Like the Ano Classics, or the Dance Songs of a Lyucu Shaman, this story is a living thing that intertwines with the life and perspective of the reader, raising questions and inviting growth on every page, at every twist of the exquisitely turned plot. These are, so to speak, adjacent nodes and connecting threads in the literary web of which the Dandelion Dynasty is part, but there is a flair, a boldness- a singular quality of “capacious mind”- which is unique to this story.

The erudite charisma of Tolkien, the empathic whimsy of JK Rowling, the intensity of George RR Martin and the stylish patter of Susannah Clarke. The speculative “mind-pleasure” of Herbert or Asimov. During my listening journey, I have been reminded of many other wonderful tales- from favorite translations of Homer, reconstructions of Beowulf and Gilgamesh and ever-changing oral “lung songs” of diasporic Chinese mythology, to the beloved fruits of 20th century anglophone fantasy. The scale, the vividness of setting, the deft and playful way in which Ken Liu interweaves the narrative with threads of culture, science and history and, most of all, the unabashed humanity of the story these are things that can only be truly apprehended through direct experience. It’s hard to sum up anything about the Dandelion Dynasty. Even the gods cannot see through the Wall of Storms, for only mortal hearts can decide mortal fates.Īward-winning author Ken Liu fulfills the covenants first laid out a decade ago in a series delving deep into the connection between national myths and national constitutions in this ambitious, “magnificent fantasy epic” (NPR). The people of Dara continue to struggle against the genocidal Lyucu as both nations vacillate between starkly contrasting visions for their futures.

Harried by Lyucu pursuers, Princess Théra and Pékyu Takval try to reestablish an ancestral dream even as their hearts grow in doubt. The concluding book of The Dandelion Dynasty begins immediately after the events of The Veiled Throne, in the middle of two wars on two lands among three people separated by an ocean yet held together by the invisible strands of love. The battle continues in this silkpunk fantasy as science and destiny collide against the will of the gods in this final installment in the epic Dandelion Dynasty series from Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award-winning author Ken Liu.

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