The Grace of Kings

The Wall Of Storms, the sequel to this first book of The Dandelion Dynasty, will be published in a few weeks, early October 2016. I'd already ordered it, but after reading 200 pages of The Grace Of Kings, I cancelled my order. I also cancelled reading the rest of the 623 pages of Ken Liu's full length debut. So, yes, this is my second DNF this year.

What a bummer. I looked forward to this book. I'm a huge fan of the short story collection Liu published earlier this year, and I liked his translation of The Three-Body Problem. It won the Locus First Novel, and there were a few positive reviews of bloggers whose opinion I respect.

Imagine my surprise with this book's main problem: clunky, crummy prose, and dialogue that's bloated & unrealistic--fantasy world or not.

"Young man," she mumbled after the retreating figure of Kuni Garu, "you may act lazy and foolish, but I have seen your heart. A bright and tenacious flower will not bloom in obscurity."

or

But the evidence seemed to some of the ministers and generals flimsy.

or

Also, his double pupils always made others look away.

There's so many words in this book. Words words words. Also, if the editors would have taken a marker and highlighted all the redundant words and phrases, the book would have looked like a syllabus from an undergrad who can't distinguish between what's important and what's not.

This book might be the best illustration I've come across of why an author should show and not tell - a critic's cliché that I don't like repeating in reviews myself, but really, this book forces my hand. Liu does lots of telling, let me tell you. But if I'm honest, the telling as such is not really the problem: it's how it is being told, and that's repetitive and slow paced. It's boring telling, indeed. There are pages and pages of things explained that were already clear. Explained, repeated, and explained again. Because of all that, this tale failed to connect emotionally, and I hardly felt anything, as only saying something is "famous" or "skilled" doesn't make it so. As a result, the action felt stale and lifeless. Strange, as Liu's short fiction proves he can write compelling, even horrifying scenes, using poetic, precise prose. Yet his long form feels like amateur hour.

Saladin Ahmed, author of a pulp turd, calls this book "a much-needed breath of fresh air" for epic fantasy. Saga Press slapped it on the cover, but forgot The Grace Of Kings actually isn't epic fantasy. It's a rehash of Chinese history. Ken Liu talked openly about this, and a quick glance at the Wikipedia page of the Chu-Han contention--the conflict 2 centuries BC that led to the birth of the Han dynasty--is revelatory. The two main characters, Kuni Garu and Mata Zyndu, are more or less Liu Bang and Xiang Yu. Here's two Wiki quotes, that will be very familiar to people who've read the book...

(...)

Please continue reading this review on Weighing A Pig...