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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
yvonne_aaf's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-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
4.5
I'm honestly speechless, I don't think I've ever experienced such a wide range of emotions when reading a novel, which makes it all the more difficult to coherently explain my thoughts. I feel like this book had the potential to become one of my all-time favourites, but I think that there were a few areas where I felt the book 'slipped' slightly.
I adored the world-building, and the battle scenes, in particular, were written with such detail and vividness - I could picture the entire novel playing out as a movie in my head. This book does not shy away from the gore, horrors and cruelty of war and imperialism, and descriptions of many events certainly reflect that. The depth, complexity, and fallibility of the characters made them so believable - Kuni Garu and Mata Zyndu are characters that I don't think will leave me for a long, long time.
Slight rant: I lowkey hated the direction that Mata's character headed in, especially in the latter half of the book. Whilst I loved the juxtaposition of Kuni's cunning and heart, vs Mata's sheer strength and bravery, I felt like Mata was fashioned into a stupid character, and made decisions that were believable in context and were necessary to advance the plot, but also oddly out of character :/ don't even get me STARTED on the ending
From what I understand, this book (and its subsequent novels) is a re-imagining of the rise of the Han dynasty, and because of this, I understand why there appears to be such a distinct lack of female characters; it's reflective of society at that time. They are not entirely absent, and actually feature prominently in places, but their presence didn't make the reading experience any less jarring at times. In places, I felt as if I was just watching a 'male fantasy' play out on the pages (that's quite vague, I think, but I can't describe it any other way).
In a weirdly meta way, the book kind of talks about the way that most of them only appear in relation to male characters in the male-centric story, and whilst I thought this was really interesting, it didn't alleviate how alienated I felt from the book at times.
It's a beast of a book, and took me a really long time to finish; the pacing dipped at times and I considered dnf-ing, especially at times that I felt the female characters were entirely irritating. However, I really thought it was worth it and I'll be holding onto my copy for the foreseeable future because the story really meshed it's way into my heart.
This book has taught me a lot about what I like in a fantasy novel, I now know that I need strong characters, solid worldbuilding, and a complex female cast. Despite how much I loved it, I won't be picking up the rest of the trilogy - I'd rather just leave the story as it is, untarnished in my memory by any future storylines that I have a strong feeling I won't enjoy at all :)
I adored the world-building, and the battle scenes, in particular, were written with such detail and vividness - I could picture the entire novel playing out as a movie in my head. This book does not shy away from the gore, horrors and cruelty of war and imperialism, and descriptions of many events certainly reflect that. The depth, complexity, and fallibility of the characters made them so believable - Kuni Garu and Mata Zyndu are characters that I don't think will leave me for a long, long time.
From what I understand, this book (and its subsequent novels) is a re-imagining of the rise of the Han dynasty, and because of this, I understand why there appears to be such a distinct lack of female characters; it's reflective of society at that time. They are not entirely absent, and actually feature prominently in places, but their presence didn't make the reading experience any less jarring at times. In places, I felt as if I was just watching a 'male fantasy' play out on the pages (that's quite vague, I think, but I can't describe it any other way).
In a weirdly meta way, the book kind of talks about the way that most of them only appear in relation to male characters in the male-centric story, and whilst I thought this was really interesting, it didn't alleviate how alienated I felt from the book at times.
It's a beast of a book, and took me a really long time to finish; the pacing dipped at times and I considered dnf-ing, especially at times that I felt the female characters were entirely irritating. However, I really thought it was worth it and I'll be holding onto my copy for the foreseeable future because the story really meshed it's way into my heart.
