The book is set in the East Asian-esque islands of Dara. The archipelago was once divided into independent city states, but were unified into one kingdom by the tyrannical first emperor Mapidéré. Mapidéré's death spurs a rebellion against the imperial regime, in which two men rise in power, the pragmatic Lovable Rogue Kuni Garu and the grimly honorable Blood Knight Mata Zyndu. Despite their diametrically different personalities, the two become best friends, but as the rebellion gains success, they eventually become rivals. Within this personal and ideological struggle, the gods of Dara take sides.
The sequel, The Wall Of Storms, was released in 2016; the third installment, The Veiled Throne, was released in 2021.
The novel contains examples of:
- The Alliance: Played with. The rebellion against Dara is largely the doing of Cocru. The deposed royal lines of the other five Tiro states are also restored to their thrones and try to band together against Dara, but they're mostly wishy-washy, ineffectual, and vulnerable to realpolitik from Xana.
- Burning the Ships: Mata burns his ships at Wolf's Paw and tells his men that the only way to get off is to defeat the enemies and take their ships. It works.
- The Cavalry: Facing superior Imperial firepower and a betrayal by King Dalo, the rebellion's army and navy are about to be defeated at Wolf's Paw. However, Mata Zyndu arrives with his fleet and is able to turn the tide.
- Cavalry Refusal: Part and parcel of the infighting that undermines the rebellion against the Xana Empire. The armies of Faça and Gan stand by and watch at the Battle of Wolf's Paw, having been convinced they should trust Xana mercy rather than stick their necks out for the other kingdoms; when Mata Zyndu rallies the troops in a crushing victory for the rebellion, they belatedly help out, but Zyndu has their leaders arrested.
- Culture Chop Suey: The culture of the Dara States is mostly Ancient China with a bit of Japan thrown in, but there's also an offshoot with a Pacific Islander-inspired culture and there's some aspects evocative of both Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome (the pantheon of scheming deities; the use of the titles Hegemon and Princeps; some of the literary quotations).
- Dark Fantasy: The novel is bleak and violent. It's got few overt supernatural elements (well, except the thing with the gods, quite a few of whom are jerkasses, and their personifications, but it is a low-magic world), deals mostly with human conflict and quite a few political machinations, has a good heaping of Grey-and-Grey Morality and few wholly sympathetic characters.
- Decoy Protagonist: Arguably, Kuni for the series as a whole. He is one of the two protagonists of the first book, and given his historical inspiration, i.e. Liu Bang, you expect him to continue in this role. But The Wall of Storms sees him fade into more of a background role for most of it, before unexpectedly killing him off at the end. Although this goes hand-in-hand with the series' transition to more of an Ensemble Cast, his wife Jia and his daughter Théra stand out as the true protagonists who rise to the fore in his absence.
- Establishing Character Moment:
- Kuni Garu's roguishness and good heart is illustrated by his first appearance. He persuades his best friend to cut school again to go to a parade, and as Rin indicates, these escapades always end in Rin being beaten by their teacher and Kuni managing to talk his way out of being punished. However, when the parade turns into a failed assassination attempt, Kuni saves Rin's life, shielding him with his body while hot oil rains from the sky.
- Mata's character is encapsulated in his introductory chapter, which details how his aristocratic family was slaughtered on Mapidéré's orders, and how he grew up under a Training from Hell regimen instituted by his uncle, so that the two could eventually take revenge. What cements Mata's character is the fact that what he hates about Mapidéré is not so much the cruelty shown to his family, but that Mapidéré took away power from aristocrats in favor of meritocracy.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture:
- The fantastical islands of Dara are mainly inspired by China, with other elements of East Asia. The plot is heavily borrowed from historical events in Chinese history and there's other elements evocative of an Asian setting (e.g. an emphasis on filial piety) with some terms tweaked (e.g. the characters use "eating sticks" rather than "chopsticks"). While Mapidéré is inspired by China's first emperor
, the aspect of a tiny island conquering the region using advanced weaponry and promulgating its cultural superiority is evocative of Imperial Japan. Another Japanese parallel comes in the islands' ancient history, where a less technologically advanced aboriginal race were conquered, displaced and to some extent assimilated by a 'civilized' migrant race from overseas. - While the map provided in the book is oriented West, orient it North and a resemblance to Ireland in terms of geography becomes obvious. An Irish parallel could also be drawn with the Tiro system of kings (though this is also based on China's Warring States period).
