What do you think?
Rate this book
The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox #2
The Story of the Stone
From the seedy wineshops of ancient Beijing to the misty hills of rural China, Master Li and Number 10 Ox must follow a trail of death and depravity that leads right to the gates of Heaven itself. The abbot of the humble monastery in the Valley of Sorrows has called upon them to investigate the brutal killing of a monk and the theft of a seemingly inconsequential manuscript from its library. Suspicion soon lands on the infamous Laughing Prince Liu Sheng, founder of the Valley of Sorrows, whose murderous frenzies have made his name legend—but the Laughing Prince has been dead for over three millennia.
To help them on their search, Master Li and Number 10 Ox recruit two assistants: Moon Boy, a remarkably handsome (and remarkably lusty) young man who happens to be China’s greatest living expert on sound, and his beloved Grief of Dawn, a charming young prostitute who is the only person in all of China who can keep Moon Boy in line. Together the four set off in search of demons, ghosts and murderers. Yet what they find is stranger still.
Join Master Li and Number 10 Ox on a journey that will amuse, startle, frighten and amaze you—a journey to a magnificent China that never was…but should have been.
To help them on their search, Master Li and Number 10 Ox recruit two assistants: Moon Boy, a remarkably handsome (and remarkably lusty) young man who happens to be China’s greatest living expert on sound, and his beloved Grief of Dawn, a charming young prostitute who is the only person in all of China who can keep Moon Boy in line. Together the four set off in search of demons, ghosts and murderers. Yet what they find is stranger still.
Join Master Li and Number 10 Ox on a journey that will amuse, startle, frighten and amaze you—a journey to a magnificent China that never was…but should have been.
249 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1988
52 people are currently reading
2280 people want to read
About the author
Barry Hughart
7 books265 followersHughart was educated at Phillips Academy (Andover). He attended Columbia University where he obtained a bachelor's degree in 1956.
Upon his graduation from Columbia, Hughart joined the United States Air Force and served from 1956 to 1960 where he was involved in laying mines in the Korean Demilitarized Zone. During Hughart's military service he began to develop his lifelong interest in China that led him to plan a series set in "an Ancient China that never was." His connection to China continued after his military service, as he worked with TechTop, a military surplus company that was based in Asia, from 1960 to 1965.
From 1965 to 1970 Hughart was the manager of the Lenox Hill Book Shop in New York City.
Hughart lived in Tucson, Arizona until his death in 2019 at the age of 85.
Upon his graduation from Columbia, Hughart joined the United States Air Force and served from 1956 to 1960 where he was involved in laying mines in the Korean Demilitarized Zone. During Hughart's military service he began to develop his lifelong interest in China that led him to plan a series set in "an Ancient China that never was." His connection to China continued after his military service, as he worked with TechTop, a military surplus company that was based in Asia, from 1960 to 1965.
From 1965 to 1970 Hughart was the manager of the Lenox Hill Book Shop in New York City.
Hughart lived in Tucson, Arizona until his death in 2019 at the age of 85.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 233 reviews
October 26, 2020
Learning more about Asian culture in a thriller fantasy history humor hybrid.
The potential for exploring the tales of foreign cultures couldn´t be unleashed in a better way than telling vivid stories instead of boring the disinterest into people with history books. Hughart adds so much cynicism and very dark sarcasm to the mix that it might seem a bit extreme for readers of the more general humoristic or historical genre, not to speak of all the innuendos only people with a background in cultural studies might really understand, I certainly don´t.
I don´t quite get it why Hughart didn´t continue the amazing mystical heroes´ journey concept of the first part and used a more fixed crime scene setting with fewer scenes, because it reduced the potential for a similar tour de force as the first part was. Don´t get me wrong, it´s still an amazing novel and a total must read, as I couldn´t name anything similar, it´s close to an own genre, but the first one is just even more astonishing.
I would have made an amazing series with more main characters, fixed settings to quickly find oneself again in each new part, and, as I mentioned in the review of the first part, more Pratchetterism. The potential would have been there, no matter if for similar legendary footnotes or just more references and alphabetical explanations as common in the fantasy genre. It might be a market niche because, as Riordan showed with immense success, the thousands of years old and mainly forgotten old Greek, Roman, and Egypt mythology have a super huge potential for using Sandersons´ laws of magic systems to implement the classics in a present of even future setting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_an...
That would be my overkill, all the mythologies, especially the in the West completely unknown African, South American, and Asian tales and myths in a space opera setting.
A wiki walk can be as refreshing to the mind as a walk through nature in this completely overrated real life outside books:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sto...
The potential for exploring the tales of foreign cultures couldn´t be unleashed in a better way than telling vivid stories instead of boring the disinterest into people with history books. Hughart adds so much cynicism and very dark sarcasm to the mix that it might seem a bit extreme for readers of the more general humoristic or historical genre, not to speak of all the innuendos only people with a background in cultural studies might really understand, I certainly don´t.
I don´t quite get it why Hughart didn´t continue the amazing mystical heroes´ journey concept of the first part and used a more fixed crime scene setting with fewer scenes, because it reduced the potential for a similar tour de force as the first part was. Don´t get me wrong, it´s still an amazing novel and a total must read, as I couldn´t name anything similar, it´s close to an own genre, but the first one is just even more astonishing.
I would have made an amazing series with more main characters, fixed settings to quickly find oneself again in each new part, and, as I mentioned in the review of the first part, more Pratchetterism. The potential would have been there, no matter if for similar legendary footnotes or just more references and alphabetical explanations as common in the fantasy genre. It might be a market niche because, as Riordan showed with immense success, the thousands of years old and mainly forgotten old Greek, Roman, and Egypt mythology have a super huge potential for using Sandersons´ laws of magic systems to implement the classics in a present of even future setting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_an...
That would be my overkill, all the mythologies, especially the in the West completely unknown African, South American, and Asian tales and myths in a space opera setting.
A wiki walk can be as refreshing to the mind as a walk through nature in this completely overrated real life outside books:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sto...
July 10, 2019
In a review of Hell Is Empty, I noted a story told by Virgil White Buffalo, that ended with Walt Longmire asking, “‘And the moral of the story is?’
He raised an eyebrow, and it was as if the dent in his forehead was looking to dig deeper. ‘What is it with you white people and morals? Maybe it’s just a story about what happened.’”
And that is the essence of Master Li stories. They are old myths, storytelling at the knee of a master; the advanced version of What Happened that Time on the Mountain. Morals may be enforced, lessons learned, principles illustrated, but those are all secondary or even tertiary goals. First and foremost is the work of a story: to entertain.
“‘But how can I tell The Story of the Stone?’ I wailed. ‘In the first place I don’t understand where it begins and in the second place I’m not sure it has an ending and in the third place, even if I understood the ending it wouldn’t do me any good because I don’t understand the beginning in the first place.’
He gazed at me in silence. Then he said, ‘My boy, stay away from sentences like that. They tend to produce pimples and permanent facial tics.’”
I may be in the minority, but I found The Story of the Stone even better than its predecessor, Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was. While Bridge was a rollicking adventure through the countryside, Stone is a mystery, one that needs to be solved the old, old, old fashioned way–by doing all of it yourself, including the autopsies (“My boy, we’re going to perform the most delightful autopsy in history“) and dream journeys through the Hells.
It begins in their home, with Number Ten Ox worrying about Master Li, “He never spoke to me about it, but he was old, old almost beyond belief, and I think he was afraid he’d drop dead before something interesting turned up.” The ‘something interesting’ turns out to be the abbot of a monastery in the Valley of Sorrows who brings a mystery: A monk has been murdered and a forgery of an an ancient stolen manuscript found in his hands. Even worse, the Laughing Prince, who has been dead for seven hundred and fifty years, seems to be responsible. Master Li is certain there is a rational explanation, so he and Ox set off for the Valley, just in time for the Feast of the Hungry Ghosts and a re-appearance of the horror. Solving the mystery of the murdered monk will mean learning about the Laughing Prince, meeting Prince Liu Pao, his current living descendent, discovering the Laughing tomb, visiting the capital city and the Captain of Prostitutes, and journeying to a barbarian kingdom find a talented song-master. That’s not all, mind you, but I don’t want to give the impression that solving the mystery means any less of a scope of adventure than Bridge, just that the adventures are more focused.
