Maybe in a time of war, I wasn't expecting peace
Throughout The Veiled Throne, book 3 of The Dandelion Dynasty, I kept asking myself "where is this all going"? For a series, recommended on a favorite podcast as a adjacent in themes to my favorite JRPG series Suikoden, The Dandelion Dynasty series up to this point has blended strong characters set against the backdrop of war as a way to move the plot forward.
With book 3, author Ken Liu continues to grow the cast with many new favorites. How can you not love the Blossom Gang? Their misfit story reminds me of cooking competitions in Suikoden. But look a little further, and you see Mota, Rati Yera, Widi, Arona, Dandelion and Kinri are teeming with possibility. It's why the long chapters near the end felt out of nowhere. These plot pieces came about too quick, took too long to move through, and by the end had sucked much of the air from the other plots across this book.
I imagine book 4 of the series may find itself reading as book 3.5-4. Covering lost ground and moving the story towards it's conclusion.
I'm excited to keep going, but the book could have balanced things out better.