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4.63 AVERAGE
4.63 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Great writing and storytelling. Maybe too many backstories for my taste.
I’m not sure that I like the ending. Théra coming back to Dara doesn’t feel right to me.
Same thing as a descendant of Tenryo getting to be Emperor of Dara, or Xana having Ukyu-taasa as its official name, or the hardliner Lyucu thanes who committed so many horrors getting to keep all their spoils. Dyana having an important role in Rui and Dasu - yes, but the Lyucu getting that many concessions doesn’t make sense. The questions asked at the end by the descendant of Cutanrovo demand clear answers, and show that dealing with remembrance of - and moving forward from -horrors is difficult.
I’m not sure that I like the ending. Théra coming back to Dara doesn’t feel right to me.
Same thing as a descendant of Tenryo getting to be Emperor of Dara, or Xana having Ukyu-taasa as its official name, or the hardliner Lyucu thanes who committed so many horrors getting to keep all their spoils. Dyana having an important role in Rui and Dasu - yes, but the Lyucu getting that many concessions doesn’t make sense. The questions asked at the end by the descendant of Cutanrovo demand clear answers, and show that dealing with remembrance of - and moving forward from -horrors is difficult.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
5 stars. Audiobook.
I have too many thoughts that need to settle. Full RTC.
I have too many thoughts that need to settle. Full RTC.
4.75/5 stars
As someone who absolutely loved the previous books in the Dandelion Dynasty series (truly some of the best fantasy I have ever read), I had very high expectations for this book, and on most fronts these were more than met by the Speaking Bones.
The world that Ken Liu paints is incredibly detailed and captivating as always (personally I particularly enjoy the allusions to traditional Chinese-inspired elements such as the logograms and different schools of philosophy, along with the 成语 or different idioms and sayings scattered through the story that truly enrich it) and is certainly one of the key attractions of this book.
The plot is complex and unpredictable, making the story engaging whilst managing to make court politics (often something that would bore me in a book) intriguing for readers.
My sole reservations come due to the characters. Unlike the first 3 novels (of which the 2 first books were my favourites), I didn’t feel quite the same pull to the characters, despite them being beautifully developed and profound. It might have been due to the frequent switches between different viewpoints, or perhaps the fact that many of my favourite characters died either during this last instalment or in the previous ones, but I didn’t feel as entranced by their stories as in the previous books. Most of the book saw my favourites separated, and whilst remedied by the ending (which was very satisfying), I do wish that we could have seen more interactions between the amazing characters, with this being the reason why I couldn’t give the book a full 5/5 like I would for books 1-3 without hesitation.
Overall however, thank you Ken Liu for such an incredible series; now I’ve got to go back and reread the first three books….
As someone who absolutely loved the previous books in the Dandelion Dynasty series (truly some of the best fantasy I have ever read), I had very high expectations for this book, and on most fronts these were more than met by the Speaking Bones.
The world that Ken Liu paints is incredibly detailed and captivating as always (personally I particularly enjoy the allusions to traditional Chinese-inspired elements such as the logograms and different schools of philosophy, along with the 成语 or different idioms and sayings scattered through the story that truly enrich it) and is certainly one of the key attractions of this book.
The plot is complex and unpredictable, making the story engaging whilst managing to make court politics (often something that would bore me in a book) intriguing for readers.
My sole reservations come due to the characters. Unlike the first 3 novels (of which the 2 first books were my favourites), I didn’t feel quite the same pull to the characters, despite them being beautifully developed and profound. It might have been due to the frequent switches between different viewpoints, or perhaps the fact that many of my favourite characters died either during this last instalment or in the previous ones, but I didn’t feel as entranced by their stories as in the previous books. Most of the book saw my favourites separated, and whilst remedied by the ending (which was very satisfying), I do wish that we could have seen more interactions between the amazing characters, with this being the reason why I couldn’t give the book a full 5/5 like I would for books 1-3 without hesitation.
Overall however, thank you Ken Liu for such an incredible series; now I’ve got to go back and reread the first three books….
Actual rating: 3.75 ★
This took me ages to finish – thank you Scribd for coming through with the audiobook – and now I feel both accomplished and satisfied. It’s not my favourite in the series. In my opinion, both this and The Veiled Throne are too long and struggle with their pacing (do we really need all these detailed breakdowns of all the new inventions??). However, it’s a solid conclusion to this grand tale and I think most readers will find it satisfying and maybe even bittersweet.
My ranking within the series looks like this:
The Wall of Storms(Book two): 4.5★
The Grace of Kings (Book one): 4★
Speaking Bones (Book four): 3.75★
The Veiled Throne (Book three): 3.5★
And overall the series lands at a solid 4 ★-rating for me.
This took me ages to finish – thank you Scribd for coming through with the audiobook – and now I feel both accomplished and satisfied. It’s not my favourite in the series. In my opinion, both this and The Veiled Throne are too long and struggle with their pacing (do we really need all these detailed breakdowns of all the new inventions??). However, it’s a solid conclusion to this grand tale and I think most readers will find it satisfying and maybe even bittersweet.
My ranking within the series looks like this:
The Wall of Storms(Book two): 4.5★
The Grace of Kings (Book one): 4★
Speaking Bones (Book four): 3.75★
The Veiled Throne (Book three): 3.5★
And overall the series lands at a solid 4 ★-rating for me.
I have never had such conflicting thoughts on a book or a series as I do for this one. On one hand it was absolutely brilliant, but on the other it was a slog.
