Bingo Square: Snubbed! (Nebula Finalist) I am a huge fan of A Song of Ice and Fire, and both epic historical fiction and epic fantasy series. As a result, this type of novel was going to appeal to me even if I have been hesitant about reading it for no logical reason – I became aware of Ken Liu because of the praise he received as the translator of The Three Body Problem, and was needlessly worried that his novels would have a similar focus […]
What’s the title of this book? I didn’t hear the first 20 times you said it.
The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu is one of those books that I bought because I loved the cover. Love the font, love the image, love the finish. It’s a book that felt great in my hands when I picked it up. The story is meant to be an Asian take on traditional fantasy. Kuni Garu and Mata Zyndu are young men living under the regime of an emperor who took over the seven kingdoms of the Islands of Dara, Garu from a middle […]
Exploring a sprawling, new world
I’ve never read anything quite like Ken Liu’s debut novel The Grace of Kings.I’ve been trying to figure out how to explain it for a week now and the closest I can come to is this: Chinese history meets The Iliad meets Game of Thrones. Sometimes it reads like a history book…and then our heroes wage their wars on the backs of whales or from steampunk-inspired hot air balloons. Sprawling and ambitious, I couldn’t help but cheer for this book, even when I didn’t love […]