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Lyn's Reviews > Bridge of Birds
Bridge of Birds (The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, #1)
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by
I most definitely have more than a slight flaw in my character, and I only liked this book, did not love it.
Truth be told, it is a simply, elegantly written account of an oddly alternate history of China – describing the journey of Master Li and Number Ten Ox in dealing with a mysterious disease; and lots of other stuff.
I can absolutely see where someone (without a slight flaw in their character) would LOVE this book and want to read all of the sequels, want to take this book on dates, propose, get married and have little alternate history Chinese babies and live happily ever after.
But … you know, slight flawed character me.
Writer Hughart has used this odd vehicle to create a fabulously imagined fantasy – almost a modern fable, with simple but stylish sub plots and several loosely connected story lines that actually do get tied up nicely at the end.
Besides the grounding in Chinese history (alternatively) this just seemed untied and flapping in the wind – a fantasy that came unglued somewhere.
Still pretty good.
Truth be told, it is a simply, elegantly written account of an oddly alternate history of China – describing the journey of Master Li and Number Ten Ox in dealing with a mysterious disease; and lots of other stuff.
I can absolutely see where someone (without a slight flaw in their character) would LOVE this book and want to read all of the sequels, want to take this book on dates, propose, get married and have little alternate history Chinese babies and live happily ever after.
But … you know, slight flawed character me.
Writer Hughart has used this odd vehicle to create a fabulously imagined fantasy – almost a modern fable, with simple but stylish sub plots and several loosely connected story lines that actually do get tied up nicely at the end.
Besides the grounding in Chinese history (alternatively) this just seemed untied and flapping in the wind – a fantasy that came unglued somewhere.
Still pretty good.
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Reading Progress
December 21, 2016
– Shelved
December 21, 2016
– Shelved as:
to-read
February 18, 2017
–
Started Reading
March 1, 2017
–
Finished Reading
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I'm afraid I have to disagree with Apatt, because I think you're right. I loved this book, and the sequels. Though, perhaps not enough to "have little alternate history Chinese babies." Ugh... babies.
Thanks Apatt and Derek. Derek, I do think it's me, I thought I was really going to connect and even for a stretch, I thought I might love the book, but it kind of plateaued for me and never really recovered. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Funny, just read and reviewed this myself. So silly in a Terry Pratchett kind of way. I likened it to The Princess Bride, an epic kind of fairy tale adventure, with so many absurd, laugh out loud moments.
Thanks Jamie, that's actually a good way to think about it, wish we'd talked while I read
While I worked at a book store a customer highly recommended it to me. I honestly never even heard about it before, was out of print in Hebrew for years. Luckily, I read science fiction and fantasy books only in English :) Sounds intriguing, maybe someday I will get to it.
I can see where someone could love it
I read this about 20 years ago and the "slight flaw in his character" line has been plaguing me for days. I was meaning to search for it (couldn't remember the title) and Bam! it popped up on my Homepage feed because of your review :) Sadly my memory agrees with your summary Lyn. I recall loving the absolute socks off this book, and just as clearly remember purposely not bothering to read any of it's sequels. Have you saved me time or will curiosity win out in the end and force me to re-read it? Of course it bloody will. sigh. Too many books to read.
Thanks Ryan, yeah, I liked it, but not down for the sequels.
I loved this series - I was a bit cheesed that he stopped writing them. I read somewhere that he stopped due to a disagreement with the publisher ☹️Number 10 Ox is my all time favourite character. I read these when they first came out - haven’t been able to get them out of my head since.
If this book is aimed at flawless readers I'd feel very alienated. I think I'll avoid it like the plague :D