“One-Eyed Wong and his beloved wife, Fat Fu, have worked very hard to earn the reputation of running the worse wineshop in all of China. The notoriety gives them a clientele that is the envy of the empire”
Characters are delightful, from Master Li and his slight flaw, to the eternally-innocent Ox, to two new companions, Moon Boy and Grief of Dawn. Moon Boy has the ability to seduce anyone he meets–male or female–providing the opportunity for a nudge-nudge-wink-wink that adds some silly fun to the story. In the wrong hands, this kind of characterization could edge into simple caricature, but Hughbart does a perfect job of rounding out each character, respecting their eccentricities, and providing justifications for their traits.
“If it was a coincidental collapse of a tunnel and the release of old acids, as I suggested to the prince, it’s the kind of coincidence that deserves priests, prayers, and an elaborate theology.”
The writing is clever, with bits of humor scattered through, partly due to the word-play and partly moments of sheer fun (there’s a scheme to obtain tracings of sacred stones that’s laugh-out-loud). There’s awe at the mysteries of the universe. Surprisingly, there are some horror elements, which I should have expected since the Laughing Prince has been dead for seven hundred and fifty years.
“Li Kao, you wouldn’t do that, would you? he said pleadingly. “He’s only a boy.”
“And a delightful one, so I’m told,” Master Li said warmly.
“A trifle wild, perhaps, but that’s the way of the young,” the toad said. “You have to allow for a little excess in boyish ambition.”
“Youth will be served,” Master Li said sententiously. “Sometimes after having been stuffed with truffles and basted in bean curd sauce,” he added.
These stories may not work for everyone, but I think they should work well for people that love the art of storytelling, that grew up on mythology and fairy tales, and have the patience for apparent detours that develop into the path of solution. I’m reminded of Valente’s The Orphan Tales, Goldberg’s The Princess Bride, Williams’ Inspector Chen series, and just about every myth I’ve ever read. This is an excellent group of books, and I’ll be looking to find them in hardcover for my collection.
My blog post has a link to the Monty Python sketch referenced
https://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2015/...
He raised an eyebrow, and it was as if the dent in his forehead was looking to dig deeper. ‘What is it with you white people and morals? Maybe it’s just a story about what happened.’”
And that is the essence of Master Li stories. They are old myths, storytelling at the knee of a master; the advanced version of What Happened that Time on the Mountain. Morals may be enforced, lessons learned, principles illustrated, but those are all secondary or even tertiary goals. First and foremost is the work of a story: to entertain.
“‘But how can I tell The Story of the Stone?’ I wailed. ‘In the first place I don’t understand where it begins and in the second place I’m not sure it has an ending and in the third place, even if I understood the ending it wouldn’t do me any good because I don’t understand the beginning in the first place.’
He gazed at me in silence. Then he said, ‘My boy, stay away from sentences like that. They tend to produce pimples and permanent facial tics.’”
I may be in the minority, but I found The Story of the Stone even better than its predecessor, Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was. While Bridge was a rollicking adventure through the countryside, Stone is a mystery, one that needs to be solved the old, old, old fashioned way–by doing all of it yourself, including the autopsies (“My boy, we’re going to perform the most delightful autopsy in history“) and dream journeys through the Hells.
It begins in their home, with Number Ten Ox worrying about Master Li, “He never spoke to me about it, but he was old, old almost beyond belief, and I think he was afraid he’d drop dead before something interesting turned up.” The ‘something interesting’ turns out to be the abbot of a monastery in the Valley of Sorrows who brings a mystery: A monk has been murdered and a forgery of an an ancient stolen manuscript found in his hands. Even worse, the Laughing Prince, who has been dead for seven hundred and fifty years, seems to be responsible. Master Li is certain there is a rational explanation, so he and Ox set off for the Valley, just in time for the Feast of the Hungry Ghosts and a re-appearance of the horror. Solving the mystery of the murdered monk will mean learning about the Laughing Prince, meeting Prince Liu Pao, his current living descendent, discovering the Laughing tomb, visiting the capital city and the Captain of Prostitutes, and journeying to a barbarian kingdom find a talented song-master. That’s not all, mind you, but I don’t want to give the impression that solving the mystery means any less of a scope of adventure than Bridge, just that the adventures are more focused.
“One-Eyed Wong and his beloved wife, Fat Fu, have worked very hard to earn the reputation of running the worse wineshop in all of China. The notoriety gives them a clientele that is the envy of the empire”
Characters are delightful, from Master Li and his slight flaw, to the eternally-innocent Ox, to two new companions, Moon Boy and Grief of Dawn. Moon Boy has the ability to seduce anyone he meets–male or female–providing the opportunity for a nudge-nudge-wink-wink that adds some silly fun to the story. In the wrong hands, this kind of characterization could edge into simple caricature, but Hughbart does a perfect job of rounding out each character, respecting their eccentricities, and providing justifications for their traits.
“If it was a coincidental collapse of a tunnel and the release of old acids, as I suggested to the prince, it’s the kind of coincidence that deserves priests, prayers, and an elaborate theology.”
The writing is clever, with bits of humor scattered through, partly due to the word-play and partly moments of sheer fun (there’s a scheme to obtain tracings of sacred stones that’s laugh-out-loud). There’s awe at the mysteries of the universe. Surprisingly, there are some horror elements, which I should have expected since the Laughing Prince has been dead for seven hundred and fifty years.
“Li Kao, you wouldn’t do that, would you? he said pleadingly. “He’s only a boy.”
“And a delightful one, so I’m told,” Master Li said warmly.
“A trifle wild, perhaps, but that’s the way of the young,” the toad said. “You have to allow for a little excess in boyish ambition.”
“Youth will be served,” Master Li said sententiously. “Sometimes after having been stuffed with truffles and basted in bean curd sauce,” he added.
These stories may not work for everyone, but I think they should work well for people that love the art of storytelling, that grew up on mythology and fairy tales, and have the patience for apparent detours that develop into the path of solution. I’m reminded of Valente’s The Orphan Tales, Goldberg’s The Princess Bride, Williams’ Inspector Chen series, and just about every myth I’ve ever read. This is an excellent group of books, and I’ll be looking to find them in hardcover for my collection.
My blog post has a link to the Monty Python sketch referenced
https://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2015/...
October 21, 2025
Re-read 9/29/25: See below. I don't remember what prompted re-reading it this time, but I was in the US for a couple of weeks and had just finished a less-satisfactory book, so maybe that's all it was--a desire for something good and familiar.
Re-read 3/29/23: Every time I come back to Barry Hughart's books, I find myself drawn to something different. This time, it was the amazing characterization, all the way down to the least of the individuals in the story. Moon Boy and Grief of Dawn are vibrantly drawn, and the story surrounding them is so vivid and rich I am caught up in it every time despite knowing how it ends.
Re-read 2/6/22: Has it really been ten years since I last read this? I can't believe I haven't come back to it sooner. I'll skip over my usual lament that Barry Hughart only wrote three books and the codicil about how I regret never writing a fan letter to him (the actual lament is much, much longer than the summary) and just say how impressed I am with the mystery in this book. It is a mark of Hughart's talent that he made the ending satisfying when it is, on the face of it, the stuff of tragedy. The rest of my comments remain as written below.
I do still love the journey to Hell. Yes, I know it's supposed to be a drug trip. To me, it was real.
Read 9/19/12: Darker in tone and content than Bridge of Birds, The Story of the Stone links two mysteries, both about evil, where it comes from and how it can be overcome. The title and the legend of the stone the book is centered on come from the classic 18th century novel Dream of the Red Chamber, continuing Hughart's tradition of drawing on actual Chinese history and mythology. However, the actual plot is all Hughart's invention, which means it has insane zombie princes, secret identities, a trip to Hell, and a lusty, gorgeous young man who can (and does) seduce anyone he meets, male or female.
