Tammie's Reviews > Speaking Bones

NOBODY TOUCH ME IM NOT OKAY 😭😭😭😭

How to find the words to describe how much this series means to me and how incredible it truly is? This book has solidified The Dandelion Dynasty as my favourite series - Ken Liu absolutely sticks the landing here. I always struggle to recommend this one despite loving it so much though, and I will say that even after finishing it, I still feel the same way, and it's largely because Ken Liu writes in a way that is so difficult to categorize. This series is epic fantasy, but it's also so much more than that, and while I personally love it because of how many genres it manages to blend together, I can also understand why it's not going to be for everyone, simply because it is so unlike anything we're used to.

This series is a masterclass in worldbuilding, and honestly, just in writing in general. Ken Liu's prose, as always, is excellent. His ability to tell a story is unmatched. The characters are incredibly nuanced and complex, and they continue to grow and surprise me in ways that I didn't expect them to, despite being over thousands of pages into a series. The world is incredibly diverse and well-developed - it has its own set of rules, technology, and cultures, but at the same time, there are parallels drawn to our own world and society in North America that are undeniable. Ken Liu's writing to me has always felt very theme-forward - the messages and the themes have always driven the narrative of his stories, and The Dandelion Dynasty is no different.

This book was the perfect conclusion to an incredible series. I won't say it's been perfect throughout - there are flaws, for sure, and even in Speaking Bones it felt like at times, the world had grown so far I had no idea how Ken Liu was going to reign it in. But in the end, it's incredibly satisfying and cathartic, and not every character has a happy ending, but it really does feel like the right ending for everyone.

I understand that the page count is a lot to ask of readers, but I really do think that this series is a masterpiece that needs to be completed in order to fully recognize the sheer scope of what it is trying to do. It's a multi-generational saga that fundamentally asks the question, what does it take to found a nation? It's your classic, awe-inspiring, epic fantasy filled with grand battles, gods, and mystical creatures. It's a slow-burn political drama, with chess pieces being placed down without you even knowing and taking years to come to fruition. It's historical fiction, told in the style of classic epics. It's science fiction, with a deep exploration of science and technology, but also a study on the arts and faith, and how these all inform the social and cultural landscape of a nation. At times, it's a philosophy textbook, and at others, a deep look into language and translation. It's an anthropological study of the fictional nation of Dara, and a deep dive into the rise and fall of different powers, and the constantly shifting socioeconomic and political landscape of this land. It's all of these things, and more, and I think that if you are willing to put the time into this series, you will get so much more than you expected out of it.