Fantasy Aficionados discussion

Warning: Here there be spoilers. If you want to talk generalities, hop on over to the intro thread.

Great atmosphere of old china, witty and exotic story full of action, puzzles and beautiful, lyrical moments, interesting characters. Well balanced and having a grand ending.

Don't expect dark fantasy but a faery story like The Princess Bride and more exotic like The Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights. It also remembers me in tone and style of the movie "Hero" from 2002.

I could imagine that some people don't like it because it is told in the style of a myth. You can probably figure out the structure end ending of the story line quite early on. But that doesn't matter as it is short enough to be never boring.

This one is definitely in my favourites. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

Me too, Andreas. I've had it on my TBR a ridiculously long time.

This was a re-read for me and I was surprised at how well this story holds up as compared to how I remember it. "The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox" has been one of those books that I hand to friends who ask for a "really good book to read".

For me it is "delightful" - the same feeling I get from books like "The Princess Bride" and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone".

I laugh out loud at the way Hughart can cleverly turn a phrase:

Error can point the way to truth, while empty-headedness can only lead to more empty-headedness...or a career in politics.

...quoted Lao-Tzu. "Blessed are the idiots, for they are the happiest people on earth."

Allow me to inform you that the elixir of Eighty Evil Essences can make a stone vomit."

and

We are going to experiment, dear boy. Our first order of business will be to find a deranged alchemist, which should not be very difficult. China," said Master Li, "is overstocked with deranged alchemists."

The story could have quickly become mired in its own mythology but Hughart took the time to anchor it in the real places and legends of Sui/Tang Dynasty China:

Chnag (zhang) Heng did build a flying machine
Artist Mei Fei is famous for his paintings of misty landscapes
Stone Bell hill is a real place where the water within the cave creates the sound of bells
Writers Tsao Hsueh and Kao Ngoh are famous for their novels
and, yes, there really is a festival on the 7th day of the 7th month and it is known as the Chinese Valentine's Day

Every time I thought "Did Barry make that up?" I went searching and discovered a link to a real person/place/event in China's history. I clapped my hands in glee like a kid opening a present.

Yes, these books get to remain on the "Give to friends who need something good to read" shelf.

Lucinda, thank you so much for sharing that information. That makes me love it a little bit more. Chinese Valentine's Day--perfect for that part of the story--perhaps even an origin story. I wondered about some of it, but I'm not well versed in Chinese history and wanted to just read through the first time.

Just finished the book - and here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A fascinating blend of myths from around the world. I don't really think it's very 'Chinese'. I think the Oriental flavor is surface deep, a style rather than a story. Although as Lucinda pointed out, there are tons of Chinese references, there is also a lot in this novel from the picaresque novels of medieval Spain and France - a chain of vignettes about the hero's travels and adventures, connected loosely by his overall goal. Definitely original for modern fantasy - but then it isn't so modern after all.
I will remember this book long after I closed it.

I loved this book! Alas, that the author gave up on fiction.

A nice combination of trickster tales, myth, history, and just plain farce. I liked the pseudo-Chinese style and the visuals that matched so many Asian paintings.

When I went to China we went on a boat down the Li River. I was astonished to see that those Chinese paintings -- you know, the vertical mountain veiled in mist, with one guy in a hat poling a tiny boat at the bottom? Exactly photographical, a precise depiction of reality. It looks precisely like that.

I finally received this book through interlibrary loan. I'm about 2/3 of the way finished. I've really been enjoying it. It seems to me to be a compilation of tales cleverly woven into a cohesive narrative. I love the aplomb of Master Li. Who doesn't have a slight flaw in their character? LOL I think I'll start introducing myself to people like this.

Lucinda, I know exactly what you mean about stopping to look up details. I've been doing the same thing. I love learning history and geography this way.

Glad to hear you are enjoying it, Kimberly. I too have a slight flaw in my character.

;)

Kimberly wrote: "I finally received this book through interlibrary loan. I'm about 2/3 of the way finished. I've really been enjoying it. It seems to me to be a compilation of tales cleverly woven into a cohesive n..."

I think that had these books been published now - during this current "Fantasy Fest" for the genre- Hughart would be one of the current "stars" and we would have been able to read the other 4 novels he had originally planned to write. *sigh* What might have been...