Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant fantasy
Review: "Bridge of Birds" is the most effective, most moving fantasy novel I have read since John Crowley's "Engine Summer." Set in (to use the publisher's blurb) "an ancient China that never was," this is at least on the surface the tale of Number Ten Ox, a young man from a rural village who sets out with Master Li, a scholar and sage with "a slight flaw in his character," on a quest for the "great root of power," the only medicine of sufficient potency to cure the village children of a case of ku poisoning. As the story unfolds and these two characters experience adventures enough to fill many novels (one can imagine Tor or some other publisher spinning out these yarns by the tens a la Conan if they got a hold of the publishing rights), their quest begins to intertwine with another one, relating to an ancient wrong done to a goddess.More details would be superfluous, for there is simply no substitute for reading this book. The culture and characters described here are fully realized (writers of doorstop-sized fantasy novels, such as Robert Jordan, could take object lessons from Hughart in how to tell a large story succinctly), and the overall atmosphere that this novel achieves is that of the finest kind of fable, although I would not necessarily recommend it for young children. Hughart spices his narrative throughout with a liberal dose of humor; I found myself laughing aloud many times as I read along. If there is a flaw to be found here, I failed to see it. This is as good as fantasy gets--one of the few novels that merits the adjective "magical."
Rating:
Summary: A Master Li Masterpiece
Review: When a mysterious plague strikes the children of the small village of Ku-Fu, the musclebound Number Ten Ox goes in search of help. He finds it in the form of the irrepressible centenarian Li Kao, one-time top scholar, con man, and the only investigator who is willing to take the case for its own sake. Master Li and Ox soon find their local mystery is the first step on a long winding road leading to the conclusion of an ancient, forgotten tale. The setting is a beautiful quasi-fictional adaptation of historical/mythical China, and Hughart's storytelling is superb. The book is both beautiful and sad, funny and intricately woven. Li Kao and Number Ten Ox are among the most compelling characters in print. Hughart has a true gift for storytelling, and it is a shame that only three Master Li mysteries have been published. Though all of his books are marvelous, the Bridge of Birds is Hughart's masterpiece. This is a work of art and one of my favorite three books of all time. Bravo, Mr. Hughart, and thank you for a truly wonderful creation.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Different Kind of Fantasy
Review: One of my friends raved about BRIDGE OF BIRDS. She kept telling me I had to read it, but I kept putting it off as fantasy is not really my cup of tea. Finally, I gave in and I am really glad I did. BRIDGE OF BIRDS takes place in ancient China and is narrated by Lu Yu, or, Number Ten Ox, and opens with a double tragedy: all the silkworms in Ten Ox's village have died, leaving the villagers poverty stricken and, if that isn't enough, worse is yet to come when the children of the village all become ill with a form of plague. It falls to Ten Ox to travel to Peking to find someone who can restore the village's children to health. It doesn't give anything away to tell you that Ten Ox eventually does find someone to help, but this someone, Master Li, is not exactly who or what the villagers wanted. But he is willing. Master Li tells Ten Ox that they must find the Great Root of Power in order to cure the children, but where is the Great Root of Power to be found? Master Li isn't too sure and his search, with Ten Ox for this magical root forms the basis of the plot of the book (although there really isn't a lot of plot). I liked the character of Ten Ox. He was a good man and a believable character and I think he's very well developed, especially for a book that belongs to the fantasy genre. There are many other characters in BRIDGE OF BIRDS that aren't so well developed. however, chief among them the god and goddesses, ghosts and spirits and other fantasy creatures Ten Ox and Master Li encounter as they search China high and low for the Great Root of Power. I really didn't mind this lack of character development, however. These were peripheral characters who really didn't need a lot of development. BRIDGE OF BIRDS is true fantasy and contains puzzles, riddles and a lot of coincidences that turn out to be anything but. As Ten Ox and Master Li continue their quest, the plot of BRIDGE OF BIRDS deepens and a crime that was sufficient to disturb the very heavens is revealed. I found BRIDGE OF BIRDS very interesting on many levels, one of which has already been mentioned by the previous reviewer: the book is both light and charming and, at the same time, incredibly bloody. I guess that shouldn't come as any surprise, however, since BRIDGE OF BIRDS is a novel of ancient China and ancient China did contain both the charming and the bloody. The prose is gorgeous and suits the book perfectly. It's light, it's charming, it's lyrical. I would definitely recommend BRIDGE OF BIRDS to anyone who loves fantasy or to any reader looking for something very well written yet very, very different.
