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T'ang Trilogy #3
The Court of the Lion: A Novel of the T'Ang Dynasty
Political conniving, passion, treason and pageantry fill the days at the Emperor's court during the T'ang dynasty. But as the Emperor loses himself in a concubines's delights, he is little aware of the brewing conspiracy that threatens his throne. Only his friend, a eunuch acting as detective, sage, matchmaker and warrior can save his empire. HC: Morrow.
920 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 1988
49 people are currently reading
335 people want to read
About the author
Eleanor Cooney
17 books17 followersEleanor Cooney is the coauthor (with Daniel Altieri) of three novels set in 7th-century China: IRON EMPRESS (formerly DECEPTION)--A Novel of Murder and Madness in T'ang China; THE COURT OF THE LION: A Novel of the T'ang Dynasty; and SHORE OF PEARLS--A novel of Murder, Plague and the Prison Island of Hainan.
Her critically-acclaimed memoir DEATH IN SLOW MOTION, My Mother's Descent Into Alzheimer's (HarperCollins), was published in 2004 to rave reviews and was translated into four languages. She's recently completed a dark-but-funny literate thriller called THE DEVIL YOU KNOW, set in Wisconsin in the present and in the 1890s. In Oct. of 2019, her true-life memoir MIDNIGHT IN SAMARRA, The True Story of WMD, Greed, and High Crimes in Iraq was published by Skyhorse, NYC.
Her work has appeared in Harper's and Mother Jones magazines. She lives in Mendocino, California.
Daughter of Mary Durant
Her critically-acclaimed memoir DEATH IN SLOW MOTION, My Mother's Descent Into Alzheimer's (HarperCollins), was published in 2004 to rave reviews and was translated into four languages. She's recently completed a dark-but-funny literate thriller called THE DEVIL YOU KNOW, set in Wisconsin in the present and in the 1890s. In Oct. of 2019, her true-life memoir MIDNIGHT IN SAMARRA, The True Story of WMD, Greed, and High Crimes in Iraq was published by Skyhorse, NYC.
Her work has appeared in Harper's and Mother Jones magazines. She lives in Mendocino, California.
Daughter of Mary Durant
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
August 27, 2013
I’m stressed. Seriously. 900 pages with tiny font? This is like 1200 pages on a normal sized font. And it’s not that I don’t like long books. I love them. I sometimes read 3 books in a row from the same series. The problem is that I think this book could (should) have been written in half the words. Or less. Because there is not that much happening here.
Negative side:
All the long extensive detailed descriptions, the long moments when characters remember something from the past or get transfixed by a flute or some stars, or something, and every single scene loses momentum to a turtle pace. So slow.
There are a lot of characters. But out of the main ones: the Emperor, the Consort, the eunuch, Yang, An and Li, at least three of those are basically passive. Because the Emperor is old and tired and don’t want to worry about ruling anymore. And the consort seems to have been one of the beauties of old China and her role falls down to be entertaining. And the eunuch is mostly the chief of eunuchs, the secretary? coordinator? his confident, his friend. But he is just there observing most of the time.
Yang, An and Li provide the action. But as I said, all told, this story at its core was pretty short.
Positive points:
I like that this is based on historical facts. These people did live. And it is very interesting to learn about a country and period that I know very little about. I don’t recommend going to wikipedia not even after 700 pages like I did lol
I like that the authors don’t insist on making us learn a trillion of unfamiliar names. They refer to many people simply as Cousin, or Poet, or Middle Sister for instance. And it feels natural. We learn the names later but there is no hurry from page one.
The book has loads of eroticism.
And some great scenes like the Poet's sadness after the death of his friend the Magistrate when he denies it and keeps bringing food for his friend.
There is a pitch of magic as well. This is China after all.
This is a tale of love, friendship, treason. Overall I’ve liked it but I’ve kept counting the pages left and that’s not a good sign for me. 3.5
Negative side:
All the long extensive detailed descriptions, the long moments when characters remember something from the past or get transfixed by a flute or some stars, or something, and every single scene loses momentum to a turtle pace. So slow.
