The Grace of Kings

Okay, this was a re-read in anticipation for the third book being released next month, but I originally read this before I had ever reviewed anything and didn't have anywhere to unload my thoughts.

I found my first time through this book a bit difficult, because I was expecting something different. By the end, I found it one of the most thought-provoking and enjoyable things I'd ever read. And that's a big problem with this book, I think, because this low rating is ludicrous. It's marketed as an Asian Game of Thrones essentially, and it is absolutely not that. Comparing this to Martin is an insult to both Martin and Liu, both fantastic writers interested in telling stories very differently.

My first time, I was pretty new to adult fantasy-only having read A Song of Ice and Fire and American Gods before. And I may have DNF'd this book in the first 150 pages due to expecting it to be like them. Liu introduces a bunch of characters in a very clinical, matter-of-fact way near the beginning and many of them are killed after a chapter or two. I was a novice, and I was frustrated- who are the main characters!? What is this guy doing?! I kept going for one reason, and that was because as a teenager, I had read and loved Romance of the Three Kingdoms a lot. I had read it three times minimum by the time I graduated middle school. I lived and breathed ancient China. And while it is not best for easy marketing, the two books that The Grace of Kings most easily relate to are Romance of the Three Kingdoms and The Illiad. Liu's prose reads like a blend of the epic poetry associated with Homer's tales (and, in an obvious homage, the only bit of “fantasy” in this book is a pantheon of Gods overlooking the characters and intervening on behalf of their favorites) and with the clinical, birds-eye view sweeping history style of ROT3K.

This style won't be for everyone, but Liu's prose is wonderful, gorgeous and thought-provoking, and if you give it a chance to get you into the flow of the story, the payoff is well worth it. The second time through, the main characters were immediately obvious to me- I struggled to understand how I couldn't have known who the focus was on in my naive first time. Kuni Garu and Mata Zyndu are both introduced in the first two chapters and get large expository background setting scenes.

The Grace of Kings is a retelling of the fall of the Qin dynasty and of the Chu-Han contention. Kuni Garu is our Liu Bang, Mata Zyndu is our Xiang Yu, even down to his double pupils, and nearly every military, political, history, or background scene is essentially a recreation of something that happened in history (with some exceptions-I'll get to that in a minute). I could give you a summary of this book and a summary of the fall of Qin, blank out the names and they'd hit all the same major points. I've seen some reviews point this out as a gotcha moment: Liu is just writing out a history book! It's uncreative! Blah blah blah! This is dumb and I can't take you seriously if you think this way. A story is in its telling, and what Liu chooses to focus on, what to change, what to highlight, how to characterize these larger-than-life people (there's a reason it makes for good “fantasy”: These people are so legendary that they feel like fantasy characters), and how he chooses to blend philosophy, politics, idealism, poetry, invention, economics, sexism, and imperialism together into this story is promised to always give you something to think about.

You can tell what he's interested in by the way he writes the military scenes: despite most of this book being about a series of rebellions and wars, there are almost no “fight” scenes. The action is told in a clinical, by-the-books way: “X moved here, and attacked here, Y did so-so maneuver and won.” It is NOT the most interesting way to write war, but what Liu is focusing on are the characters, the ideals behind why these people are choosing which side, how each battle affects the world, political situation, and characters around it. Every line of this book seems riddled with subtext. Having read Liu's short stories, I know that the man thinks through every word and that no sentence is wasted. I particularly loved the two characters Dafiro and Ratho-brothers who occupy a type of Guildenstern and Rosencrantz relationship to the main plot.

I've seen Liu state that he wanted The Grace of Kings to feel like a history of a nation, and it really does, but in the most modern way imaginable. For one thing, the way he involves the female characters should really show historical fiction writers that their excuses run thin. So much historical fiction reduces any and all women as tangential to the male leads, citing that's how it was back then. It does take Liu more than half the novel to work the female characters in (besides Kuni's wife Jia, a standout character), but once he does, they are varied and integral. My favorite secondary character is Gin Mazoti-a gender-swapped Han Xin, one of the greatest Chinese strategists. Mazoti is introduced quite late in the book but has a large presence. This is reminiscent of ROT3k again- that book introduces characters the moment they are needed and never beforehand. Anyway, Liu states his intention was to have GoK feel like a history to a more modern-style in Wall of Storms. Having started WoS already, I can immediately see what he means-his style is very different. This reminds me of the Wheel of Time and how Robert Jordan first did a giant homage to his influences before branching off and doing the stuff he really wanted to get to.

