These are thick books, about 600 pages each, but the world Liu transports us to is lush in description and the actions of the antagonists are unpredictable, the story pulls the reader in and entertains and stimulates.
Full review on my YouTube channel.

Ken Liu's Dandelion Kingdom series is a major work of fantasy set in a complex, richly-described, secondary world based on East Asian history, mythology, and legend. It is an examination of the politics of two hostile peoples, one highly civilized and richly cultured, the other nomadic and hostile to permanently settled populations.

Within the larger story, set between wars that have already happened and one visibly approaching, we are moved from place to distant place, and informed of a looming deadline that will produce a new, and possibly final war.

What this novel does extraordinarily well is put us into a world of great complexity, with unusual technologies, amazing people, both men and women, and dragons. It gives us a sense of a deep history, and borrows unreservedly from the actual history of the real world. It includes repeated references to rival schools of philosophy taken from the history of China: The Moralists (Confucians) whose foundational beliefs come from the sage Kon Fiji (Kong Fuzi, Confucius), and the Fluxists (Daoists) who challenge the values and politics of the Moralists.

There is an extraordinary array of characters, from barbarian warriors to an empress, each of whom has a well-developed personality. The characters command our interest not merely for their actions within the broader story but for who they are as people, and for what they want outside the main story. This might be military conquest, or individual development, or success in a contest between restaurants for the right to be called the best in the city. The motivations of the characters move us in the direction of what will probably be victory or defeat in the coming final conflict..

I have read the novels in this series over the years, and at no point have I found it less than engaging. I look forward with great anticipation to the next in the series. Liu is a superb writer of fantasy, and his work deserves to be better known, and more widely read.

My thanks to the author and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this book.

The Veiled Throne is the third Dandelion Dynasty novel by Ken Liu. Released 7th Dec 2021 by Simon & Schuster on their Gallery/Saga imprint, it's an impressive 1008 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. Especially with books of this size and scope, it's helpful to be able to find names and info with a simple search.

This is a vast sweeping campaign fantasy with world politics, engineering, and really nuanced storytelling. The series contains some of the best world building I've encountered in *any* series *ever*. This is a massive series (obviously), with over 3500 pages extant, including the fourth / final book. The descriptions are powerful and the author's command of plotting and characterization are much more than competent. It is a juggernaut of a book and it took me a couple hundred pages to get re-immersed in the story, since there was a couple year delay between my reading of the second book and this, third, volume.

Readers who are previously unfamiliar with the background would be well advised to read, or at least find a precis, of the earlier books in the series. Despite the inclusion of a comprehensive dramatis personae in this volume, it's easy to get lost.

I won't write a precis of the plotline, they're posted all over. The writing is much much better than good. The plotting and pacing are good if a trifle slow in the beginning. It took quite a long time to review this book because it made such a deep impression.

Four and a half stars. Highly recommended to fans of sweeping space campaign epics.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

the glorious ending of an absolutely amazing trilogy. Despite being heavy in strategy and political intrigue, the book keeps your breath held and mind wandering to different places and plots we meet in the book.. absolutely loved the trilogy and sometimes gory but very human aspects it touched.

This is the third book of the “magnificent fantasy epic”. With the invasion of Darma complete.And the Wall of Storms breached, the world has opened to new possibilities……
Thank you for the advance copy,
#Netgalley, # Ken Liu, and # Gallery Books 📚

Ken Liu is a fantasy master. The sheer length of his books always seem to intimidate me coming in, but once I get through the start, I'm totally hooked. Parts of the story did drag a bit (as is to be expected from a book of this size) but the story never lost me. The world-building remained excellent in this installment and I really felt like I got to know more and more of the intricacies. This wasn't my favorite of the series, but it reinvigorated my excitement and I'm so ready for the final book to be released.

I loved the first two books in this series. The world building is effortless and I love the diverse cast of characters. There's a lot I enjoyed about this book, Thera's attempts to raise an army and dealing with a totally foreign culture, Jia's political machinations, Zomi struggling with her place in court. I loved that this book includes the perspectives of both the Dara citizens, and their invaders. My favorite chapters took place in "Unredeemed Dara".