There are a lot of characters. But out of the main ones: the Emperor, the Consort, the eunuch, Yang, An and Li, at least three of those are basically passive. Because the Emperor is old and tired and don’t want to worry about ruling anymore. And the consort seems to have been one of the beauties of old China and her role falls down to be entertaining. And the eunuch is mostly the chief of eunuchs, the secretary? coordinator? his confident, his friend. But he is just there observing most of the time.
Yang, An and Li provide the action. But as I said, all told, this story at its core was pretty short.
Positive points:
I like that this is based on historical facts. These people did live. And it is very interesting to learn about a country and period that I know very little about. I don’t recommend going to wikipedia not even after 700 pages like I did lol
I like that the authors don’t insist on making us learn a trillion of unfamiliar names. They refer to many people simply as Cousin, or Poet, or Middle Sister for instance. And it feels natural. We learn the names later but there is no hurry from page one.
The book has loads of eroticism.
And some great scenes like the Poet's sadness after the death of his friend the Magistrate when he denies it and keeps bringing food for his friend.
There is a pitch of magic as well. This is China after all.
This is a tale of love, friendship, treason. Overall I’ve liked it but I’ve kept counting the pages left and that’s not a good sign for me. 3.5
July 21, 2014
An immersive, well-researched read that often stalled in forward plot motion to dwell on things Chinese. I liked it for that. It has strong and subtle characterizations, including of An Lushan -- I used to wonder how on earth you'd write him: he is such an odd conglomeration of qualities in what biography we have. See Pulleyblank The Background Of The Rebellion Of An Lu Shan. They managed him convincingly, and let our attitudes towards him conflict and change quite often. Also the Yang sisters were not the ghastly creatures I'd have expected. I believed in and admired the eldest. The emperor Minghuang must have been difficult to do: he keeps our sympathy as a human being, although he's a 'once-great' emperor who neglects government affairs through most of this book, to disastrous result.
I felt the novel began pulpily. After that I argued to myself that Tang history is pulpy, without much help or addition. Still, from time to time I became impatient with its lack of 'high seriousness'... because it almost is. Perhaps the splashy sex is too obviously written to thrill.
I have seen people who mistrust hf on China call this an exception in the research stakes. It certainly has a lot of content.
I felt the novel began pulpily. After that I argued to myself that Tang history is pulpy, without much help or addition. Still, from time to time I became impatient with its lack of 'high seriousness'... because it almost is. Perhaps the splashy sex is too obviously written to thrill.
I have seen people who mistrust hf on China call this an exception in the research stakes. It certainly has a lot of content.
October 4, 2010
Amazingly, I managed to complete this book. Overall, I suppose it is quite a nice read. This is especially true if you share my love of historical fiction set in the Far East. The Court of the Lion is an insanely long read for a story that is a relatively simple one. It centres around the love affair between Emperor Minghuang and Consort Yang, and the political and governmental upheavals undergone by T’ang dynasty China. The time of the T’ang dynasty (often considered the “golden age” of imperial China) happens to be one of my favourite historical periods, and I’ve no doubt others have been fascinated by the romantic, but tragic figure of Yang Guifei, one of the renowned Four Great Beauties of Chinese history. The history itself is fraught with political machinations, palace intrigue, and internal power struggles all to win the emperor’s favour whilst the threat of invading barbarian hordes is ever looming on the horizon, ready to bring the empire to its knees. To top it all off is a rather tragic tale of a doomed love affair between an aging king and a beautiful palace concubine. It seems a perfect moment in history for novelisation, doesn’t it?
Being quite the stickler for historic detail and accuracy, I was very impressed at how well researched The Court of the Lion was. Considering that both Eleanor Cooney and Daniel Altieri are not from China themselves and the remarkable amount of reference to Chinese customs, nuances of language etc., that suggests to me that a lot of research went into the creation of this novel. A lot of the events in the novel come from actual recorded history, and the majority of the characters we meet were real people who existed over a thousand years ago. There’s even a little snippet of historical records, translated by various authors and Chinese historians, at the start of each chapter which serves as a nice timeline and foreshadowing of the events to come.
For the most part, the prose is strong and the chapters written so seamlessly that I couldn’t for the life of me detect any subtle differences in writing which might alert me to which author contributed his or her half to the story. The descriptions were vivid, stirring and even brutal at times. Embellishments of the little details added to the feeling of being in 8th century China, and I have to commend Cooney and Altieri for their marvellous job.