Li Kao is in perfect form here; Ox is his usual honest and innocent self; and their new companions Grief of Dawn and Moon Boy (the aforementioned lusty young man) make excellent additions to the team. At certain points, I like this better than Bridge of Birds (blasphemy!), particularly the journey through Hell, and Li Kao's method of getting a forbidden copy of a nearly sacred writing is hilarious. One minor problem is that Ox's own record shows that this takes place almost ten years after their first adventure, and yet Ox isn't any more mature than he was as a teen. However, this doesn't spoil my enjoyment of an excellent book.
Re-read 3/29/23: Every time I come back to Barry Hughart's books, I find myself drawn to something different. This time, it was the amazing characterization, all the way down to the least of the individuals in the story. Moon Boy and Grief of Dawn are vibrantly drawn, and the story surrounding them is so vivid and rich I am caught up in it every time despite knowing how it ends.
Re-read 2/6/22: Has it really been ten years since I last read this? I can't believe I haven't come back to it sooner. I'll skip over my usual lament that Barry Hughart only wrote three books and the codicil about how I regret never writing a fan letter to him (the actual lament is much, much longer than the summary) and just say how impressed I am with the mystery in this book. It is a mark of Hughart's talent that he made the ending satisfying when it is, on the face of it, the stuff of tragedy. The rest of my comments remain as written below.
I do still love the journey to Hell. Yes, I know it's supposed to be a drug trip. To me, it was real.
Read 9/19/12: Darker in tone and content than Bridge of Birds, The Story of the Stone links two mysteries, both about evil, where it comes from and how it can be overcome. The title and the legend of the stone the book is centered on come from the classic 18th century novel Dream of the Red Chamber, continuing Hughart's tradition of drawing on actual Chinese history and mythology. However, the actual plot is all Hughart's invention, which means it has insane zombie princes, secret identities, a trip to Hell, and a lusty, gorgeous young man who can (and does) seduce anyone he meets, male or female.
Li Kao is in perfect form here; Ox is his usual honest and innocent self; and their new companions Grief of Dawn and Moon Boy (the aforementioned lusty young man) make excellent additions to the team. At certain points, I like this better than Bridge of Birds (blasphemy!), particularly the journey through Hell, and Li Kao's method of getting a forbidden copy of a nearly sacred writing is hilarious. One minor problem is that Ox's own record shows that this takes place almost ten years after their first adventure, and yet Ox isn't any more mature than he was as a teen. However, this doesn't spoil my enjoyment of an excellent book.
June 19, 2020
"Ox," he said, "the writing of your memoirs is doing wonders for your calligraphy, but I must question the content. Why do you choose the rare cases in which matters run melodramatically amok?" I heroically refrained from saying, "They always do."
Master Li and Number Ten Ox are at it again.
There's an unexplained murder, puzzling fragment of a poorly-finished forgery, and nature herself is leaving clues behind with whole swathes of plants dying in a strange pattern.
"I wasn't sure that any autopsy could be delightful, but I didn't care. The old fire had returned to Master Li's eyes, and I felt like a warhorse who was being called back into battle."
In the course of solving the mystery, Li and Ox encounter ghosts, hidden torture chambers, and make a journey down to the depths of hell. It is one of the finest homages to Dante's Inferno that I've ever had the pleasure to read.
"Ox, what do you smell in the air?" he asked. "Wet earth, pine needles, pork fat, donkey manure, and perfume from Mother Ho's House of Joy," I said. "Wrong. You smell destiny," Master Li said happily.
And, as usual, readers get to enjoy the sometimes hilarious, and always entertaining, interplay between a brilliant scholar and his surprisingly strong sidekick.
Recommended for readers who enjoy a blend of fantasy, mystery and historical fiction.
Master Li and Number Ten Ox are at it again.
There's an unexplained murder, puzzling fragment of a poorly-finished forgery, and nature herself is leaving clues behind with whole swathes of plants dying in a strange pattern.
"I wasn't sure that any autopsy could be delightful, but I didn't care. The old fire had returned to Master Li's eyes, and I felt like a warhorse who was being called back into battle."
In the course of solving the mystery, Li and Ox encounter ghosts, hidden torture chambers, and make a journey down to the depths of hell. It is one of the finest homages to Dante's Inferno that I've ever had the pleasure to read.
"Ox, what do you smell in the air?" he asked. "Wet earth, pine needles, pork fat, donkey manure, and perfume from Mother Ho's House of Joy," I said. "Wrong. You smell destiny," Master Li said happily.
And, as usual, readers get to enjoy the sometimes hilarious, and always entertaining, interplay between a brilliant scholar and his surprisingly strong sidekick.
Recommended for readers who enjoy a blend of fantasy, mystery and historical fiction.
August 15, 2019
This is a wonderfully rich, imaginative fantasy mystery/adventure told as a sort of epic fairy tale in ancient China. The setting is magical, and the plot quite compelling and filled with all kinds of mystical nooks and crannies, however this didn't stack up quite as well for me as the author's previously published Bridge of Birds. The story is quite dialogue heavy, and it just felt kind of flat and lacking in any real nuance or depth to me, as did much of the humor. I enjoyed Bridge of Birds more, and by comparison it felt more polished.
October 3, 2024
Muy entretenida, mantiene el ritmo y dinamismo del primer libro, ahora en una historia de menor alcance pero más oscura, de túneles, demonios y recovecos. La pareja protagonista se vuelve a robar la película, en especial el maestro Li Kao, cuyos diálogos mordaces son el contrapunto ideal a la narración inocentona del Buey.
Todo el entramado de esta China fantástica es fascinante, de nombres musicales y a veces enredados, que obligan a volver páginas atrás y bucear en un sinfín de datos históricos inventados, con destellos de realidad, esbozando soluciones a problemas que al final, aunque no lo parezca, tienen explicación.
Novela de detectives en una China fantástica, de aventuras sin pausa ni aburrimiento. Seguro voy por el tercero.
Todo el entramado de esta China fantástica es fascinante, de nombres musicales y a veces enredados, que obligan a volver páginas atrás y bucear en un sinfín de datos históricos inventados, con destellos de realidad, esbozando soluciones a problemas que al final, aunque no lo parezca, tienen explicación.
Novela de detectives en una China fantástica, de aventuras sin pausa ni aburrimiento. Seguro voy por el tercero.
February 1, 2015
Ah. Another adventure down with the eccentric Master Li, a genuis but with a slight flaw in his character and his former client now accomplice Number Ten Ox,as they set forth to solve a murder that seems to have been committed by a prince who has been dead for over seven hundred years!
What seems like a supernatural story, which could be laughing ridiculously at the intellect of the reader for believing the premise, ends up being nothing short of a Conan Doyle masterpiece or a Agatha Christie gem. Barry Hughart, no doubt, is a brilliant writer who knows how to glue together a story using the right ingredients to create a tale, so engrossing that you wish for it to be true. (I did). Its just too sad that he didn't get the necessary support that would have otherwise garnered him a reputation much more glorious than what it is now.
But I must admit, Story of the Stone is not as refreshingly awesome as Bridge of Birds, the predecessor to this one. While that had a host of marvellous characters and loads of ancient tales, this book is more to the point like an answer in a examination.
What seems like a supernatural story, which could be laughing ridiculously at the intellect of the reader for believing the premise, ends up being nothing short of a Conan Doyle masterpiece or a Agatha Christie gem. Barry Hughart, no doubt, is a brilliant writer who knows how to glue together a story using the right ingredients to create a tale, so engrossing that you wish for it to be true. (I did). Its just too sad that he didn't get the necessary support that would have otherwise garnered him a reputation much more glorious than what it is now.