All of my ranting aside, I feel like I barely scratched the surface of what I can talk about with this one. More of you should read it, so I can talk about it. If my giant novel can't convince you, what can?
I'll end with a quote that explains, somewhat, the title of the series, and is also one of my favorite moments:

“You'd compare yourself to a weed?” He asked.
“Not just any weed. A dandelion is a strong but misunderstood flower. It cannot be defeated: just when a gardener thinks he has won and eradicated it from his lawn, a rain would bring the yellow florets right back. Yet it's never arrogant: its color and fragrance never overwhelm those of another. Immensely practical, its leaves are delicious and medicinal, while its roots loosen hand soils, so that it acts as a pioneer for other more delicate flowers. Best of all, it's a flower that lives in the soil but dreams of the skies. When it seeds take to the wind, it will go farther and see more than any pampered rose, tulip, or marigold.”

I LOVED THIS BOOK. SO FREAKIN' MUCH. The Grace of Kings is, without a doubt, one of the most well-crafted books that I've ever read.

First of all, I really liked the mood and tone of the book! Reading it felt like watching an old wuxia historical drama. I could actually see the influence of ancient Chinese practices and historical values reflected in the beliefs and actions of the characters. This helped me appreciate the reading experience so much more; I loved how I was able to draw parallels between the events in the book and what I was taught in class. I also liked how it was slow-paced (very much an epic fantasy) but still managed to pack in all these fun & interesting twists!

Another thing I loved was the juxtaposition of Kuni Garu and Mata Zyndu. The author characterized them really well. Kevin Liu managed to strike the perfect balance between them being friends and them being rivals, which really intrigued me. The book also discussed the ways in which war and power affect / change our relationships with people in a very meaningful way. A lot of the interactions between Kuni and Mata (both past and future) were defined by choices they made in order to 1) survive, because that was the only thing they could do in the war, which then morphed into 2) what was the best way for them to pursue their own personal agenda, establish the mandate of power and ensure peace (or what they thought would bring peace). This really meshed well with the overall theme and I loved how they were both such morally grey characters. Even though Kuni is set-up to be the “better” half of this “duo”, you definitely end up sympathizing with Mata and his values by the end of the book!

However, I did feel as if the women could've been fleshed out more. While I loved the overarching use of women in the story (as fighter pilots, auxiliaries & power players), I felt as of there was something lacking in the individual characterization of the main female characters! While they were all fantastic and kick-ass (in theory), their appearances were few and far between + most of their scenes were based on their interactions with the male characters.

*AND ONE LAST NOTE ON THE ENDING: It was PERFECTION. I love how the author set everything up perfectly for a very politically charged & very interesting second book. It was brilliant and chilling and I can't wait to see how the author's going to develop the characters and the foundation of the world that he's built.

I expected to enjoy this book more than I did. It started well, but somewhere in the middle I started to lose interest. I persevered with it and the ending picked up my interest again. It seemed a lot longer than 630 pages and it took me a lot longer to read than normal. Not sure if will bother with #2 when it is published.

3 stars - Metaphorosis Reviews

Emperor Mapidere united the various countries of Dara, but his grandiose ways have sewn the seeds of rebellion. The elements for it all fall in place through chicanery and happenstance, but once the revolution has started, the tides change with every new occurrence, and power shifts unpredictably.

I'm a big admirer of Ken Liu. His short fiction is extraordinary, and he's done wonders to bring Chinese speculative fiction to an English-speaking audience. When I saw that he'd written a novel, I snapped it up.

Unfortunately, Liu's considerable skills with short fiction haven't translated very well to the longer format. The Grace of Kings is long, slow, meandering, and often arbitrary. Liu draws on a large cast of characters, and, combined with his low-key style, the result is that we don't feel particularly close to any of them. Kuni Garu, a clever, trickster-type, is fun and interesting, but not particularly sympathetic, and becomes inconsistent toward the end. Mata Zynda, Kuni's athletic, military near-opposite, accomplishes the unusual feat of starting as a well-formed character, and becoming more and more shallow toward the end. The book reads more as a pseudo-historical text than as epic fantasy.

Liu's world is depressingly gender traditional, with dominant men, repressed women, etc. He uses this to build some changes toward the end, but it feels consciously tacked on, rather than an organic story of progress and development. This is also a world of quarreling, interfering gods, and they play the usual role, though Liu occasionally relies on them for ex machina solutions. Hero isolated against overwhelming odds? No problem; a god may come along and swallow them all up. Some of the non-deist solutions (e.g. how to put out a gate fire) are equally non-credible and disappointing. Others, including character motivations, are simplistic.

