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Loading... To the Sky Kingdomby Tang Qi Gong Zi
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When the immortal Bai Qian finally meets her intended husband, the heir to the Sky Throne, she considers herself in luck--until an old enemy returns to threaten everything she holds dear.... When a mortal woman enters the immortal world to be with her true love, she sparks a jealousy that ends in tragedy.... And when a war god depletes his spiritual energy, his devoted student sustains his body with her own heart's blood until the god's scattered soul reassembles.... Spanning a thousand years of tangled lives, To the Sky Kingdom is a story of epic battles, passion, evil, and magic. In its journey across worlds and time, it delves into the powerful forces that drive mortals and gods alike toward revenge, loyalty--and love. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)895.136Literature Literature of other languages Asian (east and south east) languages Chinese Chinese fiction 2010–RatingAverage:
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This was splendid, and perfectly captured the the feel, breadth, and scale of an actual story from Chinese mythology. This was a wildly ambitious story to tell, and Tang (and the translator, Toland) pulls it off spectacularly. Western readers may experience severe culture shock. This story is firmly rooted in Chinese mythology, particularly about the highly complex and hierarchical structure of the immortals and gods who live in Heaven. Tang dives right into the story with little to no introduction of the world, and those who are unfamiliar may have a steeper learning curve than others. The pacing is also different from most Western fantasies, and perfectly mimics the old Chinese folktales. The pace is slower and the plot development more circuitous. (But everything connects! Promise!)
I loved this a lot. I got sucked into the story and just didn't want to leave. I loved seeing Tang's interpretation of the Heavenly Kingdom, and how she weaves in different elements of classical mythology. I loved all the characters, particularly the two main ones, Bai Qian and Ye Hua, and Ali, who was a delight. The plot is also delightfully twisty.
This is a brilliant story. And the translation was gorgeous and lyrical. I really hope to see more by this author translated into the English. I would definitely read them.
Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley. ( )