But I must admit, Story of the Stone is not as refreshingly awesome as Bridge of Birds, the predecessor to this one. While that had a host of marvellous characters and loads of ancient tales, this book is more to the point like an answer in a examination.
September 4, 2021
Someone summarized this as "an oriental Holmes and Watson plunked down in an Indiana Jones movie". I'm happy with this description and could already stop there. Ancient sage and scholar "with a slight flaw in his character" Master Li would be the Holmes, and his previous client, now assistant, strong peasant Number Ten Ox, who also narrates the story, would be Watson.
"I wasn't sure that any autopsy could be delightful, but I didn't care. The old fire had returned to Master Li's eyes, and I felt like a warhorse who was being called back into battle."
Both investigate a mystery of a killed monk and a stolen manuscript from his library in old China. They live in a "China that never was", surrounded by partly invented Chinese gods, would-be gods, ghouls, ghosts, witches, and similar mythological creatures. This time, they even navigate through the several layers of hell, presenting a lovely homage to Dante's Inferno.
They sometimes have to adapt to imperial court rules, but more often are up to their own in the country side, jumping from one action heavy adventure to the next torture chamber just like Indiana Jones would do. Just like that famous movie series, it doesn't take itself serious at all, throwing wildly comical scenes around.
One-Eyed Wong and his beloved wife, Fat Fu, have worked very hard to earn the reputation of running the worse wineshop in all of China. The notoriety gives them a clientele that is the envy of the empire.
Many readers won't have heard about this author or book: Barry Hughart only wrote three novels, all of them between 1984 and 1991. This novel's predecessor is Bridge of Stones which won the World Fantasy Award and the Mythopoeic Award for best fantasy. In fact, that first book was even better than this one, and I beg you to read it first. Sadly, I have no review up for it on this blog.
Hughart escapes strict genre categorizations, but stays formulaic in his storytelling expertise, meeting reader expectations while drawing the reading ever more into the bizarre, twisting plot. He weaves an incredible amount of cultural details in such a short novel.
Please, don't miss this mesmerizing, brilliantly narrated classic!
"I wasn't sure that any autopsy could be delightful, but I didn't care. The old fire had returned to Master Li's eyes, and I felt like a warhorse who was being called back into battle."
Both investigate a mystery of a killed monk and a stolen manuscript from his library in old China. They live in a "China that never was", surrounded by partly invented Chinese gods, would-be gods, ghouls, ghosts, witches, and similar mythological creatures. This time, they even navigate through the several layers of hell, presenting a lovely homage to Dante's Inferno.
They sometimes have to adapt to imperial court rules, but more often are up to their own in the country side, jumping from one action heavy adventure to the next torture chamber just like Indiana Jones would do. Just like that famous movie series, it doesn't take itself serious at all, throwing wildly comical scenes around.
One-Eyed Wong and his beloved wife, Fat Fu, have worked very hard to earn the reputation of running the worse wineshop in all of China. The notoriety gives them a clientele that is the envy of the empire.
Many readers won't have heard about this author or book: Barry Hughart only wrote three novels, all of them between 1984 and 1991. This novel's predecessor is Bridge of Stones which won the World Fantasy Award and the Mythopoeic Award for best fantasy. In fact, that first book was even better than this one, and I beg you to read it first. Sadly, I have no review up for it on this blog.
Hughart escapes strict genre categorizations, but stays formulaic in his storytelling expertise, meeting reader expectations while drawing the reading ever more into the bizarre, twisting plot. He weaves an incredible amount of cultural details in such a short novel.
Please, don't miss this mesmerizing, brilliantly narrated classic!
December 15, 2009
I hate to do this, I really do. I loved Bridge of Birds A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was but I just can't get into this one. I'm reading an ebook and am 72% done and just don't care what happens. I've been trying to finish this book for a month now and just can't force myself to sit down and read.
I've learned that I need character growth and development instead of just a story. I was hoping to learn more about Number 10 Ox & Master Li in this book but while they are the main characters you learn nothing more about them, their relationship, their past - NOTHING. It's a story for a stories sake and. I guess I've learned the difference in character driven & plot driven novels. I like character driven.
There is so much mythology and history without the story behind it that I did't understand the significance of events until it is spelled out in it's entirety later on. Even then it holds no significance TO ME. For example:
*** SLIGHT SPOILERS but I'm really not sure how much of a spoiler since I didn't finish :) ***
Grief of Dawn hallucenates about a trip to the market. Master Li questions her about it and gets more and more details but the reader has NO IDEA why. It wasn't until much later in the book that Master Li explains that her hallucenated trip to the market couldn't have taken place any sooner than 700+ years ago and that she was accurate enough in her descriptions of the people and time that she must have lived a life back then and is having memories from her previous life surface. An annoying aspect of this revelation is that in the explination THE ENTIRE conversation/hallucenation is repeated word for word. It wasn't much after two completely repeated converstations that I had to put the book down.
I've learned that I need character growth and development instead of just a story. I was hoping to learn more about Number 10 Ox & Master Li in this book but while they are the main characters you learn nothing more about them, their relationship, their past - NOTHING. It's a story for a stories sake and. I guess I've learned the difference in character driven & plot driven novels. I like character driven.
There is so much mythology and history without the story behind it that I did't understand the significance of events until it is spelled out in it's entirety later on. Even then it holds no significance TO ME. For example:
*** SLIGHT SPOILERS but I'm really not sure how much of a spoiler since I didn't finish :) ***
Grief of Dawn hallucenates about a trip to the market. Master Li questions her about it and gets more and more details but the reader has NO IDEA why. It wasn't until much later in the book that Master Li explains that her hallucenated trip to the market couldn't have taken place any sooner than 700+ years ago and that she was accurate enough in her descriptions of the people and time that she must have lived a life back then and is having memories from her previous life surface. An annoying aspect of this revelation is that in the explination THE ENTIRE conversation/hallucenation is repeated word for word. It wasn't much after two completely repeated converstations that I had to put the book down.
December 22, 2013
what a great book. If you are looking for something with a smidgin of humor; a taste of the supernatural and a boatload of mystery, read Barry Hughart's books. Although I was unable to get my hands on a copy of the first book - Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was - but if it is anything like the second I'd recommend it right away.
November 28, 2015
Following the inky trail begun in Bridge of Birds Hughart has given us the second of three absolutely glorious books; books so good he stopped writing The Chronicles after finishing the third, having accomplished what he set out to do.
Poignant, outright bawdy, delicate, ferocious, tearful, confusing, terrifying and triumphant, The Story of the Stone is a helluva read, and the Hell reference is literal: the Hell of Chinese culture is a fascinating place and we get to meet it here. I never knew the Great Wheel of Transformations assigns some souls to be demons and their demon-ness is simply another manifestation of the great cycle of reincarnations and nothing at all Mephistofelian. Quite comforting, given all the modern paranormal takes on things demonic.
Hughart's writing seems as effortless as a leaf in a stream, moving us from rollicking peasant feasts in one paragraph:
to the transcendent grace of little girls in the very next:
Hughart casually drops divinely beautiful prose throughout this enormously complicated, sometimes underground maze of a plot he's created from legend and fairy tale and hard-telling-what-else. I have the feeling he's remembered everything he's ever read, and he's clearly read quite a lot: I never expected the tale of Gilgamesh to make an appearance but the Ancient Hunter is quietly, epically present.
Stone has some terrifically funny outright bawdiness and also one of the most poignant prayers I've ever encountered:
I read this the day after puerile psychopaths, pretending to one another that they were holy 'men,' ambush-murdered 130 unsuspecting, unarmed, innocent human beings in Paris on 13-Nov-2015. I found Hughart's writing, ostensibly about ancient Chinese culture, to be agonizingly applicable to modern times and cultures as well:
The wisdom of Master Li is timeless and universal.
Poignant, outright bawdy, delicate, ferocious, tearful, confusing, terrifying and triumphant, The Story of the Stone is a helluva read, and the Hell reference is literal: the Hell of Chinese culture is a fascinating place and we get to meet it here. I never knew the Great Wheel of Transformations assigns some souls to be demons and their demon-ness is simply another manifestation of the great cycle of reincarnations and nothing at all Mephistofelian. Quite comforting, given all the modern paranormal takes on things demonic.