With this concluding book, we now have the big picture of the series and it is beautiful. This was a clever and well thought out plot. There were so many jaw dropping moments in this final installment. A lot of these moments tied into earlier books and you can see just exactly how Liu has been crafting this story which was amazing.
There was a lot of work put towards world building. There is a lot of rich lore and history. There were a lot of technological advancements throughout. These advancements felt realistic, the explanations of how the technology felt real. Despite having different resources, the technology made sense for what was available to these characters. I am an engineer and this was so fun to read.
The plot was so clever, it had so much potential. But I did not like how it was presented. The pacing of this book was awful. Every single climatic moment was interrupted multiple times with other POVs. Leaving a climatic moment to move to another POV is often used and when done correctly makes a book a page turner and makes it enjoyable. Where most books succeed and where this one fails is the continuation of the momentum despite the POV change. Everytime we moved POVs in a climatic moment all momentum died. A lot of books keep the momentum by having these POVs all at a climactic moment at the same time. So despite leaving one POV in a cliffhanger moment, I pick up after a cliffhanger moment of another POV, keeping the momentum.
In this book, the POV shifts in a climactic moment typically jumped back in time. There was usually some big reveal that we then had to jump back in time to explain what was going on. Yes it was fun seeing how the technology had advanced, but leaving the middle of a war scene to then spend a large amount of time explaining how the technology was developed and how it works, just didn’t work. It killed the momentum. A lot of these explanations, although thorough and really interesting, were just lore dumps. It was in no way exciting to read. Often these chapters that showed how the technology had been developed were longer than the actual climactic moments. This made the pacing awful to have to deal with. In trying to tie off so many threads and with them being so spread out, this book felt like it had several endings. Not only that, the last 25% of the book was post resolution of these climactic moments. So this ending dragged on and on.
In the notes of this book and the previous book, Liu explains that these last two books were intended to be one book, but had to be split due to the length. He explains that the two books should be seen and read as one book. I do not feel that the length of both books was justified and honestly think this could have been done in one book instead of two. There was a lot of time spent in The Veiled Throne with a particular group of individuals that I would argue could have been left out entirely and nothing would be missed.
There was a specific plot device that had been used throughout this series that I felt was largely forgotten in this book. I can see how someone would argue that it was still going on off screen, but it felt weirdly absent in this book.
I can see why people love this series so much. I do think it is an absolutely brilliant plot, but I do not think the organization and presentation of the material was absolutely awful.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book—no, this entire series—is incredibly strange. And I mean that in the most awe-inspired, thought-provoking way possible. On the surface, The Dandelion Dynasty is labeled as fantasy. And yes, there are dragon-like war machines, gods who walk among mortals and meddle in their fates, and characters who perform superhuman feats that defy belief. But to reduce this series to mere fantasy would be to completely misunderstand what Ken Liu is doing here.
Liu uses fantasy not as a genre to lean on, but as a framework—a vessel through which he explores some of the most profound truths about humanity, society, and morality. The fantastical elements are never indulgent; they’re sharp, deliberate instruments. Every mythical creature, divine encounter, or impossible act is there to reflect something deeply human.
At the core of Speaking Bones is a message that resonates like a war drum beneath the surface of its pages: humans are not machines. They are not simple algorithms of cause and effect. They are not cleanly divided into good or evil, right or wrong, hero or villain. People are complex. Messy. Contradictory. Sometimes noble, sometimes monstrous. Often both at once.
Liu refuses to let you settle into the comfort of predictability. Characters you thought you understood are revealed to be entirely different people than you imagined. Ideologies clash not as caricatures, but as fully realized, painfully logical worldviews. There are no easy answers here—only hard questions, tangled loyalties, and the haunting realization that history is written not in truth, but in the interpretation of truth.
Reading Speaking Bones isn't just reading a story. It’s stepping into a living, breathing world where language itself is weaponized, where technology and philosophy evolve hand in hand, and where even the gods struggle to grasp the will of mortals.
By the end, you're not left with closure, but contemplation. And perhaps that's Liu’s greatest triumph. This isn’t a series that ties everything up in a neat bow. It leaves you with thoughts that echo long after the final page—about power, legacy, compromise, and what it means to be human in an ever-changing world.
Liu uses fantasy not as a genre to lean on, but as a framework—a vessel through which he explores some of the most profound truths about humanity, society, and morality. The fantastical elements are never indulgent; they’re sharp, deliberate instruments. Every mythical creature, divine encounter, or impossible act is there to reflect something deeply human.
At the core of Speaking Bones is a message that resonates like a war drum beneath the surface of its pages: humans are not machines. They are not simple algorithms of cause and effect. They are not cleanly divided into good or evil, right or wrong, hero or villain. People are complex. Messy. Contradictory. Sometimes noble, sometimes monstrous. Often both at once.
Liu refuses to let you settle into the comfort of predictability. Characters you thought you understood are revealed to be entirely different people than you imagined. Ideologies clash not as caricatures, but as fully realized, painfully logical worldviews. There are no easy answers here—only hard questions, tangled loyalties, and the haunting realization that history is written not in truth, but in the interpretation of truth.
Reading Speaking Bones isn't just reading a story. It’s stepping into a living, breathing world where language itself is weaponized, where technology and philosophy evolve hand in hand, and where even the gods struggle to grasp the will of mortals.
By the end, you're not left with closure, but contemplation. And perhaps that's Liu’s greatest triumph. This isn’t a series that ties everything up in a neat bow. It leaves you with thoughts that echo long after the final page—about power, legacy, compromise, and what it means to be human in an ever-changing world.