The Veiled Throne

By: Ken Liu

Narrated by: Michael Kramer

With the invasion of Dara complete, and the Wall of Storms breached, the world has opened to new possibilities for the gods and peoples of both empires as the sweeping saga of the award-winning Dandelion Dynasty continues in this third book of the “magnificent fantasy epic” (NPR).

Princess Théra, once known as Empress Üna of Dara, entrusted the throne to her younger brother in order to journey to Ukyu-Gondé to war with the Lyucu. She has crossed the fabled Wall of Storms with a fleet of advanced warships and ten thousand people. Beset by adversity, Théra and her most trusted companions attempt to overcome every challenge by doing the most interesting thing. But is not letting the past dictate the present always possible or even desirable?

In Dara, the Lyucu leadership as well as the surviving Dandelion Court bristle with rivalries as currents of power surge and ebb and perspectives spin and shift. Here, parents and children, teachers and students, Empress and Pékyu, all nurture the seeds of plans that will take years to bloom. Will tradition yield to new justifications for power?

Everywhere, the spirit of innovation dances like dandelion seeds on the wind, and the commoners, the forgotten, the ignored begin to engineer new solutions for a new age.

Ken Liu returns to the series that draws from a tradition of the great epics of our history from the Aeneid to the Romance on the Three Kingdoms and builds a new tale unsurpassed in its scope and ambition.

Fantastic storytelling

Overall great, but takes a good chunk of time to indulge itself and enjoy the world; which all great fantasy sagas inevitably do. Looking forward to Speaking Bones

Odd cooking competition

The usual great story and characters take center stage and we prepare for a huge climax in the world. Then an odd cooking competition takes place. Still great, but they kinda lost me there.

still loving it. new characters get a spotlight.

I just love watching the story unravel, at times I wanted certain stories to be focused on but eventually I came around to just loving every second of it.

1 Star deducted due to lack of editor!

Another 5-star book but Im deducting a star because of the weird detour in the third act of the book for a really boring cooking competition. i mean, what? By the end of the book you find out why that plot device was used but it could’ve been done in a more concise way. Otherwise another great book in the series.

Incredible. I need to read Speaking Bones asap to see the end of this masterpiece.

There was nothing to dislike. It is a difficult book to read because of so many characters and foreign words, but I would only list those as warnings, not negatives. I love the depth this series gives.