This was originally written as one book, the because of the length it was split into the third and fourth entry of the series. This explains why the book dragged for me, particularly in the middle. There isn't much action in the first half of the book, not even political action. It's mostly just waiting for the storm gate to open. I think this book could have benefitted from more editing.

This book was so frickin long. I loved seeing where and how my faves from book 2 were dealing with the truce but I don't feel like anything happened except a cooking competition (which was actually pretty fantastic). I will continue with the series, but if the next one is this long and this boring I will probably put it down.

The Dandelion Dynasty lives on in this the third book of fantasy fiction. It is ripe with rivalries and intrigue. We have a warrior princess who is too trusting for her own good. We have outside forces whose influence grows each day. You have a hero bold beyond his fears. A great read.

I might go back to the series at some point. After finishing book 2 I was excited to see what would happen next. Unfortunately the book did not grab my attention by 25% as I was confused and found it a bit slow. I had to put it down as I felt like it just wasn’t that great. I may try once the final book is out.

very interesting world building with great dialogue as well as very diverse . hope to see more from this author in the future as it will be in my classroom

The Veiled Throne is a complex saga that occurs over several decades, with events that occur both sequentially and simultaneously. It is broken into four unequal sections, with the final section taking up roughly half the volume; between each section, the time frame jumps, as indicated at the beginning of each chapter. The characters are complex, and I have to wonder if I missed something by reading this volume without reading the preceding two; despite that, the story was explicable, if convoluted in places.

I enjoyed this novel, and yet I felt that parts of it were told in too much detail; for example, there is a competition that is the primary event of the fourth section that is told in almost excruciating detail, which could have been completed without risk to the story in a much shorter section, with less specificity about the details of the competition. I also found the jumps in time and location to be hard to follow, complicated by the characters' names; some are very similar, while other characters have multiple names, some of which are cultural and some of which are pseudonyms. Despite that, however, this is a fascinating and rich novel, with story lines that I can only hope will be completed in the upcoming fourth volume. This novel is recommended for those who like fantasy, especially fantasy set in pseudo-historical Asia.

5 Stars

What a stunning third installment to a series. This story just gets better with each book and I'm loving it. As a third in a series, it's amazing how Liu manages to still introduce new concepts, further expand the world, and take us to unexpected places. This is a balanced, evenly paced series that I just can't get enough of.

Some things in this story have been very consistent, and the thing that stands out the most to me are the female characters. This man knows how to write complex and convincing women. From book one we have an interesting mix of characters (especially female characters) who are in various positions in society, have different motivations, different levels of influence, and differences in morality. The characters feel authentic and distinct. Every action they take makes sense for the individual, and it never feels like characters are doing things just to move the plot in a certain direction.

This series approaches the story from many angles, and the perspectives we get weave a rich canvas of this world Liu has crafted. The historical influences are strong in the series, but it does not use them as a crutch. Liu builds suspense and surprises us at every turn. The scenarios feel realistic, the relationships feel human, the stakes feel high..... This is what you want in a high fantasy.

Technology. This is not something that I look for in my high-fantasy books, because (unless it's also sci-fi) the authors usually don't introduce anything complex, or depend on basic descriptions or the reader's understanding of basic machinery. This series; however, it wonderfully technical. We get to see all the political machinations of the plot, but also how new technologies are developed, how things work, how battles are strategized. Just wonderful.

This series is stunning and I would recommend it to fans of high fantasy, political intrigue, large casts or characters, epic narratives, and science fiction (seriously).

You know you are in the midst of a great epic fantasy when you give book 3 four stars and do not consider it your favorite in the series! If it is written by Liu at this point it is a must read. Absolutely dynamic characters, multiple storylines, and fabulous world building.

I really love Ken Liu’s writing, and the Veiled throne did not disappoint. The beginning of this novel was a bit difficult for me to get into, but once I got about 20 percent of the way through it gripped me and didn’t let go. I do think that it could have used some additional structural edits to take care of the pacing problems, but I still really loved it and have rounded up to five stars.

I liked a lot of things about this book, as well as the preceding ones in the series, but they could all use some heavy editing. Did we need 300 pages about a competition between restaurants? True rating would be closer to 3.5.

