

Indlæser... The Grace of Kings (1) (The Dandelion Dynasty) (original 2015; udgave 2016)af Ken Liu (Forfatter)
Detaljer om værketThe Grace of Kings af Ken Liu (2015)
![]() Der er ingen diskussionstråde på Snak om denne bog. Pretty good, but my hopes were higher, having read some of Liu's short stories. This lost a star for pacing. it was a slow burn. The story though, felt like a rich historical tapestry. The writing was beautiful and the use of parables, folklore, and other traditional oral storytelling methods throughout gave it verisimilitude. The warp and weft of the story were intricately tied together and allowed the story to sweep through the history of the world. I know others have been critical for the lack of female characters, but I felt that Liu challenged the place of women and their roles in both history and fantasy fiction through male and female characters alike. He points out in dialogue, action, and with sly winks, the double standard. overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys sweeping epics and political intrigue. Not to mention those who just love a beautiful turn of phrase or lyrical prose. Sprawling & a bit ponderous, suffers from highly-variable realism. Good read, though, especially if you're looking for a non-Eurocentric source for your epic fantasy. Chi-SF discussion notes: http://positronchicago.blogspot.com/2016/02/chi-sf-grace-of-kings.html Slow and at times outright boring beyond words. The book searches for a depth it can't manage. Painfully superficial at times as well, whoch is a stretch for a colossal book exploring war and leadership. The author tried desperately to write deep female characters and fell so far short it was both painful and laughable. It was as though female characters were an idea he thought was really important, and yet never assessed far enough to say "is this how human beings act?" Of course the perfect male MC has all these liberal thoughts about how important women are. Just look at the women helping the sick and wounded (male) soldiers, and putting their lives at risk to protect their (male) children. Inspiring. Vomit. Exactly one female MC takes physical part in the war. We are most of the way through the book before we meet her and her tough, independent woman back story is presented to us in the form of a lengthy word vomit. This character thinks there's not a place for women in war because swords are heavy and bows are hard to draw. First, that's utter bullshit. Second the level of misogyny it requires to put words like that in a female character's mouth is atrocious. The rest of the characters are all there to bed a male character and show him the way, which may or may not mean suicide. And the gods. Good lord. They should have been vaguely sensed and never heard. Annoying, hard to track, and their chatter added zero to the story. ingen anmeldelser | tilføj en anmeldelse
Belongs to Series
"The Grace of Kings, the first book in this epic series, tells the story of two men who become friends through rebelling against tyranny and then turn against each other in defense of irreconcilable ideals. Wily, charming Kuni Garu, a bandit, and stern, fearless Mata Zyndu, the son of a deposed duke, seem like polar opposites. Yet, in the uprising against the emperor, the two quickly become the best of friends after a series of adventures fighting against vast conscripted armies, silk-draped airships, soaring battle kites, underwater boats, magical books, shapeshifting gods, and scaled whales who seem to prophesy the future. Once the emperor has been overthrown, however, the two find themselves the leaders of two sides with very different ideas about how the world should be run and the meaning of justice"-- No library descriptions found. |
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The principal thing that will divide readers of this book is the mode of narration. The quasi-historical narrative mode adopted by the author will certainly alienate some readers, but it allows him to cover very large events over large distances as well as time periods. The author uses this narrative strategy very well in my opinion to tell a beautiful story.
One of the things I loved about this book is the way the author does character development. There truly are no characters who are totally good or totally bad. Characters change and evolve over time and I think the nuances of politics is captured quite well. The author believes more in telling rather than showing, but I do not think it detracts from the quality of the book. (