The prose is generally good, though not as smooth as I would expect from Liu. However, the beginning is very dense, with lots of data in what are effectively infodumps. The overall structure of the story also doesn't hold together as well as it should. While politics and governance are key elements of the concept, much of the result is low on realism, with political systems more broad strokes than credible constructs. Spies who wear uniforms are not spies, but enforcers. Some of the terminology is odd and feels out of place - “commander-in-chief”, for example, is accurate, but has a modern tone to it; “mano a mano” doesn't fit a pseudo-Oriental fantasy at all, and gains nothing on “hand to hand”. One gets the feeling that Liu just doesn't have that much experience with the epic fantasy sub-genre, and doesn't know how to handle some of the issues that come up.

What does work is a happy departure from the standard medieval European base to a less usual Oriental base. Liu pulls it off nicely, with just enough neologisms mixed with more familiar features. (Though at one, point, I began to wish for something not decorated with shark's teeth.) It's an interesting, intriguing world with a steam-punky feel to it. I just wish there were a better story to go with it. I lost interest in this one about 200 pages (40%) in.

All that said, it's not a bad book. With its unusual world, broad scope, and good prose, it's better than some. However, it is a very disappointing book from a very talented writer. Happily, it wraps up thoroughly enough that it's possible to drop the series here.

I try very hard not to fall for the hype when it comes to novels. I???ve fallen for it quite times, expecting something wonderful only to find something that???s really just mediocre or is out-and-out disappointing. A good example of this was when I picked up Mark Alder???s Son of the Morning, which had positive ratings almost everywhere I looked, and had a blurb that stoked my interest enough to make me want to read it. Unfortunately, the novel turned out to be very deeply flawed???practically broken, as far as I???m concerned, and as I was reading it I wondered how something so poorly written could escape into the world at large. I also wondered how other people could be so blind to the flaws I saw in it, which I felt were obvious to anyone who liked to read.

Sometimes, though, there are books that are hyped left, right, and centre, and truly deserve that hype. There was plenty of hype, for instance, around J.K. Rowling???s The Casual Vacancy from the moment she announced it, but I decided to stay away from it until I???d received confirmation that it was worth spending my time on. As it turned out, it was a book worth reading???nothing like the Harry Potter books, certainly, but it did prove Rowling had range, and was capable of writing eminently readable books that had nothing to do with the series that made her famous in the first place. That???s a lot more than I can say for some other writers.

But sometimes???very rare times???I buy into the hype of a novel almost from the very beginning, and it actually manages to live up to that hype. A good example would be Ann Leckie???s Ancillary Justice, which swept most of the major sci-fi/fantasy awards it was nominated for, and for good reason: it combines the best aspects of sweeping space opera with complex themes and excellent characterisation.

When I found out last year, via my friend Hope, that Ken Liu???s first novel was due to arrive in 2015, I was thoroughly excited. I???m familiar with Liu???s work as a short story writer (there are quite a few examples published in magazines like Clarkesworld and the like); his prose is elegant and poetic, telling stories that mix East Asian mythology and history with very contemporary themes. I was looking forward to seeing if that style would carry over into his longer work, as well as finding out what he could do when given plenty of room to develop a story.

As it turns out, Liu???s style doesn???t exactly carry over, but he does still tell a very good story.

The Grace of Kings begins with a parade. Emperor Mapid??r?? of the Xana Empire is touring his realm, and this parade through the conquered nation of Cocru is a way of strengthening Xana???s position as the nation that unified all others under one rule. Watching the parade are two teenagers: Kuni Garu and Rin Coda. They???ve decided (or rather, Kuni???s decided) to cut class in order to see the parade, and so far, it???s turning out to be worth it: the parade is a display of all the best that Mapidere???s newly-built empire has to offer, and there???s plenty to see that two small-town boys would not get to see unless they left home. But when an assassin tries to kill the Emperor in the middle of the parade, Kuni learns something about the world that will shape the course of the rest of his life.

Not too long afterwards, on the island of Tunoa, the Imperial Procession wends its way past the town of Farun, and is also witnessed by a teenager, but accompanied by an older man: Mata Zyndu, and his uncle, Phin. They are scions of the once-prominent Zyndu Clan, who were the Marshals of Cocru until they, and their country, fell to Mapid??r?????s forces. Mata???marked for greatness (or so Phin believes) by his extraordinary double-pupiled eyes???is determined to restore the glory of his clan, his country, and the old ways of life that Mapid??r?????s conquest eliminated. He believes it is his destiny, and he will stop at nothing until he accomplishes it.

