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 fourth and final installment, Speaking Bones was released 2022.
The novel contains examples of:
- Achilles in His Tent: Mata Zyndu is the last remnant of a noble house who has joined a rebellion against the empire that destroyed his family. Along with being the strongest fighter by far and an eight-foot-tall giant, he is also staunchly traditionalist and a strong believer in hierarchy, ceremony, and propriety. During the war, he's sent out of the way to guard a seemingly-inconsequential location, which he bitterly resents. At one point, the general he's under becomes overly cautious, and his hesitancy allows the enemy to make base, take a strategically significant location, and covertly make an alliance with one of the kings in the rebellion. A rebel commander, who had known all along that the general was making mistakes, comes to Mata and asks him to take action. Mata at first refuses and is likened by the narration to a petulant child. It takes a polite but firm rebuke from the commander for Mata to come to his senses.Didn't Kuni Garu become a duke simply by acting as one? Didn't Huno Krima become a king simply by declaring that he was one? He, Mata Zyndu, heir to the proudest name in all the islands, was a greater warrior than either of them, and yet here he sat, unhappy that people had not come to beg him to lead them.
- 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.
- Always Second Best: Lugo Crupo was a street kid who was adopted by a famous teacher of philosophy. While Crupo wasn't a terrible scholar, and was in fact one of his teacher's best students, he was constantly overshadowed by his peer, Tan Feuji. When the two were adults, Feuji went on to get the position at the Crozu court Crupo had been vying for for ages, and when Crupo got a position in the Xana court, it was only because the Emperor (a fan of Feuji's work) had heard that the two had been in the same class, under the same teacher.
- Angel Unaware: While the gods of the Tiro states have sworn not to directly interfere in the affairs of mortals, as the first book progresses they make more and more direct attempts in guiding their favorites (and belatedly justifying their choices to the other gods). By the 2/3rd mark, several gods have disguised themselves as humans to give advice or make demands; sometimes their divinity is revealed at the end of the conversation, and sometimes it isn't, and the reader only knows something is up when the gods are arguing among each other in the next scene. Special mention goes to Lutho, who appeared to Luan Zya as a cantankerous old man, Tazu, who pretended to be a concubine to sleep with Kuni and an old woman to demand sacrificed from Mata, Tututika, who tried to give Kikomi advice, Rufzio who pretended to be an absent minded doctor to distract Gin, and Kiji, who pretended to be a beggar.
- Burning the Ships: Mata burns his ships at Wolf's Paw and tells his men that the only way to get off the island 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).
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: The majority of people in the Empire are quick to betray one another due to the culture of self-serving paranoia, which itself is due in no small part to the way the Emperor Mapidéré treats those who show the slightest dissent, or make the smallest error. There are dozens of characters who betray others, either for selfish gain or to try and protect themselves and others. While Mata is disgusted by this behavior, Kuni manages to use it on more than one occasion. Some special mention goes to:
- Lieutenant Dosa: He had been an Imperial Commander in charge of the Zuni garrison who surrendered and joined Kuni's rebellion. Then, when it looked as though the Empire was winning, he betrayed Kuni and took back control of the city for the Empire. Kuni later takes the city again, and finds that Dosa's motives had been pure, and that he had treated Kuni's family kindly (as opposed to the usual imperial MO of punishing a family for an individual's crime). Kuni takes Dosa back, who then becomes genuinely loyal to him.
- "King" Huno Krima: Began as a sympathetic member of a crew of "conscripts" on their way to hard labor. He and his companion Zopa Shigin accidentally kick off the entire rebellion, creating a cult of personality around Huno as a prophesied king. As he goes Drunk with Power, he betrays all the men who had helped him rise, murders Zopa and forbids his name from being spoken, instills a secret police to keep track of the people betraying him, and then another secret police to keep track of those guys, and then a THIRD secret police to keep track of them. By the end of his reign, he is every bit a insane, paranoid, and selfish as Mapidere.
