Scan barcode
A review by halefa
The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
This was an interesting reading experience!
- 1st third of the book, I struggled.
- 2nd third of the book, I accepted it for what it was and could enjoy it somewhat.
- 3rd third of the book I struggled - when is it eeeendiiiiing?
The reason I struggled:
I expected the book to be different. It's written very much like historic chronicles. A historic text looking back at what empired and describes it in bold strokes. It's like the Silmarillion.
The narrator is kinda distanced, only roughly and generally describing how the characters how feeling and how they always immediately jump to action.
The story jumps from milestone to milestone to milestone - stuff in-between is only referenced in a single sentence. Sometimes, it feels like the author couldn't be bothered to actually describe a milestone, so a chapter starts with "Character won that easily and now two months later this is happening" - excuse me, the chapter before all was about this one thing and now you just write "won it easily"??
Every time a new character is introduced, you first get a full summary of their life until now to not keep any mystery in regards to their motivation and reasoning. Often, these characters also die pretty quickly - again you get the feeling that this is more a book describing the lifes of people involved in historic events, trying to document and log all the important parts, but less write a *story* where the reader should feel with the characters and discover and develop *with* the characters (this might be a fault of mine expecting that, though).
Also, I liked none of the characters. They're all arsehole with questionable personalities. This might be the goal of the author, which I could respect as it's more authentic - but it didn't make my reading struggle easier. 😆 Also, especially in the beginning, the descriptions and what happened to the main characters felt a bit mary-suey.
The characters are not diverse, most characters are men. One female character more towards the end sticks more out as being strong and different .
The end just drags out and out and out.
I will not be continuing the series.
- 1st third of the book, I struggled.
- 2nd third of the book, I accepted it for what it was and could enjoy it somewhat.
- 3rd third of the book I struggled - when is it eeeendiiiiing?
The reason I struggled:
I expected the book to be different. It's written very much like historic chronicles. A historic text looking back at what empired and describes it in bold strokes. It's like the Silmarillion.
The narrator is kinda distanced, only roughly and generally describing how the characters how feeling and how they always immediately jump to action.
The story jumps from milestone to milestone to milestone - stuff in-between is only referenced in a single sentence. Sometimes, it feels like the author couldn't be bothered to actually describe a milestone, so a chapter starts with "Character won that easily and now two months later this is happening" - excuse me, the chapter before all was about this one thing and now you just write "won it easily"??
Every time a new character is introduced, you first get a full summary of their life until now to not keep any mystery in regards to their motivation and reasoning. Often, these characters also die pretty quickly - again you get the feeling that this is more a book describing the lifes of people involved in historic events, trying to document and log all the important parts, but less write a *story* where the reader should feel with the characters and discover and develop *with* the characters (this might be a fault of mine expecting that, though).
Also, I liked none of the characters. They're all arsehole with questionable personalities. This might be the goal of the author, which I could respect as it's more authentic - but it didn't make my reading struggle easier. 😆 Also, especially in the beginning, the descriptions and what happened to the main characters felt a bit mary-suey.
The characters are not diverse, most characters are men. One female character more towards the end sticks more out as being strong and different .
The end just drags out and out and out.
I will not be continuing the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and War
Minor: Drug use, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Gaslighting