#kuni garu

[theshadesofwords]

Excellent Retelling of Foundation of Han Empire!

“The more perfect the ideals, the less ideal the methods.” ― Ken Liu, The Grace of Kings

Once upon a time, there was a cruel emperor who ruled over thousands and made their life miserable. A trickster rebel leader and a righteous military heir align to bring a new world order. And so, the stage is set for The Grace of Kings, a fictional, mythical retelling of the Chu-Han contention and the foundation of the Han Empire. Kevin Liu weaves a compelling, complex, page-turning narrative around the politics of a fictional warring land. But the references, characters, and all the shocking major plot points all come from historical sources - underlining that truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

Not a dull moment as we follow the fate of Kuni Garu, Jia Matiza, and Mata Zyndu as they swing between the desire to do the right thing and ambition. They love, betray, and are both kind and cruel. After all, in the real world, there are no perfect heroes.

[unrealcities]

Okay, so: you know the bit in the Dandelion Dynasty where Cogo Yelu, prime minister of Dara, aware of his precipitous rise, goes and uses public funds to build himself a new villa in a comparatively small yet undeniable act of corruption, so that he’d never be in the position to usurp Emperor Kuni Garu?

So, it’s the year 1185, two years after the Peace of Garreg Mach was ratified, and Faerghus isn’t happy with their king. They resent that Dimitri handed the Archbishop and the leaders of the Church of Seiros over to the Empire. They resent the concessions made to the Empire and the Federation during the peace talks, and they resent that they hadn’t been in a position to drive a harder bargain, because only two nations in Fodlan are truly food-sufficient, and Faerghus isn’t one of them. They resent that they’ve had to trade with Sreng instead of continuing Lambert Blaiddyd’s expansion north; they resent that the Viscounty of Kleiman was diminished to make way for the sovereignity of Duscur. Faerghus is a country built to withstand a siege, and they resent the king- soft, weak, idealistic- that brought them peace.

In contrast, Felix Hugo Fraldarius, the Shield of Faerghus, hero of a thousand battles, uncompromising and rude and completely incapable of dissembling- well, the new Duke Fraldarius seems like a breath of fresh air. (Admittedly, a breath of fresh air in Faerghus is more painful than comforting, especially in the winter, but this is par for the course.) Forget the polished princes and the chivalrous knights. Faerghus is a country built for war; of course its favorite son would be the one who turned himself into a walking weapon.The commonfolk love him. Balladeers write embarrassing songs about him. Bishops cite him as an example of steadfastness and courage in their sermons. The nobility, chafing at the indignity of the new guidelines for administration and governance and inheritance being implemented as a precondition of the peace agreement, thinking they’re clever, are beginning to hatch a plan.

Felix knows this, of course. He knows that snarling at anyone who would dare disparage Dimitri wouldn’t do anything, because if it did, it would have done it by now. If anything, it makes him even more attractive to the kind of idiots who think loyalty is some sort of cardinal virtue. He needs to do something that will put him out of the running as a possible opposition coup d’etat figurehead, only Faerghus is too poor for frivolous corruption to be an option, and besides, what would he even do with ill-gotten wealth? Buy more swords?

There’s only one thing for a duke to do, and that’s to have a very public affair with the heir to Gautier.

[paperbacksunday]

Emperor, king, general, duke, he whispered to himself. These are just labels. Climb up the family tree of any of them high enough and you'll find a commoner who dared to take a chance.