As the years go by and the discontent in the empire grows into outright rebellion, Kuni and Mata???s paths cross. That crossing leads them onwards to accomplishing deeds both great and dark, to people both good and wicked, as they both do what they think they must???even when it means they must turn against each other.

One of the most interesting and most enjoyable things about this novel is how so much of it feels familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. I attribute this to the fact that Liu draws heavily from Eastern and Western literature, and combines elements from both in a manner that reads seamlessly, but tugs at the reader???s strings in unfamiliar ways.

A clear and immediate example of this are the two main characters, Kuni Garu and Mata Zyndu. Mata is destined for greatness???indeed, is physically marked for it:

Among the ancient Ano, it was said that those with double pupils had the special attention of the gods. Most such children were blind from birth. ???Phin moved his hand in front of the baby, uncertain if he was blind. Mata???s eyes did not move, but then the baby turned and focused his eyes on Phin???s.Among the double-pupiled, a rare few had the sight of an eagle, and it was said that they were destined for greatness.

There are plenty such heroes in both Eastern and Western classic literature, but the one that stands out the most (in my mind, anyway) is Achilles from Homer???s Iliad. Like Achilles, Mata is aware that he is destined for great things, and while he???s not quite sure how or when that destiny will come to him, he knows he must be ready for it. Thankfully, his uncle Phin (who raised Mata to believe that he had a great destiny ahead of him) has done all he can to make sure his nephew is ready; it???s just a matter of waiting and watching for the right moment.

If Mata is Achilles, then Kuni is definitely Odysseus, even if he doesn???t look like it, at first:

[Kuni] was a good drinker, talker, and brawler, and soon he became close to all sorts of disreputable characters in Zudi: thieves, gangsters, tax collectors, Xana soldiers from the garrison, girls from the indigo houses, wealthy young men who had nothing better to do than stand around all day on street corners looking for trouble???as long as you breathed, had money to buy him a drink, and enjoyed dirty jokes and gossip, Kuni Garu was your friend.

Initially, it might seem that Kuni is just a good-for-nothing jokester: a side-character, perhaps, to stand witness to the greatness that Mata Zyndu appears destined for. But that???s not Kuni???s destiny: he???s on the path towards something greater, but that path will be very different from Mata???s. Unlike Mata, who is a hero from the very beginning, Kuni grows into his role, in a manner that???s not immediately obvious to the reader.

This is where Liu shows that he???s not drawing his influences solely from Western literature. One can easily compare Mata to Achilles right from the get-go, but it takes time for the reader to start seeing Odysseus in Kuni, mostly because the story arc he undergoes has more similarities to Chinese classics like The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Outlaws of the Marsh than to anything Homer wrote.

Another similarity that The Grace of Kings shares with classic Chinese novels is its structure. The story hops from the point-of-view of one character to another, focusing primarily on Kuni and Mata, though other characters do get to hold the reins of the story from time to time. Every other chapter or so, the story jumps away from any of the main characters, and focuses instead on another part of the world, and on other characters and events. These chapters read almost like self-contained short stories within the novel???s larger framework: they detail certain events happening in a given area of the world, focusing on their own set of protagonists and antagonists and having their own central conflict. What ties these chapters back into the main story, though, is that these characters and events have an impact on everything else that???s going on around them: either the characters (if they survive the events of the chapter that introduced them) become supporting characters in the main story arc, or the events that occurred in that chapter are mentioned as influences on the ongoing events of the main story arc.

This tendency to play a little fast and loose with the plot???s linearity is one of the things that makes The Grace of Kings so very interesting to read???but it???s also one of the things that can turn some readers off. Because the novel doesn???t appear to have a tight central focus, especially in the first third, it can be easy for readers to get lost. It also doesn???t help that many of the names aren???t very memorable at first, and the fact that there are quite a lot of those names thrown at the reader from the very beginning makes things even more confusing. It???s especially difficult to keep place-names straight: it???s easier with characters, because a reader can associate names with certain personalities (if not certain faces, if the reader is good at making up faces to go with names), but places are another thing entirely. Like many fantasy novels The Grace of Kings has a map, but it???s irritating to have to flip back and forth between the map and the story, just to remind oneself about where the action is happening at any given moment.

Despite its problems, though, this is a wonderful, exquisite read. There are a lot of characters (which some readers might find irritating because it can be hard to keep them all straight), but none of them feels like a cardboard cutout. It???s easy to unequivocally love a character, or unequivocally hate them, but I find it more interesting when a character makes me feel more ambivalent about them than I thought. For example, I really like Kuni, but he makes some questionable decisions in the novel that make me look askance at him. The same can be said for Mata: I don???t really like him, but there are moments when I really, really like him because of something he???s said, done, or even not said or done.

