A review by dkadastra
The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu

5.0

This was one of the more unique and original fantasies I've read in a while. In the beginning, it seemed like it was laid out as a series of vignettes, rather than an overarching story, but eventually the vignettes (which were setting up the world and characters in an interesting, comprehensive way) coalesced into a riveting, coherent story. Throughout the narrative, POV characters were introduced, quickly served their purpose and were killed off, but Ken Liu manages to give them incredible characterization in their short time on the main stage. It's hard for me to describe the style of the writing and the prose, but it managed to, at various times, sound like a fable, a history, and a more modern fantasy. The amount of story contained in this book was massive, enough that I'm sure an entire trilogy could have been made from it, so I'm genuinely curious as to where the story goes from here.