Hughart's writing seems as effortless as a leaf in a stream, moving us from rollicking peasant feasts in one paragraph:
"The dancing started, which meant the fights would start shortly and I was very disappointed when Master Li decided to slip away and walk through the hills in the moonlight."
to the transcendent grace of little girls in the very next:
"Little girls have large maternal instincts, and they take the Feast of Hungry Ghosts very seriously, and they were making their rounds with small lanterns made from candles inside rolled lotus and sage leaves. I could feel ghosts all around us, moving toward the warmth of the sweet singing voices: You are not alone, the girls sang, you are not forgotten, we care and understand, our own lives are but a candle flame from yours"
Hughart casually drops divinely beautiful prose throughout this enormously complicated, sometimes underground maze of a plot he's created from legend and fairy tale and hard-telling-what-else. I have the feeling he's remembered everything he's ever read, and he's clearly read quite a lot: I never expected the tale of Gilgamesh to make an appearance but the Ancient Hunter is quietly, epically present.
Stone has some terrifically funny outright bawdiness and also one of the most poignant prayers I've ever encountered:
"Goddess, the world of men is a world of incomprehension … Our senses are woefully limited. Our brains are but tiny candles flickering in an infinity of darkness. Our only wisdom is to admit that we cannot understand, and since we cannot understand we must do the best we can with faith, which is our only talent. The greatest act of faith we are capable of is that of loving another more than we love ourselves, and occasionally we can be quite good at it."
I read this the day after puerile psychopaths, pretending to one another that they were holy 'men,' ambush-murdered 130 unsuspecting, unarmed, innocent human beings in Paris on 13-Nov-2015. I found Hughart's writing, ostensibly about ancient Chinese culture, to be agonizingly applicable to modern times and cultures as well:
"Show me a quest for personal immortality and I'll show you a path through a slaughterhouse, and the incense of personal divinity is the stench of other people's corpses."
The wisdom of Master Li is timeless and universal.
December 27, 2012
Barry Hughart's great trick is to make me think I'm reading a convoluted story based on an intricate plot and lovably irredeemable characters, and in the last few pages I realize I'm reading a poignant, beautiful myth that relates both the best and worst of human nature. Hughart relies on good-natured humor to great effect; "The Story of the Stone" has many humorous elements but is never slapstick. Master Li and Number Ten Ox continue to delight, with witty banter and a good deal of heart.
While I like "Bridge of Birds" better, largely due to its splendid rogues' gallery of characters, that's a bit like saying that I like the Enzo Ferrari a little better than the 458 Italia--both are a damn sight better than most other things out there.
I'm also a bit mystified by the number of reviewers who have painstakingly cataloged Hughart's historical inaccuracies; it's rather silly to expect historical accuracy from Hughart's "ancient China that never was."
While I like "Bridge of Birds" better, largely due to its splendid rogues' gallery of characters, that's a bit like saying that I like the Enzo Ferrari a little better than the 458 Italia--both are a damn sight better than most other things out there.
I'm also a bit mystified by the number of reviewers who have painstakingly cataloged Hughart's historical inaccuracies; it's rather silly to expect historical accuracy from Hughart's "ancient China that never was."
November 3, 2014
Crazy, weird and very, very fun! It's not the kind of mystery story that gives you enough clues to figure out what's gonna happen, though by the last few chapters it becomes obvious who one of the instigators is. All in all it's a good light read.
November 1, 2015
"Класическите истини все още са валидни, класическите ценности все още определят рамките на нашето поведение, а класическите стандарти все още предпазват света от разпадане." Как може да се пишат толкова уникално добри книги?
Read
September 13, 2019Imagine Holmes and Watson, except instead of just being cerebral and brusque, Holmes is a tiny old man who actively delights in being a drunken, cantankerous bastard. And Watson, rather than simply being a bit handy, is essentially a tank in human form, who when speed is necessary will literally carry the brains of the operation – though for all that he's clearly the brawn, he's still considerably better at learning and applying his master's methods than Doyle's version ever was. Oh, and their cases don't just skirt the uncanny, but will sometimes see them literally pursuing a hunch through the various levels of Hell. That's Master Li and Number Ten Ox. Their creator, Barry Hughart, died last month, unremarked even by Ansible until a whole month later, but then he hadn't published in nearly three decades, pissed off by publishers and convinced that in any case his work might not justify the seven volumes he'd initially planned. The first book won a couple of fantasy awards, which was probably the high-water mark of his reputation; this is the second, with one more after it. But back then he felt fantasy wasn't quite the right market for him, and now, though the historical-whimsical mode with uncanny interruptions might be more widely accepted, there's probably less of an appetite for books about "an ancient China that never was" written by a white guy from Peoria. It should be noted, though, that this imagined China isn't some lazy grab-bag of stuff that seems vaguely relevant, like when Hollywood tries to do mediaeval Europe (ah, Ironclad); it's "a modern version of a classical form of Chinese novel, which was an underground Taoist form designed to fight back against Confucians. Confucians liked to castrate people who fought the establishment. Without mentioning names, the Taoists could use real emperors and real power structure in a fantasy form". In other words, he knew his stuff, for whatever that's worth, rather than engaging in cheap exoticism. Indeed, when it comes to murder mysteries set around a monastery and an impossible, deadly manuscript, I'd take this over The Name of the Rose any day. Though that's only the initial setting, because to solve the first puzzle Master Li needs to call in a favour, which in turn leads to a side-quest, which then presents its own challenges, and so on – exactly the sort of plot structure which can often become infuriating, but here carried off with such elan to the carefully orchestrated chaos that one could gladly have twice as many digressions. Or at least, that was my response, but I like that sort of audacious high-wire act in a plot, just as I like the deeply arch humour where many of the jokes are left largely implicit, while being able to see that it was never likely to win a mass audience. Indeed, even the jokes which would once have been the crowd-pleasers are likely less so now, not least the ones regarding a supporting character who, while exceptionally talented in other fields, is also an insatiable and incorrigible pederast. But just when you think that might be getting a bit too retrogressive, suddenly all the main players are happily contemplating the prospect of a polyandrous relationship, which I imagine would have been equally 'Whuh?' to its original readers. Not a book I can recommend without reservations, then; definitely one I thoroughly enjoyed - but, as Master Li always says when introducing himself, there is a slight flaw in my character.
January 14, 2021
4.5 stars, rounded up.
Some years after their first case together, Master Li (a sage with a slight flaw in his character) has now taken on his former client, Number Ten Ox, as an assistant. Master Li has had no crimes to solve for almost a month so is delighted when the abbot of a nearby monastery arrives and begs his help to solve a crime involving a forgery, the murder of one of the monks and the apparent reappearance of the Laughing Prince, an extremely villainous member of the royal family who died 750 years ago.
This is a re-read of a book I originally came across many years ago; I think it was the first of the Master Li & Number Ten Ox books I read (shortly after receiving my adult library card I believe), and it engrossed me enough that I now have a complete set of the trilogy on my own shelves (sadly the author never wrote anything else). The mix of adventure, mystery and humour is perfectly balanced to appeal to me personally, but may not appeal to everyone.
Our narrator, Ox, is a stolid peasant notable only for his remarkable strength but Master Li, venerable and as crafty as a whole earth full of foxes is the real star; his observations and machinations drive the plot.
It would honestly be impossible for me to write a full review of this book; whether it's still in print or not I honestly don't know, but my brief research suggests it isn't available either as an audio or ebook. If you find a copy in a second hand shop, my advice is to read through the first few pages and see if they grab you or not.
Some years after their first case together, Master Li (a sage with a slight flaw in his character) has now taken on his former client, Number Ten Ox, as an assistant. Master Li has had no crimes to solve for almost a month so is delighted when the abbot of a nearby monastery arrives and begs his help to solve a crime involving a forgery, the murder of one of the monks and the apparent reappearance of the Laughing Prince, an extremely villainous member of the royal family who died 750 years ago.