Rating:
Summary: The best book you've never read
Review: This is truly an extraordinary book, every bit as good as most reviewers have found it. It is something between a fairy tale, a fantasy and an epic. The story has a timeless quality that would be amazing of itself, but even more impressively it serves as an introduction to Chinese myth. Astonishingly, this is the author's first book. The characters are beautifully drawn. Even minor characters like Doctor Death, a Chinese alchemist who makes a brief appearance, is fully developed. The main characters - Number Ten Ox and Master Li - are as memorable as any characters in fantasy. All are lively, ironic and self-consistent. The plot is a delightful rollercoaster ride, a quest within a quest, that will keep you guessing until the marvelous conclusion. It's a nearly flawless assemblage of many Chinese myths, some developed in depth and some only mentioned in passing. And much of it is Hughart's own invention. The narrative is quite good, and Hughart does an especially good job of explaining literally dozens of instances of Chinese culture that will be completely new to most Western readers. Some reviewers say they were put off by the story's many anachronisms. But Hughart doesn't pretend to be writing Chinese history or Chinese literature. Most readers don't know and don't care that events are out of sequence, or that myths have been distorted; those that do need to read the brief author's note that opens the book. I direct them specifically to the definition of "prolepsis" that appears there. This is an absolutely terrific read. You don't need to know a thing about or even like Chinese myth or Chinese culture to delight in this tale. This is a delightful story that is exceptionally well told. Like any great work of fantasy, when you finish reading it, and have bowed with Number Ten Ox to the four corners of the world, the real world you return to will seem just a little dimmer than the brilliant vision Barry Hughart has created.
Rating: 
Summary: Humorous and Entertaining
Review: _
Reviewed by Randy Farnsworth, author of "A Stand Yet Taken". This was a very fun book to read. It's not a literary masterpiece with deep meanings that your English Literature professor will ask you to dissect; it's just an enjoyable romp around ancient China with a cast of eccentric characters. Hughart has a way of mixing fact, history and folklore with his own fiction that produces a very credible tale. He really has a grasp on Chinese culture and traditions. I truly respect a writer that is willing to do so much research prior to penning a manuscript. I think this is very much written for a Western audience. Having a limited background in Sinology myself, I wonder how a Chinese reader would accept this - especially if it is translated into Chinese, which would cause the reader to loose much of the English plays on words. As for his writing style, there is a great deal of subtle humor along with overt comedic scenes. I found myself laughing out loud at the balloon flatulence scene, as sophomoric as it was. However, some of the writing is so fast-paced that I had to re-read several sections to figure out what had happened. The story is a bit crude in parts, so I wouldn't recommend it for younger children. The characters seem to have a great fixation with sex. That adds to their eccentricity, but I don't feel it really adds to the story much. But the conclusion of the book is written in a very heartwarming and sensitive way - one of those where you put the book down after the last page, take a deep breath, and thank the author for taking you on a pleasurable journey.
Rating:
Summary: Great book!
Review: Admittedly, I picked this book up because I liked the cover. I had never heard of it, or Barry Hughart before, but I proceeded to read it within a couple months and I was very surprised. I've never read anything quite like it before. Master Li has got to be one of my favorite characters ever, and he made me laugh out loud with his "slight flaw in my character" introduction to everybody. I went on to read the Story of the Stone which I did not enjoy as much, but all the characters in this book were so likable, that at the end I almost had a kind of nostalgia for missing them, and the only other book that has invoked that kind of feeling for me is The Lord of the Rings. You do not need to know anything about China, or have a liking for things Chinese to enjoy this beautifully written book. Just sit back and enjoy the lyrical writing.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Fantastic
Review: Much thanks to the many Amazon.com devotees who pointed the way for me to find this gem. I surely wouldn't have found it otherwise. And that would have been most unfortunate since this is one of the most enjoyable reads I've had. Bridge of Birds is a fantasy tale of Li Kao's and Number Ten Ox's quest for the Great Root of Power to save the village's children who are dying from a mysterious illness. Like Odysseus' journey home their trek traverses the breadth and depth of China's mythical landscape and folklore while engaging some of the most fascinating, humorous and irresistible characters along the way. Throw in a wonderful ending and you have a complete novel that radiates charm, wit, humor and a range of human emotions. Kudos to author Barry Hughart whose marvelous penmanship kept the characters and the plot flowing in a seamless manner. It is a real pity that this fantastic novel hasn't found a wider audience. Perhaps with some luck Bridge of Birds will experience a much deserved revival that will keep it from vanishing off library and bookstore shelves. Meanwhile, read it for yourself and you, too, will earnestly recommend it to all your friends as I have.