First and foremost I wanna say how blessed and privileged I feel to be able to get an ARC of this book. I’ve never received one this prolific before and I cannot describe how thankful I am. And the fact that this is one of my favorite series from one of my favorite authors is just amazing. Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for the free copy.

On to the review.

It was hard for me to get started in this book. Having essentially a whole brand new cast of characters it was in some way a new series. It’s not, and it’s all connected, but it still felt that way for the first little bit. But as with all good books once it gets going, it gets going. I once again found myself connected to, and caring for numerous characters.

This entry into the Dandelion Dynasty was split into basically 3 parts from my point of view. The first part we followed Thera and crew, the second part followed the awful Cutanrovo, and the third part was following the Blossom Gang. At the end of every part it felt weird to get into the next one. It’s this bittersweet wonderful timing of caring and cannot wait to see what happens to who you’re following, to then move into the next section of the book. On one hand this feels brilliant, and on the other it’s frustrating.

This book reminded my a lot more of The Grace of Kings than it did The Wall of Storms. As we are getting to know more characters and there is a lot of setup. It’s extremely well done and Liu continues to show me why his writing and me just vibe together. I love how he puts words together and tells his story. He writes in an unconventional way and it can be a little more difficult to read at times, but if you just slow down and read the story there is a deep treat on how it connects you to
the world and it’s characters. Everything is so intricate in this book (and series) and I love it. The world building is pretty much second to none. There might be worlds you like or enjoy more, but none that are so well thought out and taken such good care of. I don’t feel like this place is fake, I feel like this is a real story from another multiverse or something and Liu is just bringing this story to us in this version of earth that we’re on. With that being said his writing isn’t going to be for everyone, but I do think that everyone should give it a chance, because if it is for you, there is something truly special to behold here.

With this book being a big set up in some ways makes me through the roof excited for the next entry into this series. It’s gonna be bonkers good and I can’t wait to see if it ends up being even better than The Wall of Storms. We have a REALLY BAD villain, the best kind, and we have people we’re rooting for, and people we want to see what decisions they end up making. Loyalties that are up in question and I’m here for all of it.

This is my favorite series out there right now and possibly my favorite series ever. Still trying to decide 🙂 I cannot wait for more.

4 stars, probably the weakest entry in the series thus far but still quite a strong book

The return of the Dandelion Dynasty is something I’ve been waiting for eagerly for many years. Everything I know and love about the series is still here on fine display: great characters, interweaving stories that paint complex social situations, fascinating mechanical innovations, endless debates about political philosophy. It’s nice to have a new entry of a series I love. Liu’s character work in particular only seems to get better and better and he continually surprises me with his ability to introduce new characters that keep being as compelling as the old characters or to reframe old characters in ways that make them take on new life. That said, this book is probably the weakest entry of the series thus far, partially due to having been split into two volumes for publishing. The split works better than I’d hoped (and certainly better than other recent split books like Dresden Files’ Peace Talks and Battle Ground) with a very poignant cliffhanger but it’s easy to see where Liu has struggled to make this book as cohesive as the other entries.

The big issue here is with pacing and economy of storytelling. Liu has always excelled at economy of storytelling in the previous books, ably hopping around decades and dozens of perspectives quite nimbly. Here though, the ball has been dropped. Certain unimportant elements are given far, far too much attention and page space. Did there need to be a several hundred-page interlude subplot about a best restaurant competition? Probably not judging by the scene where literal gods argue amongst themselves over whether or not it makes sense that we’re spending so much time here within the book. And while the Great Dara Bake Off is well-written enough to still be enjoyable, that scattershot focus, even when it does eventually loop back into the main narrative, does cause the book to drag significantly in places. I imagine this will be the biggest point of contention because the third book was split in two because it was too big for one volume but there does seem to be a fair bit of fluff lying around that could have been tightened up.

However, at other times the slower pacing makes for really stunning moments. Liu’s emotional storytelling has never been better and the way he lets complex social interactions build up into unexpected outcomes is masterful. Many of the best parts of the book center on culture clash as multiple parties from Dara and the Lyucu struggle to figure out how to live together. The various political interests pulling the rulers in different directions and forcing them into unexpected actions. You will read through multiple chapters of slow, tense build up of political jockeying that eventually explodes into truly tragic outcomes that you’ve watched coming the whole time. It’s quite affecting and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything else quite like it in fantasy storytelling before.

