The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu | Spoiler Free Book Review
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- čas přidán 12. 09. 2024
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The First Binding, The Grace of Kings, next up probably the Ember Blade... been loving your channel recently! I kept following you through your lit fic year, but from an (absolutely selfish :D ) fantasy reader perspective, I'm so happy you're back in that genre :) Nevertheless, keep reading what you love!
Awe yay, thank you!
The Grace of Kings is so superb and honestly the series is just phenomenal the whole way through. Book 2, The Wall of Storms is one of the most magnificent fantasy books ever written!! I really hope you love the rest of the series
Well that makes me so excited!!
I consider "Grace of Kings" to be my personal favourite Modern Fantasy Novel published in the last 10 years! The biggest criticism I have seen, is that it lifts most of its characters and beats from the official history on the origin of the Qin and Han dynasties and therefore lacks “originality” and is simple a “copy and paste” of it. While valid, this criticism ignore that a lot of fantasy does this, either to make traditional stories and myths more accessible for a modern audience or as jumping points for modern interpretations/criticism/review.
And in my book Ken Liu succeeds on all these points, and his story slaps! The amazing characters, the awesome battles (not one them had repeating tactics: Psychological warfare, logistics, new tech and within the first chapters, I simply fell in love with how Mata’s hatred of how the Xana Empire has suppressed “the natural state” of Dara’s Nations and Societies, is contrasted with Kuni’s Cosmopolitan view of the Empire as “good ideas with horrible methods” (Blooming trade, infrastructure, technology and cultural exchange, but under a brutal tyranny that stifle its further potential) and do not want Dara to return of its previous divisions and rule by Nobles without regard for how their petty wars hurt the peoples of Dara. So when they become unlikely friends and later rivals, it breaks my heart! 😭
I also fully agree with Liu when he in an interview said that he views “The Grace of Kings” to be as much as an American Fantasy as a Chinese-inspired one: This is a multiethnic setting inspired as much of the US as of Han or Tang Dynasty China, with several characters having mindsets resembling as much those of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison or the Wright Brothers, as they do of Confucius, Cao Cao and Lubu! There are parallels to “Manifest Destiny” and the Sinicization of what is now Modern Southern China and Taiwan, and to the Iliad and the Odyssey in how the Gods interact internally between each other and on the ground! Xana is as much Qin Dynasty China as it is Imperial Japan occupying China and much of East Asia during the First & Second Sino-Japanese War/WW2! The Aboriginals of Dara have aspects in common of the Australian Aboriginals and the Pacific Melanesians! And from an different angle, the Island of Dara Island is slightly similar to Ireland in shape, another nation divided by Ancient Petty Kingdoms (tuatha), home to mighty heroes and powerful women and occupied by an Island Empire…
You've made me so eager to pick up this book! I hope you enjoy the rest of the series as well. I've heard phenomenal things about book 2. Great review! 👑
Thank you! Can’t wait for you to read it one day!
I'm so glad you're back into fantasy! Yay 🤗
Also really appreciate an in depth description, I always see this hyped up but only really described with Asian inspired engineering which doesn't really hook me or explain what it's about, but your description has me actually excited to read it now!
Aw I’m glad this helped :)
Ah I love this so much!! Honestly can't blame you for struggling with this review, because this book is just so unlike anything else I've ever read. How can we do justice to the masterpiece that Ken Liu created here?!
That technique with the battle scenes (cutting in for a flashback to explain new engineering etc.) is used throughout the entire series and that made the battles so engaging for me. Plus, none of these characters have plot armour, so you are constantly really afraid for them, because they really might just die at any moment.
The prose is indeed absolutely stunning. It's not particularly lush, but everything is described with such sharp efficiency and the philosophical musings are absolutely amazing, I tabbed the shit out of this entire series, lol.
Also, get ready for even more kickass female characters, they are going to steal the show from book 2 onwards. Buckle up for a wild ride and be sure to bring tissues, you are in for a real treat with this series 🤩🤩
Ahhh you have me so excited! I can’t wait!
I have been contemplating reading this book for a while now and this was just what I needed to convince me to give it a go! I think I’m going to go with the UK covers, they are stunning! 👑
Hope you enjoy it!