Ken Liu, The Grace Of Kings

[gizkasparadise]

hello! i was wondering if you watched jdramas and if so which ones were your favorite?

i havent watched a ton of jdramas! here's what i've thought of the ones i've seen/am currently watching:

in progress/still watching

gokushufudo/way of the househusband: i keep meaning to catch up on this one. im only 2 episodes in, but the show takes a wild premise (ex-yakuza becomes a househusband/stepfather) and runs with it. it's really enjoyable, but also EXTREMELY cracky, so watch when you want something that's easy and you don't have to have your brain on. if you're someone who's not into slapstick or wacky hijinks this one probably isn't for you. so far 8.5/10

kikazaru koi niwa riyuu ga atte/why i dress up for love: im close to being done with this one, currently on ep 7 of 10. premise is that a social media influencer/PR rep ends up living in a sharehouse with a minimalist chef, a reclusive artist, a counselor, and another chef. i really like 'different people become friends after cohabitating' as a trope, so if you enjoy that this is a good one. im not always liking the main romance though. the ML can be pretty condescending and flakey. but bonus points for cute dog and an interesting side pairing/side characters. so far 7.5/10

completed

koi desu: yankee-kun to hakujou garu/it's love! yankee-kun and white cane girl: a yankee (gangster) falls for a young woman with a visual disability. this is my favorite jdrama i've seen so far, it's just. wholesome and fluffy and cute. it's also really informative about blindness and low vision and you can tell the writers did their homework there (there are none of the cliches that are so often found with blind protagonists in dramas). it loses some points for me because the secondary "pairing" resolution rubbed me the wrong way, especially as a queer person. 9/10

kanojo wa kirei datta/she was pretty: a remake of the kdrama by the same name, and imo w/ a way better take on the lead pairing. the FL's actress was great, and the speedrun version of the drama (10 eps of about 40min compared to 16, 1-hour eps) really helped streamline the story. enjoyable! 8/10

i don't love you yet: a remake of the taiwanese drama "in time with you" where two life-long best friends navigate feelings as they bet on who will get married before they turn 30. it's not bad but it's not great, and the OG version of this drama still reigns supreme imo. the ML was great. the ending was super abrupt. 7/10

suki na hito ga iru koto/a girl and three sweethearts: a pastry chef ends up living with three brothers and working in their cafe over the summer. it's okay if you want something fluffy and not very brain-demanding, but i found it pretty bland & often was frustrated on behalf of the FL because the ML could be a pretty big jerk and the SML was the king of mixed signals. 6.5/10

dropped

imawa no kuni no alice/alice in borderland: lol Unpopular Opinion time. the premise is cool, and i love survival game/horror/thriller dramas, but the spinning of the camera in the first ep(s?) made me nauseous and then there was a sex scene in like ep 3 or 4 that was so severely off-putting that it made me ragequit the rest of the drama :'D

[luminouslumity]

Thoughts On: The Dandelion Dynasty

So I finished reading these recently, and I just need to at least briefly gush over what has become one of my favorite book series for a minute! It's so good! The plot, the complex characters, the political intrigue!

So much political intrigue!

In a nutshell, it's basically about two best friends who get involved in a rebellion to overthrow a tyrant... and then what happens afterwards! Seriously, the blurb for the first book doesn't even try to hide what the real story is:

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.

Highly recommend it, especially if you're a fan of books like the ASoIaF series. And much like ASoIaF, it's also based on a real event, specifically the Chu-Han Contention. And as is the case with alot of epic fantasy, it's also pretty brutal, with just the first book including things like cannibalism, genocide, and suicide, and the second book has a character forcing themselves on another, so please keep that in mind if you plan to read.

My favorite character is definitely Jia—not necessarily because of her as a person, but because of her as a character. But really, they're all good in their own ways, or at least I thought so. Even if you end up hating a character for taking a certain action, you at least get to see how they came to develop this mindset (looking at you especially, Jia) and I love that!

Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕

[waitwhathappenedin]

Wait, what happened in The Grace of Kings?

This book was a behemoth to go through, but aside from a short slog in the middle, I genuinely enjoyed it.  My advice to anyone who wants to read this is to use that cast of characters page at the beginning as much as you can.  But it’s a gorgeous silkpunk book from Ken Liu, and it’s really fun to read. Below is a spoiler-full note to myself about the major things that happened in this book - read it if you’re getting ready to start The Wall of Storms!