Yet despite their accuracy and wonderfully organised research, I feel the authors may have been a bit overly ambitious in their storytelling. I have already mentioned how long the novel is (900+ pages!), and it was a bit of a chore to continue reading when the story’s pace slackened here and there. My biggest complaint would have to be the way exposition was handled in The Court of the Lion, which is to say, rather clumsily. I would go so far as to even estimate ~ 35/40% of the book comprises of characters relating events that have already occurred. And as most readers will know from personal experience, having to read about what has already happened in the past can really bog down a story and kill any dramatic pace that had hitherto been building. I’m not sure if this was just because Cooney and Altieri were getting caught up in the history and the backdrop of the story, rather than the story itself. As a result reading The Court of the Lion seemed painfully slow at times.
Another problem I had early on in reading this one was the character names. A lot of them look alike, so that it’s difficult to tell one from the other early on in the story. This was one of the reasons I was discouraged from continuing on with reading when I first picked up this tome. Unfortunately, I realise this has more to do with the English rendering of Chinese names (the language being tonal and lacking an alphabetical script) than anything else, but here is where Cooney and Altieri could have been a little more creative and substituted with English nicknames instead, as appropriate (e.g. Consort Plum Blossom).
Characterisation was adequate, but it was hard to get attached to any character with the multiple person viewpoint, which not surprisingly happens to be my least favourite mode of narration. The characters of General An Lushan and Chancellor Li Linfu are the exceptions to the shallow characterisation; these figures were well developed and fully fleshed personas, in comparison to the majority of largely unremarkable characters, of which I think there were far too many and who served little purpose to the story. I agree with one of the reviews here in that The Court of the Lion lacks some depth in parts, which was surprising, because a large amount of the material and expansion on character’s thoughts and feelings were quite intense. It’s hard to describe, but maybe a single person perspective would have remedied that slight deficiency. Jumping around from one character’s head to the next can be jarring, at best, and completely perplexing at worst.
My final criticism would be directed at the novel’s length. This is particularly directed at the first part of the book which seemed to drag on interminably. It did little, other than serve as the backdrop for the meeting of Minghuang and Consort Yang - and it took about ~240 odd pages for them to even meet. It doesn't encourage one to continue reading, believe me. The book itself must weigh about a kilo, so it’s not exactly something you can bring with you when you’re on the move.
My honest thoughts on the story probably amounts to about 2.5 stars, but seeing as there are no half star marks on goodreads, I will gladly round that mark up to three stars. This is mostly because I was very impressed with how the novel was laid out and the timeline organised. The story itself though, lacked that little bit of magic I wanted to see in one of my favourite historical periods.
Being quite the stickler for historic detail and accuracy, I was very impressed at how well researched The Court of the Lion was. Considering that both Eleanor Cooney and Daniel Altieri are not from China themselves and the remarkable amount of reference to Chinese customs, nuances of language etc., that suggests to me that a lot of research went into the creation of this novel. A lot of the events in the novel come from actual recorded history, and the majority of the characters we meet were real people who existed over a thousand years ago. There’s even a little snippet of historical records, translated by various authors and Chinese historians, at the start of each chapter which serves as a nice timeline and foreshadowing of the events to come.
For the most part, the prose is strong and the chapters written so seamlessly that I couldn’t for the life of me detect any subtle differences in writing which might alert me to which author contributed his or her half to the story. The descriptions were vivid, stirring and even brutal at times. Embellishments of the little details added to the feeling of being in 8th century China, and I have to commend Cooney and Altieri for their marvellous job.
Yet despite their accuracy and wonderfully organised research, I feel the authors may have been a bit overly ambitious in their storytelling. I have already mentioned how long the novel is (900+ pages!), and it was a bit of a chore to continue reading when the story’s pace slackened here and there. My biggest complaint would have to be the way exposition was handled in The Court of the Lion, which is to say, rather clumsily. I would go so far as to even estimate ~ 35/40% of the book comprises of characters relating events that have already occurred. And as most readers will know from personal experience, having to read about what has already happened in the past can really bog down a story and kill any dramatic pace that had hitherto been building. I’m not sure if this was just because Cooney and Altieri were getting caught up in the history and the backdrop of the story, rather than the story itself. As a result reading The Court of the Lion seemed painfully slow at times.