I flew through this book. SO good! Can't wait to dive into book 2. Like you, i'm not the biggest fan of military/war themes, but Ken Liu made it so compelling and not at all a slog to get through. And his female characters were great.
The Grace of Kings has been sitting on my shelf way too long! I’ve been enjoying seeing all the praise for it lately, and your review made me bump it up the tbr even more! I hope I love it too 🤞🏽
Oh yay! I hope you enjoy it too!
I just finished rereading the Grace of Kings in preparation for reading the rest of the series. Your review hit on so much!!
Just in case you haven’t read the second book, that one was way more my jam! There were way more female characters, and the military strategy was still so good, plus there were academic elements too! I’m gonna be rereading that one right now.
Its really awesome to see you enjoy a fantasy book like this again....I also enjoyed the vlog where you talked about this book
It's so good!
the next books follow different characters, Ken Liu said that The Grace of Kings is supposed to provide history and backup to the context of the next books. But they’re all just so amazing and i’m glad you loved this one!
Ok perfect, I’m so excited!
If you loved Book 1 this month, and I agree that it is superb, the rest of the series is going to blow you away. The character work gets even better and the themes even richer. I'm obsessed with this series and is one of my all time favorites.
You should also check out his short story collection The Paper Menagerie. Also incredible. Ken Liu is one of my favorite writers in fantasy and sci-fi.
Oooh I’m so glad to hear that!
Officially going to take this off my shelf when I get home.
To read?!
@@BookswithBrittany Absolutely!
Your review just makes me want to put Grace of Kings back up my priority list! And I just saw the paperback for Speaking Bones in a bookstore recently to that’s definitely another sign 😅😂
I'm so glad!
I've owned this for like a year but haven't gotten around to reading it yet, this video definitely made me want to prioritize picking it up!
Aw yay!
Glad you liked it, great review.
Read this one several years ago, and enjoyed it. Have to do a reread and then the remaining books, as it gets better according to everyone.
Glad you enjoyed it!
👑👑👑👑 thank you so much for this video I just placed an order for the UK books one and two
Hope you enjoy it!
Todd here. I have been interested in Japanese History since high school. I have heard good things about this series and picked up the first book recently. I have heard very good things about the second book in the series, Wall of Storms. The idea of Silk ships flying around sounds cool. Hope your day is going well Brittany.
Hope you enjoy it!
I went to penns cave last year and to get their it was miles and miles of fields and barns. Peaceful.
Haha we have the opposite love I LOVE when there is TONS of magic, and don't like things as much that are more realistic and low magic. Thank you for helping set my expectations a little better for when I get into this one.
Glad it could help!
I just picked up The Grace of Kings so your review makes me feel good about my purchase
It’s so good!
I was so afraid that I'm not going to like it because it's not character driven, but you sold it to me ! Thank you :)
Hope you enjoy it!
Grace of Kings is an absolute masterpiece! I‘m in the middle of the second book and it’s excellent.
I'm glad to see that you liked it.I own this series but I don't know when I'll get to it.
It’s so good!
Thinking about joining your patron, I ordered the book through botm. I enjoy all your content and your honesty.
Her patreon is great, I highly recommend it!
Awe thank you 🤍
I've only read the first 2 books so far, but women coming to power for the first time in a historically patriarchal society seems to be a very prominent theme in this series that gets explored a LOT more the wall of storms. Like you obviously have a lot of strong female leaders who are very competent and deserve their roles, but then you also have some others who are truly evil and despicable as well.
Very very superb theme writing overall
That makes me so excited!
Did not know about the steampunk aspect - colour me interested.🌻
🙌🏻
The Wall of Storms, The Veiled Throne and Speaking Bones are better. You are in for a treat. Dandelion Series is in my top 3 fave fantasy series of all time.
I’m so excited!
The female representation in book 2 is the best I've read in any book so far and the quality of character work in general is comparable to ASOIAF imo so don't worry about not liking it 😁
I’m so excited now!
I've only read the first 2 but I'm really looking forward to reading the others ☺
I can’t wait to continue!
Most definitely going to pick this up. 👑👑👑👑👑
Yay!
Grace of kings was fantastic
Yes!!
I think I need to order it!
Hope you like it!
Ken Liu is not mortal!
Been thinking about this one for a while... but now? 👑😁
Yay!
I did like the grace of kings the series is a good one
Yay!
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