First of all the main thing that redeemed this book for me was that we got some actual female characters with more than sexual/romantic plot lines - but it took until like page 400!  Ridiculous.

This book honestly reads more like a story or a tall tale than a historical event, which is super fun, but it also means that most of the characters are more like archetypes than actual people.

Ok let’s get down to brass tacks: the main thing that happens at the end is that Mata’s new empire falls when he commits suicide after being surrounded, and Kuni Garu ascends to the throne.

The last parts of the book set the stage for some infighting within his court - his different advisors are scheming in different ways and trying to find their place in a new empire, and Kuni gives his first wife, Jia, the shaft by naming his other wife Risana’s son as something more promisingly princely.  So there’s trouble there.

My two favorite characters! The two brothers who join the army and are there for the prophecy about the fish!  One of them (Ratho) becomes Mata’s personal guard, and Dafiro is the captain of Kuni’s guard.  In the end, Rat is with Mata when he dies, and commits suicide with him, and Dafiro takes his body back to be buried at home and mourn.

Gin Matozi is like this book’s entire redeeming quality - a girl who disguised herself as a man to rise through the rank’s of Kuni’s army, and eventually reveals herself and becomes the General, and does some pretty ruthless stuff.  I��m keeping an eye on her in the next one.

There was like a bunch of stuff about how the gods picked favorites and manipulated everyone but I didn’t super duper keep track of that - there were enough characters to begin with.

Here’s my final thought, to my future self or anyone brave enough to start the next one: if there aren’t meaningful women in the first fifty pages, I’m out.

[midrashic]

6 | A BOOK THAT MAKES YOU SAD | THE WALL OF STORMS | KEN LIU

spoilers ahoy! i know the dandelion dynasty is often marketed as “the wuxia game of thrones” and therefore i should love it, for asian fantasy reader-writer solidarity, if nothing else, but ken liu commits narrative crimes in book #2 that made me deeply sad for days after finishing this novel. while trying to answer this question, i was stymied because i don’t really read to be sad, and in fact simply the fact of an unhappy ending isn’t enough for me to feel sad. (i will talk about shamsie’s home fire later in the month!) satisfaction at a well-worn narrative outweighs the pathos of a tragedy for me.

however, the wall of storms made me sad. it’s a well-crafted book, it never lags or stalls the way some doorstopper fantasies can, but after i finished it i felt hollow and wrung-out, and i’m not really looking forward to book #3, though i will buy it and read it for aforementioned asian fantasy reader-writer solidarity reasons. i know we are in the Darkest Hour for dara (the fantasy land in question), but the way the lyucu have taken over nearly everything, and found a source of tolyusa?? i got so attached to kuni garu during the first book, & i know he must die in order for the multigenerational epic to progress, but like that?? and, to be honest, i think it was a mistake for the lyucu to be simultaneously highly badass and also completely unsympathetic. watching the dara forces fail, and fail again, against an enemy i despised was frustrating and demoralizing. i’m against any kind of “this society is just evil” reading but they are just evil & i dearly hope they’re all expelled from the island, even if liu’s fantasy politics often elides such easy solutions.

anyway ken liu answer for your crimes.

[ april in books ]

[badbookopinions]

The Grace Of Kings - The Dandelion Dynasty #1, Ken Liu

LOVE a good epic fantasy. Love love love a good epic silkpunk (a genre I’ve never read before but really enjoyed: essentially, East Asian steampunk) fantasy. 

Kuni Garu is a normal, irresponsible young man under the iron rule of the Xana empire. When gods start meddling and empires start crumbling, he rises to be more powerful than he could have imagined, accompanied by his friend-turned-rival, the prophecied Mata Zyndu.

The most popular goodreads review of this gives it two stars because it doesn’t mention women. I’m actually going to disagree with this, because the part of this book I found the most fascinating is the ways that women, both mortal and immortal, shifted power. This book features the patriarchal structure that’s a staple in the genre, but talks about how women made lives and existed outside of it. Jia, Kuni’s wife, was annoying but learned how to do politics really interestingly. A minor character, Kikomi, has a fascinating conversation about the role of the seductress in history. Kuni chugs respect women juice like a champ and implements it in his government, too. The women in this book are limited by their circumstances, but are present and important, too.

