Customer Reviews

The Court of the Lion: A Novel of the T'Ang Dynasty

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This is one of the most incredible historical novels I have ever read. The sheer deviousness of the intrigue, the twists and turns of the plot, and the settings (both glorious and decadent) keep you glued to it, but remembering that most of the content is taken from historical fact is frosting on the cake. Cooney and Altieri do a remarkable job of taking actual historical events (and you would be surprised at how many of the events are actually historical!) and filling in the gaps with well-written prose to make each and every character come to life with personalities and motivations that explain it all. One of my all-time favorites!

This is a complex and well written novel. Set at the end of the T'ang dynasty (AD738)in China it shows how the dynasty fell. Virtually all the charcters in the novel are based on historical people and the society as laid out in the novel is obviously based on a lot of research. It involves death, deception, loyalty and dishonour - and the founding of Korea as a penal state for political dissidents. (shades of Australia!)

This is not a quick book to read (it's quite big at 920 pages). However at the end you marvel at the author's ability to portray so well a world so long gone. Esecially when you consider that the authors are from "the west" and not China.

I have read this book a total of four times since my mother bought me this book. The description of the T'ang city is extremely rich and very colorful and the characters are very wonderful to read.. To put it simply, it is about several characters who struggles to save the T'ang dynasty from corruption from within. If you're looking for a very good drama/mystery book, I strongly recommend you to hunt this book down, because it is worth the time to read..

The characters in this book are not just your ordinary people. They are one of the Tang Dynasty's greatest emperors, Tang Minghuang, and the court beauty, Consort Yang Guifei, who gained control of his court in his later years. It is the story of An Lushan, the "barbarian" from the north they 'adopted', who eventually attacked the dynasty. Included in the story are some of China's most famous artists and poets (Li Bai, and Tu Fu), and other notable personages of the time. This well-researched novel brings Chinese history alive in a compelling story of love, intrigue, deception, dissipation. It is a worthy read on many levels.

A trilling adventure of mystery and intrigue built around meticulously researched history of the period. This is a historical novel of the fall of T'ang Dynasty in the 8th century CE. Focuses on intrigue and plotting, murder and the waning fortunes of the various luminaries of the period in Imperial China of the time. Absorbing, thrilling and at times strongly erotic-it captures the many faceted life of ancient China. We follow the evil machination of Lin Lin-fu the Prime Minister to the weak Emperor Minghuang, whose reign of terror is opposed by Kao Li-Shih, the Emperor's Chief Eunuch. Also playing his part in this puzzle is the ruthless and vulgar barbarian general from the north, An Lu Shi, adn the fascinating Lady Wu.
It is a captivating read and toure de force into the colourful, fascinating and sometimes violent world of 8th century Imperial China.

A friend sent this to me, thinking I'd like it. I put it off for a bit - I like history but China is not an area I know much about, and the size was a bit daunting. But at the beginning of spring break, I started it. Not sure I came up for air for the next several days. This is an astonding books, with complex character development, and a civilization that in many ways matches our own world. The descriptions here of the time and place, as well as the events that happened so long ago, were as vivid and as real as if I read them in today's paper. There really wasn't a wrong move in this book. I see that they have a few mysteries as well, tho something tells me they won't match the quality of this book.

Indeed I was a little surprised that this book only has two prior reviews. A book of such quality and with such an interesting backdrop should surely have found a wider audience I would have thought. Oh well..

As has been noted by earlier reviewers this book - one of brick like proportions and with small type font - is set in 8th century China. Without spoilers the basic idea here is one of multi layer court intrigue, the load lightened with by the well defined characterisations, the sweeping action in certain sections and the overall Asiatic milieu. As the story unfolds we see a range of acts played out, those who appear on top in the intrigue stakes often find their fortunes on the wane shortly thereafter and a quite deadly game of cat and mouse is played out against the fabric of opulent court life. Each facet is dealt with well, from flashbacks, to descriptions of court life, the physical 'conjoining' and the elucidation of the various characters motivations.

The only downsides I can see with this work is it's size/font combination may put a few people off. It is certainly a dense read. And Western readers may find the Chinese names an issue for a while.

Those quibbles aside I can heartily recommend this work to fans of historical fiction and those fascinated with fiction set in Asia and its' rich cultural tapestry as well.