- The Rima Ministers: They surrendered to the Empire back when it initially took over Rima. When the rebellion began to gain steam, they dragged Rizu from his humble life as an oyster farmer and forced him to be king while espousing the bravery of his family who had died in resistance the the Empire (and while surreptitiously bad-mouthing his father who had surrendered and been allowed to live). When the Empire came to retake control of Rima, the ministers were happy to surrender and encouraged Rizu to either give up, or to let the common citizens die defending him as a distraction for his escape. When Rizu chose to sacrifice his freedom for the safety of the city, the ministers were eager to let him be taken. They are eventually Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves, as Rizu intentionally sets himself on fire in defiance, in full view of his people and the Xana army, inadvertently deifying himself in the eyes of his people, and the ministers are taken as war prisoners in his stead.
- Most of the Tiro kings in the rebellion surrender when it looks like the Empire is winning, and then return to the rebellion once it looks like they have a chance, especially King Dalo of Gan and King Shilué of Faça, along with the commander of the Gan army, all of whom turn traitor at Big Toe, only to "rediscover" their "rebel hearts" once Mata begins leading his men to victory.
- 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.
- Decadent Court: Pan, the capital of Emperor Mapidéré and his son Emperor Erishi. Mapidere was obsessed with increasingly ludicrous plans (such as digging tunnels beneath the ocean to connect the islands) and devoted all the Imperial resources to those plans, to his personal comfort and the splendor of Pan, and to finding the secret of immortality. His son, the twelve-year-old Erishi, is intentionally left in the dark about the actual state of the Empire's citizens and is instead given a life of absurd luxury, with fountains of wine around the palace, elaborate toys, and regular feasts.If someone had informed [Erishi] that men were dying every day in the Islands for lack of a cup of rice, he would have been surprised. “Why do they insist on eating rice? Meat is so much better!”
- 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.
- Evil Chancellor: Emperor Erishi has two of them in Lugo Crupo and Goran Pira.
- Pira had been Emperor Mapidere's close friend and confidant since the two were children, and when Mapidere dies, he does so believing Pira to be his only true friend. In reality, Pira despised Mapidere for unknowingly murdering the love of Pira's life and Pira's newborn son. Pira then vows to destroy the entire empire, beginning with ensuring the wrong son inherits the throne, then intentionally guiding the inheriting son to ruin.
- Crupo was a scholar and philosopher who was tired of being overshadowed by his old schoolmate. When Pira concocted the plan to get the wrong son crowned as emperor, Crupo agreed because the aforementioned son was his student, meaning his position would be significantly increased. He and Pira then begin systematically framing, executing, and assassinating anyone in the court who might've actually helped the boy king, and once Crupo has the power of office, he's actually terrible at his job and is a significant reason as to why the rebellion succeeds as well as it does. It takes the literal intervention of a god to undo some of the damage he's done through his negligence.
- Extra Eyes: Mata has double-pupiled eyes, inspired by a legend regarding his historical inspiration, Xiang Yu
. - 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.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Luan Zya, favored mortal of the god Lutho the scholar and trickster. Luan already had a thirst for knowledge common in Han before the conquest, and Lutho gave him a book that compiled the knowledge he already had into organized, easily-processed pages that allow him to plan and create things, including submarines in the form of mechanical cruben-whales. Even before receiving the book, he created the glider-kite he used in the attempted assassination of Mapidere.
- Heroic Seductress: Princess Kikomi tries to become this after a pep talk from Tututika. When her island's rebellion fails, she attempts to seduce Namen, intending to betray him and the Empire and secure her kingdom's defense. He sees through her plan and instead blackmails her into infiltrating the rebels, seducing Mata and Phin, and driving the two apart, as well as killing one of them. The only resistance she can give is to kill herself as well, forever tarnishing her name as a traitor, but saving her nation and preventing herself from being used further.
- Ignored Expert: While there are more than a few of these during Mapidere and Erishi's reigns, Torulu Pering, Mata's advisor, takes the cake. He warns Mata repeatedly about numerous potential strategic and political problems, including: strategies his enemies will use, how to divide the new Tiro states, about the consequences of punishing and rewarding the wrong people, and about the threat that Kuni poses to his reign. Mata completely disregards him, thinks of his advice as nagging, and finds him annoying.
- Insane Troll Logic: When Kuni and his crew are making an all out attack on the Emperor's palace with Kuni in the lead, Dafiro decides to stay as close to him as possible. His logic is that Kuni doesn't want to die, and he's important enough that everyone around him will try to protect him, therefore being close to him is the safest place to be in the battle.
- 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.