I also loved the different threads going - the hard politics of main plots with the stories-turned-into-myths of minor characters (there’s one particular chapter, about Jizu, that made me lose my mind) and with the machinations of the gods, who are very much present.

In a book like this, the scope of the imagination and worldbuilding is always impressive. Props. 

Plot: dense at times, but well-done. It was sometimes hard to keep track of all the characters and names (thank you, list of characters and map that can be found at the front), but the story built well and the pacing was good. While it was hard at times, it wasn’t ever boring.

Characters: interesting, if not likeable. I don’t think I liked anyone in this series, but so many characters were so fascinating - especially Mata Zyndu, who was just an eight-foot-tall walking pillar of repression and rage. Every time he appeared I got excited to see which war crime he’d commit next. I freaking hated Jia, Kuni’s wife, though - for no particular reason I just found her SO annoying. 

Setting: props again! Seriously, the detail on this is fantastic, and so unique - pantheons! Food/drink/clothing! Languages and history! Several cultures! So many places and characters being juggled at once!

Prose: contributed a lot to the setting. Sometimes you read something and can tell from the style that the author is used to forming sentences in another language. The characters in this book talk like they’re being translated from Chinese into English, and I loved that.

Diversity rating: very good. So much racial diversity - not just East Asian, but black and brown characters, too. Blink-and-you’ll miss it queer rep. What was, in my opinion, a good portrayal of women.

[silkpunk]

Lord Garu, you compare yourself to a weed?” Cogo Yelu frowned. “Not just any weed, Cogzy. A dandelion is a strong but misunderstood flower.” Remembering his courtship with Jia, Kuni felt his eyes grow warm. “It cannot be defeated: Just when a gardener thinks he has won and eradicated it from his lawn, a rain would bring the yellow florets right back. It’s never arrogant: Its color and fragrance never overwhelm those of another. Immensely practical, its leaves are delicious and medicinal, while its roots loosen hard soils, so that it acts as a pioneer for other more delicate flowers. But best of all, it’s a flower that lives in the soil but dreams of the skies. When its seeds take to the wind, it will go farther and see more than any pampered rose, tulip, or marigold.

Ken Liu, The Grace of Kings, p.233

[asecondglassofcinnamonwine]

The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu

In hindsight, not nearly as daunting as I had made it in my memory.

Raise a glass to Kuni Garu, the cunning bastard with a heart for the common people. A man who begins the book as a common gangster, whose parents fear that he will ever make something of himself, begging his friends for a place to stay, and ends up conquering the known world. May your wives live in peace and sisterhood all of their days, and not tear each other apart in book 2.

The gods remain my favorite part of this book.

[i-just-like-commenting]

I know a woman from Xana who was willing to bear a corvee administrator's lash to save her son. I know a wife from Cocru who hiked miles through mountains filled with bandits even while she was pregnant, and managed to save the man who was sent to save her. While we stand here mocking each other like two gangs of schoolboys, who has farmed out lands and kept us fed, who has sewn our tunics and made our arrows, who has carried up the siege stones and carried down our wounded? Have you forgotten how the women of Zudi fought alongside you in this rebellion? By custom, we wield the sword and wear the armor, but who among you does not know a mother, sister, daughter, friend, who exceeds you in courage and fortitude? So let us no more think of being compared to women as an insult.

Kuni Garu during the Battle of Zudi, Grace of Kings by Ken Liu

[surejaya]

The Grace of Kings (The Dandelion Dynasty, #1)

The Grace of Kings (The Dandelion Dynasty, #1) by Ken Liu

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.