Rating:
Summary: Very cool book. It contains more depth than expected.
Review: I have read this book this winter break. I tried to read it a year ago and it seemed kind of childish and boring, however, as I started reading more I realized how mistaken I was because Bridge of Birds touches on serious philosophical topics and is a book some would find not suitable for children. The book is written in such style that its very easy to read it. While some books may seem like they're dragging on with describtions and character building, the lines of this book seem to fly in the air like cherry blossom petals in the spring, beautiful, light, with a deep sense of purpose. The book is based on observations of asian culture and Chinese mythology. Its like a breath of fresh air in a musty dungeon of skeletons. I have nothing against the book based on European mythology, but this is one of the rare books that focuses on a different culture. Characters are memorable and funny. There is plenty of very funny humor in here, some of it crude, but the book jumps from gravely serious topics to humor at the right moment, so it kinda makes you feel weird that you were laughing one moment and crying the next. There are some violent death scenes in Bridge Of Birds, which is not a bad thing for my liking. I like violent scenes, especially if its presented in context of humor. For example one character is described as chopped into pieces with an axe then the pieces are fed to the dogs, while a number of pages earlier a horrible torture device is described in meticulous detail. I liked it. The story is also naughty in a way because it contains quite blunt erotic scenes of sex, BUT dont be alarmed if you feel like this is inappropriate. I know there are some books that are spoiled by sex and its graphic depictions, but this book describes it a couple of times in a very mellow and NOT-graphic manner. Its just the idea of it happening that adds some steam to it. Let me summarize some aspects of it:
Action - 5/5
Plot - 4/5
Use of English Language - 5/5
Erotic aspect - 2/5
Graphic Violence - 4/5
Emotional Satisfaction - 5/5
Rating:
Summary: A very pleasant surprise indeed
Review: This is a wonderful and little-known novel. I had never heard of Barry Hughart until I picked up this book, and I would have never bought the book except for the fact there were blurbs in it from Ursula Le Guin and the Christian Science Monitor. Since this book was written in 1984, why, I wondered, had I never heard of the author? It's probably because he's written so few books and is so reclusive. Having said that, I am very glad I picked up this book. It's one of the funniest things I've ever read. There were times I started laughing and could not stop. Most of the humor is deadpan, although some of it is a bit too broad and forced for my taste. But that's very little. Overall the book is very, very good. Most of the novel has a light, magical touch, and the ending is wonderful and uplifting. In some ways it's not a novel, but a series of connected short stories around a common plot, that of a village whose children have fallen into comas through poisoning. The unlikely heroes are an enormously strong ox of a man and what appears to be a drunken wizard over 100 years ago (whose sign, outside his shop, is that of a half-closed eye with the lettering, "Part of the truth revealed. Some things I see, but other things I don't.") This is a book that should be better-known than it is. You'll like it, I guarantee.
Rating:
Summary: Why is this book not famous?
Review: I read this book, first to myself, then aloud over a period of many nights to my wife, and I can't for the life of me figure out why it's such a well-kept secret. I mean, it's very funny (I couldn't read some pages with a straight face) and it's also incredibly moving, emotionally (I couldn't read some pages without getting choked up). The legends are fascinating, the various characters that Number Ten Ox and Master Li come across are wonderful, the suspense of the quest to save the children is engrossing. It's what Fantasy should be, not just another dreadful tale about dwarves and elves and goblins and all that crap. It's like, the perfect book. Maybe people are turned off by the whole China thing? A lot of Americans, anyway, can be pretty xenophobic, and they might think that they have to be Asian or be "into" Asian culture in order to enjoy this book. Wrong-o. Though, I guess the more you know, the more you'd appreciate the book as a (respectful) parody. I bought it for a friend, who also read it aloud to his wife. The results? "That was a GREAT book!" they said. Though, I loaned my copy to another friend, who only read the first three pages and said she couldn't get into it. So, I suppose it's not for everyone. But keep in mind that the book opens with a chapter of background before you get introduced to the real characters. I love it from word one, but I guess it was off-putting to her. I don't know what else to say. This is one of the five best books I've ever read. You'll be happy you bought it.
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