- The fantastical islands of Dara are mainly inspired by China, with other elements of East Asia. The plot is heavily borrowed from historical events in Chinese history and there's other elements evocative of an Asian setting (e.g. an emphasis on filial piety) with some terms tweaked (e.g. the characters use "eating sticks" rather than "chopsticks"). While Mapidéré is inspired by China's first emperor
- Fascist, but Inefficient: Mapidéré's grand vision falls apart because he can't understand that his empire is made up of human beings who can't work on massive construction projects if they're starving to death. When the citizens are deprived of their basic needs and subjected to draconian punishment for failing to meet his quotas, they rebel simply because a faint hope of survival is better than none.
- Flower Motifs:
- The two protagonists are each associated with a flower throughout the book: Mata Zyndu with the noble chrysanthemum and Kuni with the humble but multifunctional dandelion.
- Invoked by Kuni, Mata, and their friends, who play a drinking game. A character compares themselves to a flower, and if the others agree with the comparison, they drink. But if they don't see the resemblance, the comparer drinks.
- Foregone Conclusion:
- Once you learn that the novel is inspired by the Chu-Han contention and figure out who is who, it's pretty clear that Kuni is going to win. Even without the historical inspiration, early in the book, Kuni is compared to a dandelion and Mata to a chrysanthemum, and the series title is the "Dandelion Dynasty", not the "Chrysanthemum Dynasty"...
- Zig-zagged a fair bit in the sequel. Ultimately, most of the same results as in actual history occur, but some, such as Gin/Han Xin's death, happen in very different ways and others, such as Kuni/Liu Bang dying in the Lyucu/Xiongnu invasion, are substantially different.
- Let's You and Him Fight: King Shilué of Faça is notorious for propping up other leaders to fight his battles for him and abandoning them when the tides turn. He surrenders to Kuni Garu on the condition that he remain safe, suggesting he doesn't intend to help out against Mata Zyndu's forces.
- Meaningful Appearance: Gin Mazoti shaves her head, initially to hide her gender, but later as a reminder that she is not an ordinary woman.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Gin Mazoti and her friend/lover Luan Zya fit this contrasting pairing. Gin disguised herself as a boy when younger and continues to shave her head and wear masculine dress as an adult. While she is very well-read on military strategy, she's characterized by being a very hands-on military leader with an emphasis on dirty tricks picked up from growing up on the streets. In contrast, Luan Zya was (briefly) was disguised as a girl as a boy, and grew up pampered in an aristocratic family. Despite their being stripped of their holdings, Zya maintains the wide-ranging education he received as a boy as well as somewhat affected court manners, and as an adult, is a Non-Action Guy whose military contribution is in the form of gadgetry and war-room strategy.
- Mukokuseki: In a rare literary example of this, despite the China-inspired history and culture, many characters seem to look like this, being described as having light-hair and eyes. The related appearance tropes also come into play, as there is a group of tanned people with blond hair and blue eyes as well as one of dark-skinned people who have green eyes.
- Natural Elements: An in-universe folk song describes the nation-states of Dara as such: the martial Cocru and the agricultural Faça are associated with land, the miners of Rima are associated with fire, the naval powers of Amu, Haan, and Gan are associated with water, and Xana, once it mastered air "the empty realm", was able to conquer the other six.
