To say I love this book would be an understatement.
“Oh, how that note had thrilled, and how something better that was in Rostov's soul began thrilling too. And that something was apart from everything in the world, and above everything in the world.”
I really wanted to like this book, but as another reviewer pointed out, it's basically a recounting of the Qin's decline and ensuing Chu-Han contention with some minor cosmetic changes. It's like the author took a period of Chinese history, made up random names, borrowed some choice scenes from Three Kingdoms (the inventions remind me of Zhuge Liang), sprinkled in some political philosophy from the era, and called it an original work of fiction. The whole book feels uninspired and derivative, almost like a mish mash of all the cool Han-era stories he'd heard as a kid.
Honestly I was very disappointed. Ken is a smart guy and a good writer, and I really enjoyed his translation of Liu Cixin's Three Body Problem.
tl;dr: Don't buy this book. Get Three Kingdoms instead.
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