Download : The Grace of Kings (The Dandelion Dynasty, #1) The Grace of Kings (The Dandelion Dynasty, #1) More Book at: Zaqist Book

[myaurolove]

Upcoming Japanese Live Action Movies 2017

Includes 1. Ajin 2. I am in trouble because my older brother loves me too much. 3. Ayame- kun no Nonbriri Niku Nisshi 4. Blade of the Immortal 5. Chihayafuru Part III 6. Hirunaka no Ryuusei 7. FMA 8. Gintama 9. Hidamari ga Kikoeru 10. JO JO’s Bizzare Adventure Diamond is Unbreakable 11. March comes in like a Lion 12. Mischevious Kiss The Movie: Campus 13. Mischevious Kiss The Movie: The Proposal 14. Okuda Tamio ni Naritai Boy to Deau Otoko Subete Kuruwaseru Garu 15. One Week Friends 16. Peach Girl 17. ReLife 18. Saki 19. Shinjuku Swan II 20. Shinobi no Kuni 21. Teiichi’s Country 22. The Badly-Bruised Devil 23. The Disastrous Life of Saki K 24. Today’s Kira- kun 25. Tokyo Ghoul 26. Unmasked Noise

I for one am incredibly excited about these adaptions. Some of these are manga’s that I wished would become anime, that are transferring directly into live action. Which is good because they are the slice of life genre, and Japan really know how to do Slice of Life adaptations well. Hence, I am very optimistic about the majority of these adaptions. 

Of course, there are the few risky adaptions. For example Ajin, FMA, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Gintama, Tokyo Ghoul and ReLife; I am expecting a lot of anime critics and fans to speculate about the casting, the setting, the production value, because their taking a premise from the anime. Since there is such a large fan-base for the anime, if the live action isn’t presented in a certain way, it can greatly effect the popularity of the live action.

But I am incredibly positive, because the cast of Ajin, FMA, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Gintama, Tokyo Ghoul and ReLife; are some of my favourite and well renowned Japanese actors and actresses. I don’t expect them to do a poor job. At least in acting. Things that may go wrong might just be production value of the studio, also whether the films stray away from the original plot like Attack on Titan’s Live action. 

Here’s my update! I hope your all, just as excited as me. 

[myriad--starlings]

just over halfway through The Grace of Kings! loving the politics and the constant little twists of the narrative. also loving the growth and development of these characters. Ken Liu takes the time and page space to flesh out the background of each important character and it adds good meat to the story. These characters feel like real people, especially Kuni Garu, the centerpiece character.

also, sorry for the weird angle of the picture, but the top of this book has a library stamp with the location so...not going to put that on Tumblr no sir.

[planetaeris]

Hoy... Día 2 de marzo Dara abre sus puertas de nuevo para recibirnos... Kuni Garu, ahora emperador Ragin tras su victoria en la Guerra del Crisantemo y el Diente de León, se enfrenta a la tarea de hacer realidad sus ideales de justicia y conservar el poder en una corte en la que las rivalidades son cada vez más abiertas. Distintas fuerzas y grupos pugnan por imponerse y se preparan para una lucha a largo plazo. Entre tanto, una nueva amenaza existencial se cierne sobre Dara desde el exterior.  En la esperada continuación de "La gracia de los reyes" Ken Liu da un nuevo giro a la fantasía con una poderosa novela en la que tienen cabida batallas épicas y controversias filosóficas, intrigas políticas y criaturas sobrenaturales, invenciones tecnológicas y luchas entre los dioses… y el examen más extraordinario que se haya narrado nunca. El muro de las tormentas. Ken Liu. #libros #books #bookstagram #instalibro #instabook #instagramers #igreads #instadaily #bookblogger #bookstagrammer #bookphotography #bookcover #booklover #bookish #bookaddict #bookaholic #bookworm #booknerd #blogger  #bookpic #booklife #bookshelf #book📖 #bookme #literate #literature #bookchallenge

[eccles4il6by]

The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu mobi

The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu mobi

The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu mobi 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…