The Veiled Throne (The Dandelion Dynasty, #3)

by Ken Liu

From the winner of the Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Awards, the epic third volume of the Dandelion Dynasties series, named by Time as one of the Greatest Fantasy Books of All Time, continues.

Princess Théra, once known as Empress Üna of Dara, yielded the throne to her younger brother in order to journey to Ukyu-Gondé to war with the Lyucu, and has crossed the impenetrable Wall of Storms with a fleet of ships and ten thousand people. Constantly facing adversity, she faces new challenges by doing the most interesting thing and not letting the past dictate the present.

In Dara, the Lyucu leadership bristles with rivalries, as power and perspectives change between the remains of the Dandelion courts. Here, mothers and daughters, Empress and Pékyu alike, nurture the seeds of plans that will take years to bloom. As the conquerors and the conquered jockey for position in these new regimes, tradition gives way to new justifications for power.

Ken Liu returns to the series that has helped bridge the great epics of our history from the Aeneid to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms into a series that is unsurpassed in its depth of scope and adventure.

'Beyond ambitious in scope... You are swept into a world of political intrigue, hopeless sieges and compelling characters. Liu seamlessly blends philosophy and politics with tense battles and compelling action... Sad, funny, poignant and addictive, this book will leave a lasting impression on the genre' SFX

• ISBN10: 1784973297
• ISBN13: 9781784973292
• Publish Date: 11 November 2021 (first published 2 November 2021)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 27 April 2023
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Imprint: Head of Zeus -- an AdAstra Book
• Edition: Goldsboro Exclusive
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 1008
• Language: English
• Special: Numbered Signed

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

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.