Another problem I had early on in reading this one was the character names. A lot of them look alike, so that it’s difficult to tell one from the other early on in the story. This was one of the reasons I was discouraged from continuing on with reading when I first picked up this tome. Unfortunately, I realise this has more to do with the English rendering of Chinese names (the language being tonal and lacking an alphabetical script) than anything else, but here is where Cooney and Altieri could have been a little more creative and substituted with English nicknames instead, as appropriate (e.g. Consort Plum Blossom).
Characterisation was adequate, but it was hard to get attached to any character with the multiple person viewpoint, which not surprisingly happens to be my least favourite mode of narration. The characters of General An Lushan and Chancellor Li Linfu are the exceptions to the shallow characterisation; these figures were well developed and fully fleshed personas, in comparison to the majority of largely unremarkable characters, of which I think there were far too many and who served little purpose to the story. I agree with one of the reviews here in that The Court of the Lion lacks some depth in parts, which was surprising, because a large amount of the material and expansion on character’s thoughts and feelings were quite intense. It’s hard to describe, but maybe a single person perspective would have remedied that slight deficiency. Jumping around from one character’s head to the next can be jarring, at best, and completely perplexing at worst.
My final criticism would be directed at the novel’s length. This is particularly directed at the first part of the book which seemed to drag on interminably. It did little, other than serve as the backdrop for the meeting of Minghuang and Consort Yang - and it took about ~240 odd pages for them to even meet. It doesn't encourage one to continue reading, believe me. The book itself must weigh about a kilo, so it’s not exactly something you can bring with you when you’re on the move.
My honest thoughts on the story probably amounts to about 2.5 stars, but seeing as there are no half star marks on goodreads, I will gladly round that mark up to three stars. This is mostly because I was very impressed with how the novel was laid out and the timeline organised. The story itself though, lacked that little bit of magic I wanted to see in one of my favourite historical periods.
October 16, 2010
A historical novel with of great worth and, of all things, an exceptionally complex and, dare I say it, (mostly) likable villain.
April 19, 2011
This book is over 900 pages long and took me weeks, and many library renewals, to finish, but I couldn't stop! Fascinating characters, demonstrating that sometimes life is stranger than fiction.
April 18, 2023
A trilling adventure of mystery and intrigue built around meticulously researched history of the period. This is a historical novel of the fall of T'ang Dynasty in the 8th century CE. Focuses on intrigue and plotting, murder and the waning fortunes of the various luminaries of the period in Imperial China of the time. Absorbing, thrilling and at times strongly erotic-it captures the many faceted life of ancient China. We follow the evil machination of Lin Lin-fu the Prime Minister to the weak Emperor Minghuang, whose reign of terror is opposed by Kao Li-Shih, the Emperor's Chief Eunuch. Also playing his part in this puzzle is the ruthless and vulgar barbarian general from the north, An Lu Shi and the fascinating consourt to the Emperor, Lady Wu.
It is a captivating read and toure de force into the colourful, fascinating and sometimes violent world of 8th century Imperial China.
It is a captivating read and toure de force into the colourful, fascinating and sometimes violent world of 8th century Imperial China.
August 12, 2023
DNF. It claims to be in the tradition of James Clavell, and it's got all the right elements for a magnificent epic story - unusual (and completely authentic) characters, and a level of plotting and (equally authentic) skullduggery worthy of Game of Thrones.
Clavell is, however, a much more entertaining writer. I kept putting this book aside, and then picking up almost anything else I could find. When I did get back to it, I'd make it through a couple of dozen pages at most before setting it aside again.
Clavell is, however, a much more entertaining writer. I kept putting this book aside, and then picking up almost anything else I could find. When I did get back to it, I'd make it through a couple of dozen pages at most before setting it aside again.
November 11, 2021
Boeiend boek over de Tang dynastie in de 8ste eeuw. Het toont ons een decadent leven aan het hof van de keizer ( Minghuang, met concubines, een opper eunuch wachters, artiesten, gemengd met intriges en gruwelijkheden van generaal An Lu Shan. Het boek leek tegelijkertijd een afspiegeling te zijn van onze tijd, met eerste ministers kuiperijen, complotten, machtsmisbruik enz. Een aanrader
November 15, 2018
I didnt realize this was part of a series but it seems I picked the best of the other 2 novels. I thought this was a great book, well written....I wish the other books in this series had higher ratings but it seems they are not as well written as this story, that sucks!!