- Never Found the Body: Mata's aunt Soto is said to have set the house she was in on fire rather than be taken as a POW, and the flames were so bad they could not identify the corpse in the charred remains of the building. So when a woman named Soto with an aristocratic air turns up as Jia's housekeeper and starts asking questions about Mata, it's no surprise that she is really Soto Zyndu.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: With the Whole-Plot Reference of the novel to actual Chinese history, there are a few characters based on historical figures, but it's really blatant with Mapidéré, who is a clear expy of Qin Shi Huang, down to him constantly touring the realm, ordering the burning of scrolls and the mutilation of scholars (disputed in the case of the historical template, but stated as factual history for Mapidéré), constructing many fortifications and a "road" system (the Great Tunnels) and at least initiating the project of his sanity-defying mausoleum.
- Ordered to Die: When the Chatelain and Prime Minister execute their coup, the Crown Prince receives a Forged Message from the Emperor informing him that he's been removed from the line of succession, a poison pill, and a squad of armed soldiers accompanying the messenger. He takes the hint and the pill.
- Outside-Context Problem: Mapidéré started out as a prince of the tiny island state of Xana, which never got much respect from the rest of Dara. Then, a Xanan scholar discovered how to apply the principle of paper lanterns to make lighter-than-air airships. Once these were weaponized, they couldn't be touched by conventional armies and Mapidéré used them to take over the other Dara states. Later on, this is reversed when battle kites are invented, which enable soldiers to take down airships.
- Psmith Psyndrome: Early in the novel, Kuni crashes a party claiming to be Fin, a wealthy local nobleman. When it's pointed out that the real Fin has already arrived, Kuni then claims that he's Fin's cousin Phin and purses his lips to illustrate the (nonexistent) difference in pronunciation. Granted, there is a character named Phin in the novel (Mata's uncle) so the two actually are different names.
- Quack Doctor: The Immortality Seeker Emperor Mapidéré drew a crowd of fraudulent and delusional healers who promised various Longevity Treatments for exorbitant sums. The quack medicine left him looking thirty years older than his age.
- Quality over Quantity: Discussed. The Tiro State of Rima used to pride itself on its few but legendary warriors. But as warfare and technological development evolved, the One-Man Army type of soldier could be taken down by soldiers who might not have been as well-trained, but had the advantage of numbers and tactics. Rima's warriors then became obsolete and its military declined.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: King Shilué of Faça is notorious for playing both sides, getting other people to fight his battles, and abandoning them at his convenience, so when he makes a deal to betray the Hegemon and join Kuni Garu's faction, Gin Mazoti summarily executes him at the first opportunity.
- Royal Harem: The Emperors keep harems of beautiful women in the royal quarters. After Kuni and entourage conquer Pan the former is so distracted that he pleasures himself with the harem for almost a fortnight. His friends call him out for this selfish hedonism.
- Swords to Plowshares: One of these was planned by the Emperor Mapidéré but never came to fruition. After conquering a continent and subduing warring states, he wanted to confiscate all swords in the realm and then melt them down to make statues of all of the deities in the pantheon as a monument to peace.
- Symbolically Broken Object: After Kuni is convinced to break the peace treaty between him and Mata, he tears the treaty in half. Mata does the same when he learns of the news.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Graceful dancer Risana is the girly girl to warrior Gin's tomboy.
- Truce Trickery: The friends-turned-warring-kings Kuni Garu and Mata Zyndu ultimately sign a peace treaty, only for Kuni to break it that same day and launch an offensive that kills Zyndu and conquers his lands. Kuni genuinely believes his actions are dishonorable and terrible, yet necessary, as Zyndu's brutal nature would have made a lasting peace impossible.
- We ARE Struggling Together: The rebellion against the Xana Empire nearly fails because the kings are more interested in hashing out old territorial disputes and fighting for personal advantage than in forming a cohesive front. At a turning point, two kings pull a Cavalry Refusal that almost loses the entire war because they don't want to stick their necks out for a third king's army; when Mata Zyndu saves the day, he has enough of them all and promotes himself over all of them by right of conquest.
- Winter Warfare: Gin leads an assult on Mata's forces during a hard winter. Mata's forces are not as well-supplied, and so we get descriptions of soldiers' skin peeling off from the cold and needing to subsist on dead horses.
