatedly. The bad guys are also villainous to the point of caricature. Who needs inept or overambitious leaders when you can make them all idiots obsessed with palaces. How else, after all, could Liu make his Gary Stus shine?
Mata Zyndu is the most "I wrote him when I was a 12-year-old boy" character I've seen in a while. He's Xiang Yu except 8-feet tall, double-pupiled (but with extra sharp sight) and dual-wields a 2-handed sword and mace studded with teeth. Michael Kramer didn't help by giving him the most extra deep and gravelly voice he could manage. Sure, it probably fits the author's intentions, but made it absolutely impossible for me to take Mata seriously.
Liu Bang — sorry, Kuni Garu — was better done, but had such a small role in the story so far that it's not enough to make me continue.
I'm glad I didn't go for the Broken Binding set...
dawnserra's review against another edition
Such mediocre men, endless mediocre men, focused on power and revenge and almost no diversity of thought, character, gender. It was tiring.
katpavlikova's review against another edition
3.0
Velice těžké je pro mě toto hodnotit. Jedná se o něuvěřitelně kvalitně napsaný text, ze kterého srší promyšlenost a inteligence. Zavede vás doprostřed válečného konfliktu ve zcela smyšleném světě vycházejícího z východních tradic, ale z doby pozdního novověku, silkpunk se tomu říká. Jako subžánr pro mě asi úplně první zkušenost. A jo. chci víc!
Každá zúčastněná strana měla poctivý základ a historii, celá četba na mě působila, jako bych pročítala beletrizovanou učebnici dějepisu. Spousta pasáží je šíleně krasně napsaná. Tolik surovosti v jednom odstavci, v jedné větě. Místy až poetičnost. Konflikt podán celoplošně, takže si v hlavě můžete na pomyslné mapě posouvat vojska - námořní, pěší i letecké - jako jednotky, bombardovat městečka. Přemýšlet o tom, kdo vyhraje, kdo ne. Nabízí to pohled do zákoutí strategie a taktiky. A to všechno super.
Ovšem pro mě to bylo tak odosobněné, že jsem si nedokázala utvořit jakýkoliv vztah k postavám. A vlastně ani k území. Nikomu jsem nefandila. A pro trochu pohádkový nádech mi bylo docela jasné, jak všechno skončí (a měla jsem pravdu), tudíž šlo jen o cestu ke konci, a ta mě postupem času trochu "uondala".
Každá zúčastněná strana měla poctivý základ a historii, celá četba na mě působila, jako bych pročítala beletrizovanou učebnici dějepisu. Spousta pasáží je šíleně krasně napsaná. Tolik surovosti v jednom odstavci, v jedné větě. Místy až poetičnost. Konflikt podán celoplošně, takže si v hlavě můžete na pomyslné mapě posouvat vojska - námořní, pěší i letecké - jako jednotky, bombardovat městečka. Přemýšlet o tom, kdo vyhraje, kdo ne. Nabízí to pohled do zákoutí strategie a taktiky. A to všechno super.
Ovšem pro mě to bylo tak odosobněné, že jsem si nedokázala utvořit jakýkoliv vztah k postavám. A vlastně ani k území. Nikomu jsem nefandila. A pro trochu pohádkový nádech mi bylo docela jasné, jak všechno skončí (a měla jsem pravdu), tudíž šlo jen o cestu ke konci, a ta mě postupem času trochu "uondala".
jaredg5656's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0