Bridge of Birds is a lyrical fantasy novel. Set in "an Ancient China that never was", it stands with The Princess Bride and The Last Unicorn as a fairy tale for all ages, by turns incredibly funny and deeply touching. It won the World Fantasy Award in 1985, and Hughart produced two sequels: The Story of the Stone, and Eight Skilled Gentlemen. All present the adventures of Master Kao Li, a scholar with "a slight flaw in [his] character", and Lu Yu, usually called Number Ten Ox, his sidekick and the story's narrator. Number Ten Ox is strong, trusting, and pure of heart; Master Li once sold an emperor shares in a mustard mine, because "I was trying to win a bet concerning the intelligence of emperors."

Number Ten Ox comes from a village in which the children have been struck by a mysterious illness. He recruits Master Li to find the cure and comes along to provide muscle. They seek a mysterious Great Root of Power, which may be a form of ginseng. Of course, nothing turns out to be as simple as it seems; great wrongs must be avenged and lovers separated must be reunited, from the most humble to the highest. And even in the midst of cosmic glory, Pawnbroker Fang and Ma the Grub are picking the pockets of their own lynch mob, who are frozen in awe and wonder.

Arrived safely after being chosen from the Fantasy and Science Fiction VBB.
Thanks very much Xeyra. That was fast - I hope you managed to read it first. :-)

A wonderful gem of a book - absolutely loved it. The story, the quest, the characters, the humour... perfect!

Now reserved and placed back into the Fantasy and Science Fiction VBB.

Chosen from the box by VeganMedusa, so will be off on a trip to New Zealand soon.

Off on a trip across the ditch to VeganMedusa in chilly Invercargill.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. :-)

Thanks!

I did enjoy this book. It took me a while to get a feel for it. It's kind of based on old fairy tales but it's so whimsical that I wasn't sure if it was taking the mickey. But I ended up going along for the ride, and I'll look out for the second book to see what they get up to next.
On its way now to shnedwards, who nabbed it from the SFF VBB.

Hooray! A goody bag full of books! Thanks for sending this on, VM.

This was a proper, old-fashioned adventure story with some good laughs thrown in.

Will be on its way to HI77 soon.

On its way to HI77 by surface mail.

A flute of unparalleled prison,

a cage of minds
flown from the coup.