Speaking Bones

The Dandelion Dynasty, Book 4

By: Ken Liu

Narrated by: Michael Kramer

Length: 41 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

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 the “genius” (Elizabeth Bear, Hugo Award­–winning author of the Eternal Sky series) Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award–winning author Ken Liu.

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.

Harried by Lyucu pursuers, Princess Théra and Pékyu Takval try to reestablish an ancestral dream even as their hearts grow in doubt. The people of Dara continue to struggle against the genocidal Lyucu as both nations vacillate between starkly contrasting visions for their futures. Even the gods cannot see through the Wall of Storms, for only mortal hearts can decide mortal fates.

Award-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 “magnificent fantasy epic” (NPR).

©2021 Ken Liu. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

the focus on engineered solutions and how creative the characters were.

I really enjoyed how plausible the poor decisions made by characters were. How you can be like no that's so stupid but still understand how someone would make that same decision.

Epic series

Combining all of the genre's and real old world history was awesomely awsome. Thank you for such a glimpse into the Dandelion Dynasty.

My Favorite Series In Decades

Although I finished Speaking Bones nearly two weeks ago, I have found it very difficult to come up with the right words to construct a review here. Both because I don't want to spoil those who have not listened to this audiobook (or series), but also because I genuinely have no idea how to categorize or describe the experience I've had with the Dandelion Dynasty over the last six months.

So I will keep it short and sweet. I loved this audiobook, and I loved this series.

Although there was heartache and loss (far more than I expected, to be honest), the ending was cathartic and exactly what the series required.

Perhaps the highest compliment I can pay the story is to repeat what I wrote in my review of the previous audiobook in the series: I never wanted to stop listening.

Despite how dark things sometimes got, I never wanted to leave. Not just because I needed to know how things would be resolved, but because I love this world and these characters, and became so entranced by Ken Liu's addictive writing style.

Dandelion Dynasty is a masterpiece - thematically, stylistically, and substantively. It has impacted me in a way that only a few other works - probably only Lord of the Rings, ASOIAF, and Wheel of Time - have before.

I would recommend it to anyone and everyone, and I plan to listen to again it for many years to come.

It was a pleasure to bring this story to life

You have already come this far. Do the most interesting thing, and give this tale a listen.

Rich Fantasy

It's unusual for me to read a multi-POV fantasy that makes me love (nearly) all the characters. Liu does an incredible job bringing you in to the heart of his characters so that even if you dislike (or loathe) what they're doing, even if you dislike them, you love them. I can tell this is a series I will return to in future because I will be continuing to revisit these characters and places in my mind for years.
I would recommend this to any lover of expansive, well populated fantasy novels. Although a novice to the genre might find it overwhelming, fans (like myself) will find a great story to sink our teeth into that will leave us wanting a bit more in the best, sweetest way.

great ending to the series

Ken really stuck the landing on this series. I knew it was going to be a classic when the head orphan ninja lady made me cry.

really good after book 3

this book really picked up after book 3. I was pretty hooked the whole time and fell in love with the series again. The ending chefs kiss

Masterpiece

I can't really assess just this book and the impact it had outside the whole epic series, but this finale itself was an unrestrained sea storm of delicious Grand Narrative. I was constantly taken by the charisma of the characters, for whom I felt alternately tender admiration, physiological disgust, distant and reluctant sympathy, childlike delight, and nostalgic familiar love. I hated the plot bitterly around halfway into the book, but then the oldest of threads started to weave together, and I was sobbing tears of joy by the end. What a wonderful storyteller Ken Liu is.

I think the third book in this four-part series was the weakest, but it was still decent and I'm very happy I trudged through the difficult parts of that for the immense reward of this final book. Speaking Bones is a grand romantic epic, ever curious, satisfying, unexpected, and deftly told.

Inspired to be interesting

Ken Liu is the modern Leonardo da Vinci. Like Leonardo, he looks at nature, philosophy, art, science, religion, and engineering with curiosity. He wants to dissect them and see what makes them tick. His concept of a sentence being a machine composed of smaller machines is creative and insightful.

The series is a great story by itself but what transcends it is that like Leonardo, he uses what he has learned from his dissections and paint his books with it.

I will be rereading this series, for the story and more importantly, to write down his ideas.

Thank you Ken Liu for imparting the idea that the world is knowable.

Solid ending for the series

Wrapped the story up nicely, Good finish for character arcs. Excellent narration from Michael Kramer!