This is a re-read of a book I originally came across many years ago; I think it was the first of the Master Li & Number Ten Ox books I read (shortly after receiving my adult library card I believe), and it engrossed me enough that I now have a complete set of the trilogy on my own shelves (sadly the author never wrote anything else). The mix of adventure, mystery and humour is perfectly balanced to appeal to me personally, but may not appeal to everyone.
Our narrator, Ox, is a stolid peasant notable only for his remarkable strength but Master Li, venerable and as crafty as a whole earth full of foxes is the real star; his observations and machinations drive the plot.
It would honestly be impossible for me to write a full review of this book; whether it's still in print or not I honestly don't know, but my brief research suggests it isn't available either as an audio or ebook. If you find a copy in a second hand shop, my advice is to read through the first few pages and see if they grab you or not.
November 18, 2018
Master Li is happily drinking wine in the worst wine shop in China, but when the abbot of a monastery appears with a scrap of forged (well, it has to be forged, doesn't it?) manuscript, he and Number Ten Ox, his apprentice, are off on their journeys. Only a very junior prostitute can control the master of sound that they need, so she comes along with them. It seems that the Laughing Prince has once more been terrorizing the valley he used to rule--that's before he died seven centuries ago--and while he laughs, everyone else trembles in fear and horror. Li and Ten Ox must go deep into hell looking for clues, but even that will not stop them.
December 20, 2020
Una segunda entrega tan divertida como la primera y de lectura totalmente independiente. Muy recomendable por el fino sentido del humor, la exagerada inspiración china (no se me ocurre otra forma de describirlo) y por el increíble ingenio del maestro Li, que siempre sorprende con sus tretas. Para disfrutar en un par de sentadas.
May 4, 2025
This was a great stand alone but if you read bridge of birds, it felt like Barry Hughart was was doing the same thing only not as good
November 18, 2020
Master Li and Number Ten Ox have great adventures. This is another one. Very quotable book. Entertaining and is a good whodunnit.
February 27, 2023
The real problem with any truly special story is that doing it again is difficult. Especially if you take the same characters and find a new story for them to fit into as well as they did the first. This a large part of the heart of "sequelitis". I'd been warned that The Story of the Stone suffered from it.
Not so much. It is not as good as the original Bridge of Birds, but it is close, and a lot of what makes the original work is here. Overall, I'd say the plot here is more of a mess, which is where the book tends to fall short. But what makes Hugart's writing work is his simultaneously a sympathetic deep-dive into Chinese myth, folklore, and history, and a satire of the same. There's little details scattered all over, and I have to wonder how much is made up whole-cloth, and how much traces at least the seed of the idea to some actual folklore. Some of it is obviously based on real myths and tales, which makes me wonder about parts that seem to be there because of story demands.
But what makes all that work, and is carried over from the first book is an honest sense of wonder and joy in telling a tale. In Hugart's hands even some thoroughly nasty people contribute to some very fun scenes. Really, that's what these books are about, a bit of fun, a bit of whimsy. Anyone to takes Master Li seriously deserves to.
As would be expected from the first book, we go on the road again, and make quick visits to several locales. But the Valley of Sorrows dominates the book, as this time Li and Number Ten Ox are off to solve a mystery. As with anything Master Li touches, it turns out to be more than it first appears, and like any good classic mystery it is obvious from the start that something truly odd is going on, even if it does have a perfectly reasonable explanation.
In short, I'm sorry have taken so long to get around to continuing to read about these two mis-matched partners. It stands alone perfectly well, and you can easily start here. I recommend starting with Bridge of Birds anyway, because I found the conclusion to that book to really get into the sense of wonder I mentioned, and this one nearly matches it in several points, but never quite gets there.
Not so much. It is not as good as the original Bridge of Birds, but it is close, and a lot of what makes the original work is here. Overall, I'd say the plot here is more of a mess, which is where the book tends to fall short. But what makes Hugart's writing work is his simultaneously a sympathetic deep-dive into Chinese myth, folklore, and history, and a satire of the same. There's little details scattered all over, and I have to wonder how much is made up whole-cloth, and how much traces at least the seed of the idea to some actual folklore. Some of it is obviously based on real myths and tales, which makes me wonder about parts that seem to be there because of story demands.
But what makes all that work, and is carried over from the first book is an honest sense of wonder and joy in telling a tale. In Hugart's hands even some thoroughly nasty people contribute to some very fun scenes. Really, that's what these books are about, a bit of fun, a bit of whimsy. Anyone to takes Master Li seriously deserves to.
As would be expected from the first book, we go on the road again, and make quick visits to several locales. But the Valley of Sorrows dominates the book, as this time Li and Number Ten Ox are off to solve a mystery. As with anything Master Li touches, it turns out to be more than it first appears, and like any good classic mystery it is obvious from the start that something truly odd is going on, even if it does have a perfectly reasonable explanation.
In short, I'm sorry have taken so long to get around to continuing to read about these two mis-matched partners. It stands alone perfectly well, and you can easily start here. I recommend starting with Bridge of Birds anyway, because I found the conclusion to that book to really get into the sense of wonder I mentioned, and this one nearly matches it in several points, but never quite gets there.
February 23, 2009
In this book Barry Hughart continues the exploration of Chinese history and myth that he started in Bridge of Birds. Unlike that first book, the Story of the Stone is more concerned with the myths and the philosophy, and is less humorous and good natured.
It is still a pleasant read, even if it tries to be a bit didactic at times, and the two recurring characters are as lovable as ever, if a bit more bloodthirsty.
Recommended for those who like their myths with a different taste.
It is still a pleasant read, even if it tries to be a bit didactic at times, and the two recurring characters are as lovable as ever, if a bit more bloodthirsty.
Recommended for those who like their myths with a different taste.
February 1, 2014
The Story of the Stone is a far more complex novel than Bridge of Birds and is all the better for it. I read this a couple of times as a teen, but always preferred Bridge of Birds. On rereading for the first time in probably 20 years or so, the complexity of the story is what makes this a winner. The characters of Master Li and Number Ten Ox are far more complex, and their travelling companions are also well drawn.
For me, the best bit of the story is the journey through hell (facilitated by magic mushrooms). Shows that with the right attitude, one can travel far!
For me, the best bit of the story is the journey through hell (facilitated by magic mushrooms). Shows that with the right attitude, one can travel far!
February 27, 2014
I really like these books and wish there were more than 3. They contain the charming tone of an old Chinese fairytale, but with a biting sense of humor and their own wisdom. This one concerns a stone that was part of the wall beween heaven and the world and it is flawed. This flawed stone has come to earth as a temptation to ambitious people. There is, of course, the complicated and mythically allegorical back story which old Master Li (surname Li, personal name Kao, with a flaw in my character) must unravel. Highly entertaining.
January 17, 2025
Another excellent book! I'm 2/3 through the series and so sad that I'm already past the halfway point. Barry Hughart manages to create complex, really funny, enjoyable characters in a fairly short amount of time, and his plots always have interesting twists. I'm totally hooked!
The adventure felt more cohesive in this book, although I think I was left with more questions in the end. Regardless, I can't wait to read the 3rd and final installment!
The adventure felt more cohesive in this book, although I think I was left with more questions in the end. Regardless, I can't wait to read the 3rd and final installment!
August 1, 2025
I love Master Li and Number Ten Ox with all of my heart.
An anciently old drunk hopping onto the back of a large, soft-hearted young man, slipping his fit into the boy's pockets, and riding piggyback as they solve folkloric mysteries across China? This is for me.