This book has taught me a lot about what I like in a fantasy novel, I now know that I need strong characters, solid worldbuilding, and a complex female cast. Despite how much I loved it, I won't be picking up the rest of the trilogy - I'd rather just leave the story as it is, untarnished in my memory by any future storylines that I have a strong feeling I won't enjoy at all :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
msrichardsreads89's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
5.0
This was so unique from any other fantasy I've read. The writing style is different in that it zooms in and out, and the world building was very well done. The prose is elegant but not flowery, and Liu is a master of gut punching lines. It is a very slow burn yet intricate plot that touched on a lot of big themes. The character development wasn't done in the traditional way, but it worked for me. This is definitely not a beginner fantasy novel. Despite the low magic and sections of info dumping, I absolutely loved this. The middle dragged for me, but the last half of the book made it all worth it. Everything felt purposeful, and I am interested to see where the series goes!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, War, Child abuse, Body horror, and Death
cerilouisereads's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Sexism, Misogyny, and Toxic friendship
griffinthief's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Pregnancy, Murder, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, and War
Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Death, and Death of parent
becksusername's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
If you're into fantasy war books with lots of politics, this is the book for you. It is not the book for me. It was good, and I think the fact that I finished it is a testament to how well-written it is, but before the halfway mark I was thinking "can't we all just get along and be done with this nonsense?"
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, War, and Xenophobia
rorikae's review against another edition
challenging
dark
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
3.5
In 'The Grace of Kings,' Ken Liu starts an epic fantasy silkpunk series that centers on two men who will shape the future of their empire.
Kuni Garu and Mata Zyndu grow up in separate areas of the empire. After Emperor Mapidere's death and the ascension of the boy emperor Erishi, the political situation in the empire becomes less stable and both men begin to forge their own paths. When they meet, they strike up respect for one another that becomes a fast friendship. But as the trials of trying to gain control in the empire increase, their friendship and loyalty to one another is tested.
I'm a little bit conflicted about this book. It starts off with an incredibly memorable first scene that does a great job of establishing the world and the empire but then it loses its track for the first 20 to 30% of the book. Liu takes time with each of the characters he introduces but instead of weaving these together to explore more of the backstory of the empire, it feels jumbled and hard to follow. We are constantly being pulled to and fro with new characters and it makes it hard to establish the main characters of the story until far into the book. Once the introductions and background settle and the story focuses more squarely on Kuni Garu and Mata Zyndu, it flows much better and is much more intriguing. Liu's use of backstory works better further along in the story when characters are introduced every once and awhile and the backstories are allowed the time to flesh out the characters and how they connect to the wider plot. Other than some of these later additions, I found it hard to remember many of the characters beyond the main set.
Some of my favorite parts of the story are the ways that Liu uses the gods and their meddling in human affairs as well as the way technology is utilized. Once the story moves from introducing characters to focusing on character development, it hit its stride and I became far more invested in Kuni Garu and Mata Zyndu.
I would be interested to read the next book in the series, especially the way that this book ends. I thought that some of the main parts of this story would continue on throughout the series but with how the book wraps up, it is clear that it will be heading in new directions in book two.
Kuni Garu and Mata Zyndu grow up in separate areas of the empire. After Emperor Mapidere's death and the ascension of the boy emperor Erishi, the political situation in the empire becomes less stable and both men begin to forge their own paths. When they meet, they strike up respect for one another that becomes a fast friendship. But as the trials of trying to gain control in the empire increase, their friendship and loyalty to one another is tested.
I'm a little bit conflicted about this book. It starts off with an incredibly memorable first scene that does a great job of establishing the world and the empire but then it loses its track for the first 20 to 30% of the book. Liu takes time with each of the characters he introduces but instead of weaving these together to explore more of the backstory of the empire, it feels jumbled and hard to follow. We are constantly being pulled to and fro with new characters and it makes it hard to establish the main characters of the story until far into the book. Once the introductions and background settle and the story focuses more squarely on Kuni Garu and Mata Zyndu, it flows much better and is much more intriguing. Liu's use of backstory works better further along in the story when characters are introduced every once and awhile and the backstories are allowed the time to flesh out the characters and how they connect to the wider plot. Other than some of these later additions, I found it hard to remember many of the characters beyond the main set.
Some of my favorite parts of the story are the ways that Liu uses the gods and their meddling in human affairs as well as the way technology is utilized. Once the story moves from introducing characters to focusing on character development, it hit its stride and I became far more invested in Kuni Garu and Mata Zyndu.
I would be interested to read the next book in the series, especially the way that this book ends. I thought that some of the main parts of this story would continue on throughout the series but with how the book wraps up, it is clear that it will be heading in new directions in book two.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Suicide, Torture, Violence, War, and Infidelity
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