Name: The Grace of Kings
ISBN: 9781481424288

The Grace of Kings

Two men rebel together against tyranny--and then become rivals--in this first sweeping book of an epic fantasy series from Ken Liu, recipient of Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards. Wily, charming Kuni Garu, a bandit, and stern, fearless Mata Zyndu, the son of a deposed duke, seem like polar opposites. Yet, in the uprising against the emperor, the two quickly become the best of friends after a series of adventures fighting against vast conscripted armies, silk-draped airships, and shapeshifting gods. Once the emperor has been overthrown, however, they each find themselves the leader of separate factions--two sides with very different ideas about how the world should be run and the meaning of justice. Fans of intrigue, intimate plots, and action will find a new series to embrace in the Dandelion Dynasty.

What Hacker News says

charlescearlMar 2017

Props to Ken Liu for having the character Luan Zya derive the Monte Carlo estimator in "The Grace of Kings". That was a wonderful read.

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blacksmith_tbAug 2015

I'm surprised they didn't mention his translator, Ken Liu (no relation), who recently published a very entertaining fantasy epic of his own, The Grace of Kings.

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thaumasiotesMar 2025

> Do us a favor and don't misrepresent what I say.

Would you mind doing me the same favor, of not misrepresenting what you say?

> "Self-published" connotes no-name author (or anonymous/pseudonymous) with no publishing history or reputation; whereas Neil Gaiman is already reputable and has sold 40 million books.

...is this relevant to something you've said? I'm the only one so far who's said something about self-published books. Your recommendation was to avoid ebooks. That recommendation was stupid.

> Statistically, the average e-book that Amazon tries to advertise to you is far more likely to be the former than the letter.

Well, I just opened the Amazon front page. These are the ebooks they're advertising to me:

1. The Summer Dragon, Todd Lockwood. Publisher: DAW

2. Beren and Lúthien, J.R.R. Tolkien (and Christopher Tolkien). Publisher: William Morrow (= HarperCollins)

3. Daughter of the Empire, Raymond Feist (and Janny Wurts). Publisher: Spectra (= Penguin)

4. The Grace of Kings, Ken Liu. Publisher: Saga Press (= Simon & Schuster)

5. An Inheritance of Ash & Blood, Jamie Edmundson. Publisher: Rarn, which does appear to be Jamie Edmundson's personal publishing company. This could fairly be considered self-published. It's also available on Kindle Unlimited, which is a red flag. The author appears to be fairly prolific, so he's not exactly lacking a publishing history.

6. Heir of Ra, M. Sasinowski. Publisher: Kingsmill Press. This is another publisher that appears to be a vehicle for a single author. Probably self-published. This book is at pains to point out the many awards it's won, probably because it's self-published.

7. The Anvil, Christopher Coates. Publisher: Next Chapter, which purports to "combine the professionalism and quality of traditional publishing with the creative freedom of independent publishing". They review your work before publishing it; not self-published.

8. The Book That Wouldn't Burn, Mark Lawrence. Publisher: Ace

That concludes the front page. There are five books from major publishers, one from a minor publisher, and two most likely self-published. The biggest names appearing are J.R.R. Tolkien and Raymond Feist. Taking author quality into account, you appear to be roughly as likely to get Neil Gaiman as you are to get anything self-published. Ignoring it, you're far more likely to get something reputable than to get trash.

Unless, of course, you want to read trash, in which case Amazon's recommendations will probably lean that way.

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