The Veiled Throne

The Veiled Throne

Ken Liu2021
With the invasion of Dara complete, and the Wall of Storms breached, the world has opened to new possibilities for the gods and peoples of both empires as the sweeping saga of the award-winning Dandelion Dynasty continues in this third book of the “magnificent fantasy epic” (NPR). Princess Théra, once known as Empress Üna of Dara, entrusted the throne to her younger brother in order to journey to Ukyu-Gondé to war with the Lyucu. She has crossed the fabled Wall of Storms with a fleet of advanced warships and ten thousand people. Beset by adversity, Théra and her most trusted companions attempt to overcome every challenge by doing the most interesting thing. But is not letting the past dictate the present always possible or even desirable? In Dara, the Lyucu leadership as well as the surviving Dandelion Court bristle with rivalries as currents of power surge and ebb and perspectives spin and shift. Here, parents and children, teachers and students, Empress and Pékyu, all nurture the seeds of plans that will take years to bloom. Will tradition yield to new justifications for power? Everywhere, the spirit of innovation dances like dandelion seeds on the wind, and the commoners, the forgotten, the ignored begin to engineer new solutions for a new age. Ken Liu returns to the series that draws from a tradition of the great epics of our history from the Aeneid to the Romance on the Three Kingdoms and builds a new tale unsurpassed in its scope and ambition.
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Reviews

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charisa@charisa
3 stars
May 15, 2023

ok, i understand the point of the book, but was all that commentary on the food culture/cooking completely necessary LOL kinda felt like this one was written as a series of spin-offs, almost like mini-stories within the world of dara/ukyu-gondé that didn’t quite lend significance to the main plotline. i enjoyed it because ken is always an artful storyteller, but 900+ pages of an endless menagerie of characters just felt a tad unnecessary. i’ve already started speaking bones and even the first chapter seems more cohesive LOL edit: the r/fantasy subreddit refers to this book as “fantasy iron chef” and i’ve never agreed with something more LOL

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Toni Friedman@tonifriedman
3 stars
Apr 19, 2022
Photo of Jeremy Wang
Jeremy Wang@stratified_jeremy
3 stars
May 15, 2023
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Allison King@aking
5 stars
Jan 20, 2022