Master Li is an excellent character. Some people compare the two of them to Sherlock Holmes and Watson, and certainly their "opposing pairs" archetypes fit that. It even seems like Master Li is Holmesian in how his vices crop up when he's idle. But Master Li is much more fascinating. Instead of having a purist interest in puzzles like Holmes, or some infallible search for Truth and Justice like many other great archetypes, Master Li is, oddly, a bit more noir. His wants are capricious. He's just as likely to seek out the end of a mission for political reasons, or revenge, or petty self-interest. Like many old dudes before him, he's just doing what he wants and stubbornly justifying it.
Number Ten Ox is a perfect blend of meathead and wise innocent. He's the perspective of the uneducated, the simple, but not unseeing. As a peasant, he's often fine just being put to work. But when he observes something, he tends to see it for what it really is. The peacocking of aristocrats and scholars looks foolish to him when those people are being fraudulent, but impressive to him when there is a true impressiveness to behold. He has no cynicism. It's a great foil to Master Li, who is intelligent and well-connected enough to mingle with Emperors and Kings, but prefers to get drunk in a shack with Number Ten Ox.
The Story of the Stone itself is more indulgent than Bridge of Birds. It takes quite a bit more from ancient China and Chinese myths than it really needs to. I'm not sure if that's homage or heartfelt embracing, but it feels a bit like obligation.
When everything gets truly wrapped up, it wraps up cleanly, in Western style. All of the mysterious Eastern-style adventures turn out to be meticulous setups for one final payoff. That's both brilliant and a little underwhelming. Every innocuous supernatural detail comes back into play by the end, and retroactively sucks a little of the awe from them. It's almost an appropriate analogy for Western and Eastern culture in general: we have to tie up loose ends, no matter what magic is lost in the process.
I put off reading this book for years. Bridge of Birds is still one of my favorite fantasies, and knowing that Hughart only wrote three stories is sad. Sad! After a decade, I finally found the heart to read story number two. Although not as amazing as the first, it's still wonderful. There's one story left. I'll save it for later in life, for another sweet and simple surprise. You can't rush these things.
An anciently old drunk hopping onto the back of a large, soft-hearted young man, slipping his fit into the boy's pockets, and riding piggyback as they solve folkloric mysteries across China? This is for me.
Master Li is an excellent character. Some people compare the two of them to Sherlock Holmes and Watson, and certainly their "opposing pairs" archetypes fit that. It even seems like Master Li is Holmesian in how his vices crop up when he's idle. But Master Li is much more fascinating. Instead of having a purist interest in puzzles like Holmes, or some infallible search for Truth and Justice like many other great archetypes, Master Li is, oddly, a bit more noir. His wants are capricious. He's just as likely to seek out the end of a mission for political reasons, or revenge, or petty self-interest. Like many old dudes before him, he's just doing what he wants and stubbornly justifying it.
Number Ten Ox is a perfect blend of meathead and wise innocent. He's the perspective of the uneducated, the simple, but not unseeing. As a peasant, he's often fine just being put to work. But when he observes something, he tends to see it for what it really is. The peacocking of aristocrats and scholars looks foolish to him when those people are being fraudulent, but impressive to him when there is a true impressiveness to behold. He has no cynicism. It's a great foil to Master Li, who is intelligent and well-connected enough to mingle with Emperors and Kings, but prefers to get drunk in a shack with Number Ten Ox.
The Story of the Stone itself is more indulgent than Bridge of Birds. It takes quite a bit more from ancient China and Chinese myths than it really needs to. I'm not sure if that's homage or heartfelt embracing, but it feels a bit like obligation.
When everything gets truly wrapped up, it wraps up cleanly, in Western style. All of the mysterious Eastern-style adventures turn out to be meticulous setups for one final payoff. That's both brilliant and a little underwhelming. Every innocuous supernatural detail comes back into play by the end, and retroactively sucks a little of the awe from them. It's almost an appropriate analogy for Western and Eastern culture in general: we have to tie up loose ends, no matter what magic is lost in the process.
I put off reading this book for years. Bridge of Birds is still one of my favorite fantasies, and knowing that Hughart only wrote three stories is sad. Sad! After a decade, I finally found the heart to read story number two. Although not as amazing as the first, it's still wonderful. There's one story left. I'll save it for later in life, for another sweet and simple surprise. You can't rush these things.
April 7, 2012
I like to think of myself as "pragmatic," and those friends of mine who have known me longest tend to agree. When I say I'm pragmatic, I tend to mean that I like to see the silver lining in every cloud, but I'm not blind to the fact that there is still a cloud, and so I prepare for rain. I prefer walking this middle line between out-and-out optimism and out-and-out negativity, because I know the benefits of seeing both sides of the same coin. In the general living of my life, I walk that middle road.
My attitude tends to change when it comes to the books I read. In that regard, I'm definitely an optimist. When I read the first book in a series and really, really like it, I tend to bring that positive, upbeat energy with me when I read the next book in the sequence. Occasionally, the payoff is big, such as when I first read the Harry Potter series, which only seemed to get better and better until I hit the rut otherwise known as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I have experienced a similar issue with a lot of series, especially long-running ones with more than three or four books. More often than not, however, the second book in a series is rarely ever as good as the first. This issue is known as "sequelitis."
When I read Bridge of Birds, the first book in the Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox trilogy, I was floored. So many fantasies are grounded in European myth and legend, but here was a novel that was more firmly grounded in the Chinese side of things than anything else, with the title itself being a reference to a notable and much-loved Asian festival. Managing to cleverly blend mythology and historical fact, together with lovable, memorable characters and a narrator with a voice that was an absolute joy to read, the experience I had with Bridge of Birds is one that I cherish - and one that I hoped to find once again in the next book, The Story of the Stone.
Unfortunately, that was not the case. When I picked up The Story of the Stone I was looking forward to another romp through this "China that Never Was" alongside Master Li and Number Ten Ox, the two central characters of Bridge of Birds, and whose company I thoroughly enjoyed while reading that novel. I was looking forward to Number Ten Ox's wonderful, funny, and humbly wise narrative, as well as Master Li's incredible (and incredulous) schemes. Having just come off reading The Lies of Locke Lamora, I was looking forward to reading what sort of hijinks these two merry rogues would get themselves into.
Sadly, The Story of the Stone was, simply put, boring. The plot is really not much different from Bridge of Birds, and - worse - it has none of the beautiful, soaring quality I got while I was reading the first novel. There was something truly magical about Bridge of Birds, and I was simply not getting that in The Story of the Stone. It was as if whatever magic Hughart's storytelling had in the first book simply evaporated in the second.
To be sure, the story is not as much of a slog as I make it sound. The mystery at the heart of the storyline is still interesting, and Master Li and Number Ten Ox are as clever and as fun as they ever were in the first book, but for some odd reason they do not shine in The Story of the Stone as much as they did in Bridge of Birds. Master Li's schemes did not seem as inspired as they were in the first book, and Number Ten Ox's observations did not seem as enlightening. Like I said, it's like whatever magic there was in the first book is just gone in this second book.
One of the hallmarks of the first book was the wild and colorful cast of side characters that kept cropping up in the strangest of circumstances. In The Story of the Stone, two characters - Grief of Dawn and Moon Boy - are rather interesting at first, but as the story progresses they, too, lose their shine. They are hardly like some of the other side characters in the first novel, who sustain the reader's interest all the way through the book. And as for the villain, I am sad to say that I was quite sure who was behind the wickedness of the central mystery by the time I had reached the midpoint of the novel. This is not a good sign, especially when, in the first novel, I wasn't quite sure what was going on (in a good way) until the very last moment.
Another notable hallmark of the first book is that it blends historical references with fairy tales, legends, and myths, with the result being that Bridge of Birds feels like the very best kind of Hayao Miyazaki film. The Story of the Stone does that as well, but it seems oddly clunky this time around, with none of that magic I got in the first book. The heavy emphasis on Neo-Confucianism, while interesting at first, got rather tiring, especially when it got brought up during a trip to Hell that Master Li, Number Ten Ox, and Moon Boy take during a crucial part of the novel. That trip to Hell had, I think, the potential to return the entire novel to a pitch and feel similar to that in Bridge of Birds, but it never gets there.
