Yet another book that has been sitting in the 'to read' pile for well over a year. I'm very glad that I finally got around to this one. It's a fantasy novel, but a far from conventional one. While most books in the genre come with several pages worth of maps before the story starts, detailing some weird and unfamiliar landmass (usually with the good guys starting the in the top left corner, and the bad guys living down the bottom right), Bridge of Birds skips all that, and is just set 'in China'.
Most westerners are unfamiliar enough with Asian history and culture that Chinese myths and ancient history make a good substitute for fantasy anyway. I have no idea how much Hughart has borrowed from real Chinese mythology, or how much historical detail is accurate (I'm guessing 'not a lot'), but reading this book made me want to find out. (As if I need anything else on my list of things to read about).
Bridge of Birds is the story of a young man named Number Ten Ox, and his quest to cure the children of his village of a mysterious illness. He is guided along his travels by Master Li Kao, a scholar with a slight flaw in his character (he's an alcoholic). It's a pretty standard beginning to a fantasy story, but the exotic flavour of the setting and characters make it a unique read right from the start. The story is told from the point of view of Number Ten Ox, and Hughart does a great job of evoking a truly exotic culture, a welcome relief from the faux-oriental europe-with-curvy-swords-and-pointy-hats that lesser fantasy authors invariably stick somewhere on their big map.
The book is divided into three parts, and each part is somewhat different in style. The first part starts out fairly dry and formal, but by the third chapter, when they arrive in the Worst Wine Shop in China, it becomes riotously funny. Master Li's elaborate schemes to cheat the wealthy and arrogant are reminiscent of trickster myths from all kinds of cultures, and it's tremendous fun to read about a bunch of clever, good-hearted heroes handily defeating the mighty and powerful with only their wits.
The second part is more of an adventure story, with the character's visiting all manner of strange and wonderful locations in their quest. It's a little weaker than the other two parts, but still very enjoyable.
In the final third, the story becomes more and more mythic, before reaching a poetic and moving conclusion. All the disparate threads in the story are brought together in clever elegant ways. It feels contrived, but this is easily forgivable because it's easy to tell early on that something like this is going to happen, and the book's inescapable charm more than makes up for it.
Heartily recommended. I'm buying the sequel as soon as I can.
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