The show vs. tell ratio continues to increase for book #3, plus much of the telling occurs via dialogue and characters reminiscing, which are less immersion-breaking for me than the "history book summarizing" style of (especially) much of book #1. Overall, this is another brilliant book that is kept from 5 stars for me because of I don't love its relative emphasis on telling vs. showing.

The first half I was super invested. The second half I had to put in the work. Overall a solid installment to the series. I like the stretch of time within this series and how we see characters grow, break down, and get built up. And I LOVE how again everything circles back and ties into previous details of books 1 and 2.

The aspen wishes to stand still, but the wind does not stop.

We love that which gives us heartache and difficulty... Some of the most important decisions we make in life are not derived from reason, from weighing the fish, from an evaluation of the pros and cons—but from a simple leap of faith, of love that needs no evidence, apology, or argument.
But all of it was tethered to the basics, to the love that can be held in a single heart. A great lady once taught me that there's nothing abstract about love: It requires the specific and the quotidian.

Five years. Five years in the making and not a moment of this whole narrative slackened its pull and draw until I am fully enveloped in the web of Ken Liu's storytelling. This was one of the few times that I did not want a story to end (I think the other time was in [b:Foundryside|37173847|Foundryside (The Founders Trilogy, #1)|Robert Jackson Bennett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1520460880l/37173847._SY75_.jpg|58951160]).

I read back on my review for [b:The Grace of Kings|18952341|The Grace of Kings (The Dandelion Dynasty, #1)|Ken Liu|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403024981l/18952341._SY75_.jpg|26965646] and I noticed how often I mentioned the gods. Their diminished authority and prevalence in the narrative that is then further implied upon at the novel's end is of great interest to me. Is Dara (and perhaps by extension, Ukyu-Gondé) going through postmodernity? I look forward to that answer in the next book.

The Veiled Throne focuses more on the Lyucu-Agon aspect of things, and the whole inter-mixing of cultures is a prominent theme, from Théra's political marriage and Kinri/Savo as a character. It's interesting though—I trust Liu to tell the story that he carries inside of him, but I wonder where I am meant to side. It's supposed to be complicated, I know, but the way Cutanrovo appeared made it almost too easy to side with the Dara side of the wall of storms, so to speak. But, then again, the series focuses on the Dandelion Dynasty, so that might be where the answers lie.

Another theme too, was the consideration of written language versus the fluidity of oral tradition. It's amazing how the narrative balances this theme and it took Zomi's point on this conflict for me to accept the complexity. I'm afraid I was far too much like the scholars and students who put too much stock on the written word when words themselves are slippery and omit the "entirety of the experience, of being alive here, in this moment".

I also want to thank Ken Liu for taking pity on me and saving Zomi's romantic pragmatism (yes, it's a thing) near the end, because when she said, "I suppose the love poets would call [our romance] a tragedy of ambition and vanity, for in their verses there is nothing grander than romance. But Théra and I both understood that there are other grand ideals in this universe worth pursuing, and being apart is not the end of a love that is true", I nearly lost it.

My favourite arc had to be the cooking showdown. It had the image of Cooking Master Boy burned in my head. Also, the use of sous vide and the pressure cooker had me grinning the whole time.

Oof, and I have a year to wait for the next and final book? Can my heart handle it? It's going to have to.

(sidenote: I learned my lesson re: preorders, thanks to this book. Don't preorder so far away! You never know what would happen. Say, imagine if your credit card info had to be replaced so you had to have this tiring back and forth with a Chapters-Indigo employee regarding your preorder—it's taxing to say the least.)

I'm so sad. Only one more book to go.