Ken Liu

Becoming the best of friends after a series of adventures fighting against vast conscripted armies, a bandit and a duke's son become the rival leaders of separate factions with very different ideas about justice and politics.

The Grace of Kings

pros: very descriptive, lots of worldbuilding

cons: very descriptive, lots of worldbuilding

violeta

pros: very descriptive, lots of worldbuilding

cons: very descriptive, lots of worldbuilding

Cody Degen

Somewhere between 3 and 4 stars? World building was interesting but ultimately I couldn't connect to any of the characters. It felt a lot like reading a slightly stylized history book.

charisa

UGH KEN WHY ARE YOU SO GOOD 

seriously am going to need to re-read all of this man’s work after i finish this series. also i think i am just a sucker for multi-generational fantasy stories lmao 

but the history?! (interrobang x3) the melding of the divine and the human? the constant war between justice and mercy, especially in the context of authoritarian rule and generational trauma? 

and all the questions too: when does sacrifice distort love? can performance and deceit ever be used rightly for moral ends? what does having two pupils even look like??? 

ok, now it is time for the next one

"The Grace of Kings, the first book in this epic series, tells the story of two men who become friends through rebelling against tyranny and then turn against each other in defense of irreconcilable ideals. Wily, charming Kuni Garu, a bandit, and stern, fearless Mata Zyndu, the son of a deposed duke, seem like polar opposites. Yet, in the uprising against the emperor, the two quickly become the best of friends after a series of adventures fighting against vast conscripted armies, silk-draped airships, soaring battle kites, underwater boats, magical books, shapeshifting gods, and scaled whales who seem to prophesy the future. Once the emperor has been overthrown, however, the two find themselves the leaders of two sides with very different ideas about how the world should be run and the meaning of justice"--

Apiecalypse Jen

Katie Ravenwood

It was epic. It was also boring. It read more like a slightly dramatized textbook than anything resend featured lots of men blathering about honor and glory. Maybe I'm just at the wrong place in my life for this, but it just seemed like more of the same in epic fantasy. Granted, the scale of the world building is immense and the author clearly has an incredible mind for politics, strategy, and economics, it just needs a little tweaking in terms of character exposition and interaction, less description and more interaction. Lots of times I felt like I was reading the recap at the end of a movie:"this character went on to become a senator" etc. Recommended for appreciation of world building craft, but not if you want something to grab your attention and hold it relentlessly.

Fraser Simons

Well written and epic. I felt like it had epic fantasy problems at times as well. Some characters are introduced and removed, large swathes of time go by, not overly concerned with theme a lot of the time. Stuff like that. The advantage is that it really does feel epic and the main characters that are expounded on do feel well characterized, which is something I find this brand of fantasy isn’t great with. I just really like to have themes being driven and a lot of times it’s just a whole lot of events taking place all over, so it’s kind of impossible. In the end it feels pretty good and has something to say, it’s just not as satisfying to the type of fiction I generally prefer. Enjoyable none the less, though. Will continue to the next one, no doubt.

Melanie Richards

3.5 stars. It's good, it's just so LONG (in keeping with genre, however)

Sheila

Beautiful and captivating <3 The entire story flowed like wine, and it never felt like I was reading a 600+ page tome. Reading this book honestly felt like I was sitting at a campfire listening to someone tell an epic like The Odyssey; for someone like me that hates being read to, this is the perfect compromise. The story itself reminded me of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" except with airships & massive narwhals! 

Kuni Garu is the hero I want in all my stories, I can't even lie. Hell, Kuni Garu is the kind of person I wish I came across more often in real life. On the other hand, I hope the next book in this series is more about Gin Matiza because she is amazing. Those two aside, all of the characters are wonderful; even though the vast majority of them don't get significant characterization, they all feel complete.

I kind of want to cuddle this book for the next day because I loved it that much 8D

jam 🍯

I read 98% of this book in June, but didn't finish it until end July. I picked up the book because Ken Liu's short story collection moved me to tears, and I was curious about his first novel. It's masterfully written and an excellent fantasy epic, but ultimately I have to say the genre is not for me. I will probably continue reading the series in the future, but for now there are too many books I'd rather read.

Allison King

I thought the first half of the book was rather slow but by the second half I was hooked!

Deborah Kerr

I struggled to rate this one because there are some serious pluses:
- world-building
- plotting
- nuanced politics and plotting
- interesting characters 

But on the other hand, the cons are incredibly brutal:
- character growth/dev is basically non-existence (this book spans liters decades so that’s pretty rough)
- this book is basically all tell and no show—there are full battles that are given only 1 line of description followed by a 10 page chapter giving the reader the entire backstory of a character we only see on page for 2 chapters

I just think this one wasn’t for me. While I appreciate the scope of what Liu was attempting, I don’t think he was successful.

Ben Nathan

This is 4.5 stars, but I'm giving 5 because we don't have halves and I'd rather overshoot on this one. Delightful start to what looks like an epic series. Great writing, very full characters, tons of intrigue. I really enjoyed the conversations and interactions involving the gods. I was never too surprised by the actions of the people, but the way they got there and what happened once they were kept me on the tip of my toes the whole time.

Ilia Markov

Take Machiavelli, turn it into a fantasy set in a world resembling the “Warring States” period of Chinese history and you get The Grace of Kings. 

This is a great book, a lot more philosophical than you’d expect from a fantasy book. 

The only reason that it doesn’t get 5 stars from me is that because of the number of characters and how they’re introduced, it can be easy to lose track of the storyline especially if you’re listening to the audio version.

sky na

Viktoria A

Chinanu

Daniel Figueiredo

Emperor Mapidéré was the first to unite the island kingdoms of Dara under a single banner. But now the emperor is on his deathbed, his people are exhausted by his vast, conscriptive engineering projects and his counsellors conspire only for their own gain. Even the gods themselves are restless. A wily, charismatic bandit and the vengeance-sworn son of a deposed duke cross paths as they each lead their own rebellion against the emperor's brutal regime. Together, they will journey to the heart of the empire;witnessing the clash of armies, fleets of silk-draped airships, magical books and shapeshifting gods. Their unlikely friendship will drastically change the balance of power in Dara... but at what price? THE GRACE OF KINGS is the debut novel by Hugo-, Nebula- and World Fantasy Award-winner Ken Liu and the first in an monumental new epic fantasy series.

The Grace of Kings

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