Overall, The Story of the Stone is a disappointment. Though Master Li and Number Ten Ox are, in truth, the same as they were in the first book, the general plot and storyline of the second novel seem to just drag them down, and they are unable to pull the book up with them. The supporting characters are not nearly as fascinating as the ones in Bridge of Birds, which is rather sad because the cast is somewhat smaller this time around and so there is great potential for some really good character development there. And as for the mystery, well, as I said I managed to figure out the culprit by the book's midway point, so it isn't quite as strong as the mystery presented in Bridge of Birds. As a continuation of the adventures of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, it does well enough, but I do hope that the third and last book is better than this one. It would truly be sad if it were otherwise.
My attitude tends to change when it comes to the books I read. In that regard, I'm definitely an optimist. When I read the first book in a series and really, really like it, I tend to bring that positive, upbeat energy with me when I read the next book in the sequence. Occasionally, the payoff is big, such as when I first read the Harry Potter series, which only seemed to get better and better until I hit the rut otherwise known as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I have experienced a similar issue with a lot of series, especially long-running ones with more than three or four books. More often than not, however, the second book in a series is rarely ever as good as the first. This issue is known as "sequelitis."
When I read Bridge of Birds, the first book in the Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox trilogy, I was floored. So many fantasies are grounded in European myth and legend, but here was a novel that was more firmly grounded in the Chinese side of things than anything else, with the title itself being a reference to a notable and much-loved Asian festival. Managing to cleverly blend mythology and historical fact, together with lovable, memorable characters and a narrator with a voice that was an absolute joy to read, the experience I had with Bridge of Birds is one that I cherish - and one that I hoped to find once again in the next book, The Story of the Stone.
Unfortunately, that was not the case. When I picked up The Story of the Stone I was looking forward to another romp through this "China that Never Was" alongside Master Li and Number Ten Ox, the two central characters of Bridge of Birds, and whose company I thoroughly enjoyed while reading that novel. I was looking forward to Number Ten Ox's wonderful, funny, and humbly wise narrative, as well as Master Li's incredible (and incredulous) schemes. Having just come off reading The Lies of Locke Lamora, I was looking forward to reading what sort of hijinks these two merry rogues would get themselves into.
Sadly, The Story of the Stone was, simply put, boring. The plot is really not much different from Bridge of Birds, and - worse - it has none of the beautiful, soaring quality I got while I was reading the first novel. There was something truly magical about Bridge of Birds, and I was simply not getting that in The Story of the Stone. It was as if whatever magic Hughart's storytelling had in the first book simply evaporated in the second.
To be sure, the story is not as much of a slog as I make it sound. The mystery at the heart of the storyline is still interesting, and Master Li and Number Ten Ox are as clever and as fun as they ever were in the first book, but for some odd reason they do not shine in The Story of the Stone as much as they did in Bridge of Birds. Master Li's schemes did not seem as inspired as they were in the first book, and Number Ten Ox's observations did not seem as enlightening. Like I said, it's like whatever magic there was in the first book is just gone in this second book.
One of the hallmarks of the first book was the wild and colorful cast of side characters that kept cropping up in the strangest of circumstances. In The Story of the Stone, two characters - Grief of Dawn and Moon Boy - are rather interesting at first, but as the story progresses they, too, lose their shine. They are hardly like some of the other side characters in the first novel, who sustain the reader's interest all the way through the book. And as for the villain, I am sad to say that I was quite sure who was behind the wickedness of the central mystery by the time I had reached the midpoint of the novel. This is not a good sign, especially when, in the first novel, I wasn't quite sure what was going on (in a good way) until the very last moment.
Another notable hallmark of the first book is that it blends historical references with fairy tales, legends, and myths, with the result being that Bridge of Birds feels like the very best kind of Hayao Miyazaki film. The Story of the Stone does that as well, but it seems oddly clunky this time around, with none of that magic I got in the first book. The heavy emphasis on Neo-Confucianism, while interesting at first, got rather tiring, especially when it got brought up during a trip to Hell that Master Li, Number Ten Ox, and Moon Boy take during a crucial part of the novel. That trip to Hell had, I think, the potential to return the entire novel to a pitch and feel similar to that in Bridge of Birds, but it never gets there.
Overall, The Story of the Stone is a disappointment. Though Master Li and Number Ten Ox are, in truth, the same as they were in the first book, the general plot and storyline of the second novel seem to just drag them down, and they are unable to pull the book up with them. The supporting characters are not nearly as fascinating as the ones in Bridge of Birds, which is rather sad because the cast is somewhat smaller this time around and so there is great potential for some really good character development there. And as for the mystery, well, as I said I managed to figure out the culprit by the book's midway point, so it isn't quite as strong as the mystery presented in Bridge of Birds. As a continuation of the adventures of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, it does well enough, but I do hope that the third and last book is better than this one. It would truly be sad if it were otherwise.
April 25, 2022
La leyenda de la piedra, de Barry Hughart es el segundo libro que continúa las aventuras del maestro Li Kao y Buey Número Diez que, como algunos de ustedes recordarán, inició con esa increíble novela que es Puente de Pájaros. Y, aunque no tiene un comienzo igual de dinámico, sí la supera en cuanto a personajes y la imprevisibilidad de la trama. Incluyendo a un nuevo personaje que es la encarnación del libertinaje gay y que, a ratos, se robaba el show y es objeto de las mejores frases del libro.
Aunque debo confesar que casi me había resignado a tener que leer esta novela en inglés, debido a que, hasta comienzos de este año, me fue casi imposible conseguir la única traducción al español que existía, así como de su continuación: Ocho honorables magos. Pero logré conseguirlas ^w^ y las estaba reservando para cuando realmente quisiera leer algo muy bueno.
Por la parte del worldbuilding, Hughart se apoya mucho en la historia de la antigua china, mezclándola con su folclore y mitología para crear una antigua china mágica, donde todo es posible. Además, aprovecha la oportunidad para abordar temas profundos tales como la inmortalidad, el más allá y las reencarnaciones.
Un libro más que recomendable si te gustó Puente de Pájaros (aunque se puede leer de manera independiente), si te interesa la antigua china, los personajes ingeniosos, el buen humor y quieres pasar un buen rato leyendo. Si es así, entonces La leyenda de la piedra, de Barry Hughart es el libro que necesitas.
Aunque debo confesar que casi me había resignado a tener que leer esta novela en inglés, debido a que, hasta comienzos de este año, me fue casi imposible conseguir la única traducción al español que existía, así como de su continuación: Ocho honorables magos. Pero logré conseguirlas ^w^ y las estaba reservando para cuando realmente quisiera leer algo muy bueno.
Por la parte del worldbuilding, Hughart se apoya mucho en la historia de la antigua china, mezclándola con su folclore y mitología para crear una antigua china mágica, donde todo es posible. Además, aprovecha la oportunidad para abordar temas profundos tales como la inmortalidad, el más allá y las reencarnaciones.
Un libro más que recomendable si te gustó Puente de Pájaros (aunque se puede leer de manera independiente), si te interesa la antigua china, los personajes ingeniosos, el buen humor y quieres pasar un buen rato leyendo. Si es así, entonces La leyenda de la piedra, de Barry Hughart es el libro que necesitas.
January 22, 2022
I don't remember much about the first book in the trilogy, but this one was great! The mysteries just keep piling up, but Master Li and Number Ten Ox persevere nonetheless. Their travels take them from the back street alleys of Peking to the Valley of Sorrows to hidden crypts and even through all ten levels of Hell. Plenty of Chinese mythology, Taoist and Confucian wisdom and law, murder, love and romance, tragedy, drinking, and plot twists along the way to entertain the reader right up to the end.
June 7, 2018
He dudado mucho entre el 4 y el 5, pero al final la nota es más de un 4 y medio. Al principio me parecía no tan buena como el primer libro, y puede ser eso, pero aun dándonos más de lo mismo, Barry Hughart sabe engancharte.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 233 reviews