A review by nicobella
The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu

5.0

This is the first book of an epic fantasy quartet that has a little something for everyone. We meet our cast living in an empire where the gods meddle. This is not a world where its humans widely wield magic nor does the book explore the characters or the maneuvers of war ad nauseam. If you don’t need all that in your epics I strongly suggest this one. I loved the writing style (it was both lyrical and concise) and the balance of a quick moving plot with a fair amount of character development. My absolute favorite books are ones that show the nuance of character motivation, power and choice - this is a book that shows the world as more than black or white and you will not find mustache twirling villains here. If you like historical fantasy, battles or political machinations this would be worth checking out. I liked all the characters, even the ones I didn’t actually like. And, wow I did not expect the ending.