November 23, 2020
Outstanding look at 8th Century China and the convoluted politics that abound there! Action woven into the tapestry of history, with intrigue, action, war, and enough well developed characters of quality to make you want to not put this one down!
October 10, 2022
Dynasties rise and fall. Passion, ambition, greed. revenge, love, power - all rise and fall. History is a story of the rise and fall of Kingdoms, Countries, and Leaders. Life is a brief interval between birth and death. Not a happy story - but ...
June 11, 2015
Any novel about imperial China needs to be epic in scope, and this one certainly is, evoking the idea of the exotic country in a far away place...
There are, however some major failings. Spoilers below:
1) The novel takes a while to 'get going'. The first two chapters are entertaining, but after that there's a couple hundred pages where I feel like I'm reading it just to get through it - and there were a couple of times I thought about putting the book down.
2) Many times until the latter half of the novel, the action occurs off-screen.
3) There are a lot of loose threads that never get tied up. What happened to Li Lin-Fu's daughter? How, exactly, did Kao Li-Shih sacrifice his life? That's not made clear. There are more, as well.
The second half of the novel is a very entertaining read, but it's a pity that given how long it takes to get going it feels, in places, unfinished.
There are, however some major failings. Spoilers below:
1) The novel takes a while to 'get going'. The first two chapters are entertaining, but after that there's a couple hundred pages where I feel like I'm reading it just to get through it - and there were a couple of times I thought about putting the book down.
2) Many times until the latter half of the novel, the action occurs off-screen.
3) There are a lot of loose threads that never get tied up. What happened to Li Lin-Fu's daughter? How, exactly, did Kao Li-Shih sacrifice his life? That's not made clear. There are more, as well.
The second half of the novel is a very entertaining read, but it's a pity that given how long it takes to get going it feels, in places, unfinished.
December 9, 2009
This was perhaps one of the best books I have ever read...ever...very long....900-1000 pages....every one worth reading...loved it...loved it...I had borrowed it from the library...if I ever see it in a story I shall buy it...I can never remember it's name when I am in the stores thouhg...hhhmmmnnn...should order it from Borders online perhaps...if you enjoy Chinese history you wont want to miss this...GREAT READ !!!!
October 16, 2016
I love well-written epic novels about power and social change. The setting of 8th century China and the reign of Emperor Hsuan-Tsung and his many enemies illsutrate to us how fragile the T'ang hold on the throne was during those turbulent decades. There is action, intrigue and action enough for two books here, I found this novel to be an exotic and savage ride through the period of history that shaped China for centuries.
February 20, 2014
This book was loooooong. The book is very descriptive and you know what every surrounding looked like, but I couldn't identify with any of the characters and there are many of them (all with long descriptons as well). I spent almost three weeks on this book and didn't feel it was really worth the effort.
January 17, 2016
If I had more time in the world, I would finish this one - but it is over 900 pages long and in parts slow going. 8th century China in a detailed description of the Emperor and his court, his politicians, the intrigues, the outsiders and everything else. If you are interested in Chinese history, this is a good book to read.
April 21, 2010
Ah, an epic story, set in 8th century China. Has all the elements that make an epic story: a multitude of characters, intrigues, romances,... Loved this book very much, although in some aspects, it lacks depth. Overall a very enjoyable read if you want to lose yourself in a story.
December 22, 2012
Draws you right into 8th century China, and gives you quite a lifetime. Fantastic research, great story telling. Vivid with period detail everywhere, the arts, government, society, myth, science, it just has no holes.
A several times read for me.
A rare book.
JFB
A several times read for me.
A rare book.
JFB
June 13, 2010
Very brief reference to go.
January 31, 2014
a historical fiction based on the Chinese throne and the divergent and aggressive court of the Chinese king
August 27, 2012
Good Historical Fiction
February 4, 2014
fascinating look into history.
December 11, 2022
Excellent! Immerse yourself in the eighth century Tang dynasty China. Full of intrigue, deceit, love, and drama.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews