Best Ken Liu Books
Ken Liu is best known in Western markets as the translator who brought Liu Cixin's Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy to English — but his own fiction deserves equal attention. The Grace of Kings and its sequels in The Dandelion Dynasty reveal a writer obsessed with myth, empire, and the way history erases the people who actually made it. His prose blends ancient Chinese narrative traditions with a silkpunk aesthetic that feels genuinely unlike anything else in epic fantasy. As a short story writer, Liu is peerless — The Hidden Girl and Other Stories showcases his ability to compress enormous emotional and philosophical weight into tight, devastating form. Readers who want fantasy and science fiction that treats ideas seriously, that mourns what civilization costs, and that finds beauty in impermanence will find Liu essential.
Where to Start with Ken Liu
- Best entry point → The Grace of Kings
- Best standalone → The Book of Witches
- Start the Remembrance of Earth's Past series → The Three-Body Problem
- Underrated but highly rated → Speaking Bones
- What readers keep coming back to → Death's End
- Highest rated by readers → The Wall of Storms (The Dandelion Dynasty #2)
Best Ken Liu Books
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Death's End
Remembrance of Earth's Past • Book 3
by Liu Cixin, Ken Liu
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The Three-Body trilogy's finale follows humanity's desperate attempts to survive alien colonization across multiple centuries and dimensions. Liu's hard science fiction tackles the Fermi paradox with solutions both ingenious and terrifying.
★ 4.40 Goodreads (176.1K ratings) - 2
The Three-Body Problem
Remembrance of Earth's Past • Book 1
by Liu Cixin, Ken Liu
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A secret military project contacts aliens during China's Cultural Revolution, setting up humanity's first extraterrestrial encounter. Liu blends hard science fiction with historical tragedy and philosophical depth.
★ 4.08 Goodreads (505.3K ratings) - 3
Speaking Bones
The Dandelion Dynasty • Book 4
by Ken Liu
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Théra's flight from enemies takes her to hidden valleys and ghost cities as Liu concludes his sweeping chronicle of the Dandelion Dynasty.
★ 4.53 Goodreads (4.2K ratings) - 4
The Wall of Storms
The Dandelion Dynasty • Book 2
by Ken Liu
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Kuni's reign as emperor faces its greatest test when the Lyucu empire invades from across distant seas, threatening everything he's built. Liu expands his fantasy epic with complex politics and warfare.
★ 4.35 Goodreads (10.1K ratings) - 5
Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View
Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View • Book 1
by Elizabeth Schaefer, Ben Acker, Jonathan Davis, Tom Angleberger, Janina Gavankar, Ben Blacker, Jon Hamm, Jeffrey Brown, Jason Fry, Neil Patrick Harris, Christie Golden, January LaVoy, Saskia Maarleveld, Pierce Brown, Ashley Eckstein, Carol Monda, Mur Lafferty, Marc Thompson, Ken Liu, Griffin McElroy, John Jackson Miller, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Nnedi Okorafor, Daniel José Older, Ian Doescher, Daniel M. Lavery, Madeleine Roux, Gary D. Schmidt, Matt Fraction, Cavan Scott, Sabaa Tahir, Kieron Gillen, Glen Weldon, Chuck Wendig, Gary Whitta, Meg Cabot, Pablo Hidalgo, Adam Christopher, Rae Carson, Zoraida Córdova, Delilah S. Dawson, Paul Dini, Alexander Freed, Claudia Gray, Paul S. Kemp, Elizabeth Wein, Beth Revis, Greg Rucka, Charles Soule, Wil Wheaton, Renée Ahdieh
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Forty authors reimagine A New Hope through the eyes of cantina patrons, Death Star gunners, and other background characters, revealing hidden stories within the familiar epic.
★ 3.94 Goodreads (15.5K ratings) - 6
The Grace of Kings
The Dandelion Dynasty • Book 1
by Ken Liu
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Epic fantasy meets Chinese mythology as two rebels—a charming bandit and a noble warrior—discover that overthrowing an emperor is easier than deciding who should replace him.
★ 3.80 Goodreads (29.8K ratings) - 7
The Book of Swords
Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz #7 - A Long, Cold Trail
by Gardner Dozois, K.J. Parker, Robin Hobb, Ken Liu, Matthew Hughes, Kate Elliott, Walter Jon Williams, Daniel Abraham, C.J. Cherryh, Garth Nix, Ellen Kushner, Scott Lynch, Rich Larson, Elizabeth Bear, Lavie Tidhar, Cecelia Holland, George R.R. Martin
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Seventeen fantasy luminaries including George R.R. Martin and Robin Hobb craft new sword-and-sorcery tales inspired by Conan and Elric. Each story channels the classic pulp spirit while showcasing contemporary fantasy's evolution.
★ 3.67 Goodreads (2.2K ratings) - 8
The Book of Witches
by Jonathan Strahan, Linda D. Addison, P. Djèlí Clark, Kathleen Jennings, Tade Thompson, Ken Liu, Darcie Little Badger, Andrea Hairston, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Cassandra Khaw, Tobi Ogundiran, Kelly Robson, C.L. Clark, Millie Ho, Indrapramit Das, Saad Z. Hossain, Garth Nix, Premee Mohamed, Maureen F. McHugh, Andrea Stewart, Tochi Onyebuchi, Sheree Renée Thomas, Angela Slatter, Fonda Lee, Usman T. Malik, E. Lily Yu, Miyuki Jane Pinckard, Emily Y. Teng, Amal El-Mohtar, Alyssa Winans
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Global perspectives on witchcraft span from traditional folklore to futuristic magic systems, though the anthology's breadth sacrifices consistency for ambition across its thirty stories.
★ 3.46 Goodreads (690 ratings) - 9
The Legends of Luke Skywalker (Star Wars: Journey to Star Wars: the Last Jedi)
Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi
by Ken Liu
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Rather than answering what Luke Skywalker really accomplished, Liu explores how legends grow and distort across the galaxy. The conflicting tales reveal more about storytelling itself than any single 'true' version could.
★ 3.43 Goodreads (3.4K ratings)