The Wall of Storms by Ken Liu

Ken Liu, the master translator of The Three Body Problem and the brilliant author behind The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, continues his “silkpunk” Dandelion Dynasty saga with this sequel to The Grace of Kings. Set some time after the events of the first book, The Wall of Storms begins with the crafty Kuni Garu, now the emperor of the fictional land of Dara and its many islands, facing an unprecedented invasion from a Far East empire. The existential threat comes as both his kingdom and his family face infighting and internal destruction. Through insidious scheming, intense action and heartbreaking tragedy, The Wall of Storms maintains the thrilling pace of the series and sets readers up for the third installment, planned for release in 2021. In the short span of his burgeoning career, Liu has marked himself as one of the most important voices in contemporary genre fiction. His way of weaving identity, history, desire and unbridled creativity into his stories reinvigorates fantasy storytelling, while still honoring everything that came before his work. And through “silkpunk”—a sub-genre of his own creation, which casts East Asian resources into a speculative, “poet-engineer mindset”—Liu continues to create incredibly unique stories, and his Dandelion Dynasty is, so far, the greatest distillation of his imagination. —Peter Allen Clark

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