The Wall of Storms

Ken Liu's translation of Cixin Liu's Three Body Trilogy is fantastic, but his effort at a Chinese influenced Game of Thrones here falls flat, even more so than the first book in the series.

A wonderful story over 4 volumes written very much within the traditions of classic Chinese literature.Don’t make the mistake of thinking this is somehow a Western fantasy series; if you approach it from that perspective (as I fear some reviewers have) you run the risk of feeling let down and disappointed. Rather look at this story in the way you might read The Story of the Stone or The Romance of the Three Kingdoms: to me Ken Liu has written his book whilst breathing the air of the classical writers and employing a lot of the narrative tricks they used to explore all the different characters and their interactions with the heroes of the moment.It’s a wonderful story, full of humour, pathos, love and tragedy. I can’t recommend it highly enough….and if, after you’ve enjoyed this and you haven’t read The Story of the Stone or The Romance of the Three Kingdoms then go try them out as well.

This a great follow to Grace of Kings. though contra one of the top reviews, I would still read GoK first before diving into a Wall of Storms. Part of the reason is that Wall of Storms starts a bit slowly, but this leisurely pace at the beginning was more than earned by Liu by the epic sweep of Grace of Kings. The first third of Wall of Storms focuses on life in the Reign of the Four Placid Seas, with emperor Kuni Garu firmly entrenched on the throne of Dara. The narrative is split between Kuni's family in the capitol and the development of a new character Zomi Kidosu under tutelage of Kuni's old ally Luan Zya. Things take an explosive turn as contact is made with a land across the ocean beyond the titular Wall of Storms. Once the primary arc get's underway, I found myself burning through the text hours at a time.The conclusion is ultimately satisfying while leaving the door open for Liu's next entry in the series, which I will be starting as soon as is it's ready. On the positive side, the new characters were quite strong, and Liu focuses much more on developing and following female characters compared to the first book (although female characters were not absent from the first entry by any means). Wall of Storms remains a work of 'light touch fantasy' where the gods are allowed to intervene in the affairs of mortals in very constrained ways, and the biology of fantastic beasts are explored in very great detail. The development new technologies throughout the story is also highlight--Liu has a clear passion for engineering and the constant evolution of the start of the art in Dara is a welcome contrast to your typical stagnant medieval fantasy settings (apparently no onr has had a new idea for 10k years in A Song of Ice and Fire),I wish we could have spent more time with Kuni, but I guess that he's somewhat distant and unknowable in this second book is consistent with his new station as Emperor of all of Dara. Some of the battles in the back half of the book also felt a little gimmicky--they were tense, and well constructed but I would find myself wondering- 'alright let's just see which side has the last trick up their sleeve and get it over with." These are minor quibbles and didn't take away much from the overall narrative.I really hope someone finds a way to turn the Dandelion Dynasty books into a television series.Above all theThere are several great new characters and returning favorites.

5 of 5 starsI can’t say anything. Though, even if I did, you still would have to read it yourself to see how it went down. But I’m ready for the 3rd book.

Ken Liu has outdone himself! Great, sprawling, sinuous story like a five clawed dragon... He weaves together the great traditions of classical Chinese philosophy and culture, with wry humor to create a truly Non-Euro-Centric world, where something like the classic trope of pale, blonde-haired Nordic barbarians are the scorge of a civilized society that might well have been derived from the work of Joseph Needham on Chinese science and culture. Brilliant

This is the second book in Ken Liu's epic fantasy series, "The Dandelion Dynasty." Like the first book, it is ambitious, imaginative, and original. There are wonderful, dramatic, epic events, particularly in the second half. The worldbuilding is superb. There are strong female characters, and discussions about the options open to women and to the poor. There are lengthy expository sections, but they are not clumsily expository, rather they are joyously expository, communicating a delight in technology that I associate much more with science fiction than with fantasy. (Nonetheless, this is unmistakably fantasy, not least because the large cast of characters includes gods.)Thanks to these strengths, I read the first half of this book with interest, and read the second half with enjoyment. Had I liked the characters half as much as I liked the plot and the worldbuilding, I would have loved this wholeheartedly. But the alchemy that makes characters likable, an alchemy that depends not just on what the author has written but also on the reader's biases and preferences, failed for me. There are several characters--Zomi, Thera, Vadyu--whom I felt that I ought to have liked, that I was meant to have liked, and yet that I failed to like. I didn't dislike them, but an absence of dislike is not the same as fondness. With the exception of Luan Zya, I didn't grow attached to any of the main characters.As a minor quibble, I noticed several incidences where information was pointedly withheld from the reader, a technique that I find irritating rather than suspenseful. It is, however, a well-established technique, and practiced by some of my favorite authors, such as Guy Gavriel Kay.In conclusion, I'm glad that I read "The Wall of Storms," even though I didn't warm to its characters.