I???m also exceedingly fond of the female characters in this novel. There???s not a lot of them, especially in the first third of the book, but once they start arriving they are a very fun and interesting bunch. Unfortunately, most of them don???t really get to grow very much in this novel, which is disappointing because I would have loved to see these fantastic women grow under such challenging circumstances as the ones presented in this novel. However, there are hints at the end of the novel that indicate these women will be able to spread their wings even further in the second novel, so I???m hoping Liu devotes time to developing the amazing women he???s introduced in The Grace of Kings, because it would be an utter waste if he doesn???t.

The novel???s true saving grace, though, is how immersive it is. Once (or if) the reader overcomes issues with Liu???s writing style, it???s easy to get lost in the world he???s created. Part of it is the characters themselves: they feel human enough that it???s easy to sympathise with their concerns and troubles, and those troubles and concerns are ones that at least some readers will be able to relate to. The other part is the themes: they touch upon a whole host of ideas, but the central theme???of revolution, and what comes after???is a very contemporary one for most readers. All revolutions begin with the need to topple an old, oppressive regime, but what happens after that? Once the old regime is gone, who or what takes its place? Those are the questions both the characters and the reader must confront throughout the novel, and just like in real life, there are no easy answers.

Overall, The Grace of Kings is a beautiful, immersive, heartwrenching read, but it???s not the easiest read to get into. Liu???s style might be elegant and poetic in his short stories, but it feels a little clunky in this novel: there???s a lack of focus in the first third of the novel that might turn readers off from the very beginning, though things do tighten up a bit by the middle portion of the novel. This lack of focus isn???t helped by the fact that there are plenty of names being tossed around; it???s fairly easy to keep track of the characters, but keeping track of places is another story entirely, and it???s irritating for a reader to have to keep flipping back and forth between the novel itself and the included map just to confirm where things are happening.

However, if readers are able to look past that initial clunkiness, they will be rewarded with a deep, immersive story, populated by characters who beautifully, fatally human; and deeper themes and ideas that echo issues currently troubling us today. The ending is equally satisfying: no homicide-inducing cliffhangers here, but there is the promise for more. It???s a good thing Liu???s writing a sequel, because there???s lots more story left in the world he???s built, and I???m eager to see what???s in store for it, and for everyone in it.

Executive Summary: I enjoyed parts of this book a lot, but overall found it a bit to uneven and slow in places. It's another one that suffers from lack of half star ratings. It's a solid 3.5 star book, that I initially gave 4 stars, but on collecting my thoughts for this review decided to round down to 3 stars instead.

Audio book: Finding out Michael Kramer did the audio from this made it go from wait for a library copy to buy it on audio. I was initially underwhelmed. It's probably not his best performance.

But even a so-so Michael Kramer reading is leaps and bounds above many narrators out there. This became even more obvious when I started my next book. I immediately missed his reading. You really can't go wrong with the audio though. I definitely wouldn't have finished this book so quickly if I was reading it.

Full Review
This book starts slow, but I enjoyed meeting some of the characters and the world building. Far too many fantasy worlds are based on medieval Europe. So it's nice to have one based on Asia instead.

I think the best aspect of this book for me was the gods as characters. This isn't the first fantasy series to do this, but it meshed in well and added an interesting element to the overall story.

Things built up slowly and then finally became interesting, but then seemed to slow way down again. Then it got interesting again before slowing down as things were sort of wrapped up in the final section. This made the pacing pretty uneven to me. The fight scenes and the actual rebellion didn't do much for me. And that's a large part of this book.

What I did enjoy was the actual plotting and administration of government. I appreciated the contrast between Kuni, Mata and the various Kings/Emperors. In some ways it was a bit too optimistic. Kuni is far from a perfect person, but seems incredibly proficient as a leader. Meanwhile Mata is entirely too stupid. Some of the characters actions just didn't make a lot of sense to me.

The other main issue I had was the female characters. This book had some really great ones. Jia, Soto and another I'll refrain from naming. However it felt like it took him far too long to include them as more than just minor characters in the book. I felt Jia was especially underused. I would have liked more time and involvement from them.

For much of the book it seems to be yet another fantasy world where women are relegated to the side lines/dismissed by most male characters. I get that's often how things have worked in our history, but does that mean it needs to be the case in EVERY fantasy series too? I'm hopeful that will be less of the case in future books though.

Overall there is enough here for me to want to check out the next book, but I found myself a bit underwhelmed after all the early buzz.