Overall, this book has some of Liu’s best writing but also some of his worst meandering. I ultimately still enjoyed enough of this book that I think a lot of it still works but I’m guessing this will ultimately be the most contentious book in the series when the general public finally reads it.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me an eARC to review.

DNF 40% - tried several times to finish it but unfortunately I couldn't connect with this series I found it totally confusing and boring and the characters inconsistent

Ken Liu has been quietly carving out a nook in the annals of epic fantasy, and not enough people are reading his work. The Dandelion Dynasty is enormous; a four-book series with installments that are roughly 1000 pages each. Book three, The Veiled Throne, is coming out soon, and it’s an absolute must-read. However, one thing I will flag early is that it’s been about five years since the last book in the series, The Wall of Storms, and there is no recap at the start of Throne. If you are new to the series and just picking it up you should have no problem, but if you are returning to the series know that I struggled immensely remembering people, places, and events at the start. You may need to reread Storms, but The Veiled Throne is worth the effort.

Going by what I have seen with The Veiled Throne, the series’ story seems to be divided into two segments following two different generations. Set on the silkpunk archipelago of Dara, The Grace of Kings first cataloged the rise to power of the story’s many protagonists. Next, The Wall of Storms detailed their attempt to form a cohesive country that placated the six core islands of the nation and settled their endless feuds. This plan is put on hold for a while when an outside threat invades the islands by passing through the impenetrable wall of storms that surround the islands. The Wall of Storms ends with most of the primary cast from the first two books exiting the center stage and ceding the spotlight to their children. Now, The Veiled Throne tells the story of a new generation who have inherited the benefits and problems of their parents as they try to navigate their way out of a war that stumped their fathers and mothers.

There is an initial uphill climb with Throne as you will be acclimating to many new faces. Some of the old cast is still around, mostly in supporting roles, but the story is very much driven by fresh blood. Yet, despite its slow start, Throne is a powerful story about generational drift, the relationships between slave and slaver, occupation and oppression, cultural melting pots, inherited will, cyclical violence, and a cooking competition.

Most of the book focuses on character growth as the children of the previous protagonists decide where they want to stand in the endless conflict between two nations. Some choose to follow in the footsteps of their parents and push the conflict towards victory for their side, as their fathers and mothers “would have wanted.” Others have been immersed in endless conflict since the time they were born and would do anything to avoid increased hostilities. Others have been steeped in cultural melting pots that include both nations at war and struggle to see the differences between the sides after growing up alongside both. Many lead characters suffer a crisis of identity and feel like part of who they are is at war with other parts. After setting up character stakes in the first half of the book, Throne becomes a fabulous cooking competition in the second half. The cook-off manages to cleverly encapsulate and represent the growing conflict and help characters work through their situation to find unorthodox solutions. Plus, the battle between restaurants was fun, original, and memorable.

Something I really like about the Dandelion Dynasty, which really shines through in Throne, is the characters feel very organic. Liu sets his POVs down courses that make contextual sense and have a lot of variety while refusing to give them any plot armor. By having a large roster of leads with diverse personalities and backgrounds, Liu is able to experiment with ideas and have very real consequences without hamstringing story progression or narrative integrity.

If you read my review of The Wall of Storms, you will see that my biggest criticism of the last book is that it felt like two separate stories were stuffed into a single volume and lacked cohesion. This is absolutely not the case with Throne, which tells a compelling and subtle story from start to finish. There is a truly astounding amount of content packed into this tome. On top of being much longer than most other books, Liu manages to absolutely stuff his pages to the brim with plot, prose, characters, and world. I recognize that these books are a little bit of work to read, but the sheer mechanical writing effort on display is enough for me to tell you they are worth the time.

The Veiled Throne had the unenviable job of building back up a story that had just been broken down. It succeeded at this difficult task beyond my wildest imagination, becoming in my mind the strongest entrant to this four-book series thus far. The wonderful themes and ideas, the powerful character stories, and the unconventional plot subjects all came together to make The Veiled Throne stand out as one of the strongest books of 2021. I recommend you make time for this well-written and under-read series.

Rating: The Veiled Throne – 9.5/10
-Andrew