Scott Graham
The Grace Of Kings was interesting, but not enjoyable. This story with a Far East Asian sensibility relates the tale of the end of one dynasty at the hands of a fractured rebellion that evolves into a second dictatorship (hegemony) at war with another faction of the original rebellion could also be seen as the War of the Roses in England, or the infighting between the players of the French Revolution or the Russian Revolution. It was work keeping track of the world of characters and place names. It was akin to watching a tennis match at Wimbledon where the advantage for the characters in the story was the ball. And it kept getting swatted back and forth. Early major players have nothing to do with the bulk of the story. Gods appear with a wink and a nudge and parallel the battles between the factions in the story but at the level of sibling rivalry. Liu’s writing was difficult to follow at times, primarily due to the difficulty in maintaining a strong frame of reference. To me, he seems to write better short stories than this one experience with his novels. I will continue on with the other two novels in the trilogy, and pray that I don’t reach a point of diminshing returns (à la the Red Rising Trilogy).
The Grace Of Kings was interesting, but not enjoyable. This story with a Far East Asian sensibility relates the tale of the end of one dynasty at the hands of a fractured rebellion that evolves into a second dictatorship (hegemony) at war with another faction of the original rebellion could also be seen as the War of the Roses in England, or the infighting between the players of the French Revolution or the Russian Revolution. It was work keeping track of the world of characters and place names. It was akin to watching a tennis match at Wimbledon where the advantage for the characters in the story was the ball. And it kept getting swatted back and forth. Early major players have nothing to do with the bulk of the story. Gods appear with a wink and a nudge and parallel the battles between the factions in the story but at the level of sibling rivalry. Liu’s writing was difficult to follow at times, primarily due to the difficulty in maintaining a strong frame of reference. To me, he seems to write better short stories than this one experience with his novels. I will continue on with the other two novels in the trilogy, and pray that I don’t reach a point of diminshing returns (à la the Red Rising Trilogy).