Review - The Story of the Stone
Dec. 3rd, 2009 09:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wilderthanI didn't like The Story of the Stone as much as I liked the first book of Barry Hughart's trilogy, Bridge of Birds. It didn't strike me as anything like so amusing, for a start. I also somehow managed to predict the villain of the story, based on the way Bridge of Birds concluded. I was a little sad, because it felt obvious and I liked the character.
The fact that the narrator himself was confused is interesting, but didn't help the story at all. It doesn't make for satisfying reading because you're told at the beginning that this one is kind of incomprehensible.
Still, it was nice to wander round with Number Ten Ox and Li Kao again. There were some lovely parts, although nothing stood out to me as much as the lovely parts of Bridge of Birds. I'm going to read the third book, but the first book stands on its own beautifully.
The fact that the narrator himself was confused is interesting, but didn't help the story at all. It doesn't make for satisfying reading because you're told at the beginning that this one is kind of incomprehensible.
Still, it was nice to wander round with Number Ten Ox and Li Kao again. There were some lovely parts, although nothing stood out to me as much as the lovely parts of Bridge of Birds. I'm going to read the third book, but the first book stands on its own beautifully.
