Customer Reviews

Eight Skilled Gentlemen

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The following interview with Barry Hughart was conducted via mail during January-February, 2000. --J. Kuntz

JK: All fans of the Master Li books want to know why the series stopped after Eight Skilled Gentlemen. Can you explain?

BH: The Master Li books were a tightrope act and hard to write, but not, alas, very remunerative. Still, I would have continued as originally planned if I'd had a supportive publisher: seven novels ending with my heroes' deaths in the battle with the Great White Serpent, and their elevation to the Great River of Stars as minor deities guaranteed to cause the August Personage of Jade almost as much trouble as the Stone Monkey. Unfortunately I had St. Martins, which didn't even bother to send a postcard when I won the World Fantasy Award; Ballantine, which was dandy until my powerhouse editor dropped dead and her successors forgot my existence; and Doubleday, which released The Story of the Stone three months before the pub date, guaranteeing that not one copy would still be on the shelves when reviews came out, published the hardcover and the paperback of Eight Skilled Gentlemen simultaneously, and then informed me they would bring out further volumes in paperback only, meriting, of course, a considerably reduced advance.

This is the last book released by Mr. Hughart. It was supposed to be the third in a series of seven, but due to compensation differences, he elected not to continue writing. It's a darn shame because his novels of a China that never was are truly wonderful. The third adventure of Master Li and Number Ten Ox involves murder, mayhem, and magic aplenty, with lots of Chinese literary references thrown in. Almost makes you believe you're reading history. This story is not quite up to the same standards as his first two, but it's a matter of interpretation. I love his work and I really wish he'd start writing again.

I love all three Master Li and Number Ten Ox novels, but Eight Skilled Gentlemen is my personal favorite. This book is one to savor, from the hilarious opening chapter at a public execution to the thrilling race between the dragonboats. I join the thousands of Barry Hughart fans in *imploring* him to please publish another Master Li novel!

I have written about Barry Hughart before ('Bridge of Birds') and how much I enjoyed his mock Chinese, tongue-in-cheek writing. This is the third novel (and the last) in his series about Number Ten Ox and Master Li, detectives, trouble-shooters, and general mischief-makers. The middle volume, 'The Story of the Stone,' is not presently in print, although chances of finding it used are still good.

The two find themselves in attendance at the Peking execution day, where the current royal execution is going for a record 1,071 clean decapitations. At the very last moment, a vampire ghoul makes a daytime appearance in hot pursuit of the city guard. This causes the Devil's Hand to miss his stroke, and Master Li jumps at the opportunity to investigate. Finding that one of the vampire's victims appears to be an august resident of the Forbidden City, Master Li confronts the Celestial Master (the wisest Confucian in the realm) and is invited to investigate what appears to be an impossible series of events.

Befriending a roving puppeteer and his beautiful daughter, Master Li and Number Ten chase across China looking for clues in what appears to be a complex smuggling plot that uses magical, golden cages as telephones. However, the cages are more than etheric portables, and the present holders of them keep meeting horrible fates at the hands of weird monsters and an ape. Who these creatures are, the purpose of the cages, and what any of this has to do with the annual Death Birds Ghost Boat Rain Race are the mysteries that Master Li has to solve.

This is a plot that sends the reader careening across the pages like a pinball in a bumper factory. The sense of the tale is always just beyond the reader's grasp as Hughart unfolds Number Ten's narrative at high pace. Readers who relish an orderly progression of development and characters that make dependable sense may find this a bit unsatisfactory. Hughart seems determined to exceed the more controlled chaos of 'Bridge of Birds' and this is not all for the good. I found the confusion a bit too ... confusing.

This is more of a burlesque, compared to Kai Lung's wry sarcasm, but it still works. Beware taking the plot for granted, since almost nothing is really what it seems. Hughart's ability to make impossible characters work is undeniable, and he has either a vivid imagination or access to a large collection of Chinese myths. While this tale is not up to the standards of 'Bridge of Birds' it is still a genuinely enjoyable read. And a pleasant change of pace for people for those who spend too much time with weightier tomes.

The third and final published tale of Master Li and his assistant, Number Ten Ox, is both funny and wistful. If the components of Hughart's ancient mythical China are by now familiar to readers, they are still wonderfully vivid. In this tale Master Li and Ox become entangled with high-society scams and the ghostly remnants of a shamanistic theology predating Chinese civilization. The book lacks the sheer creative majesty of Hughart's first book, the Bridge of Birds; but Birds is a virtuoso performance that can hardly be expected twice in a lifetime. Eight Skilled Gentlemen is, by comparison, merely an excellent story.

This is the third book in an intended series of seven, which most regrettably was not completed. As such, Eight Skilled Gentlemen was not intended as the final Master Li story, and we are left waiting for the next marvelous case. Hughart apparently intended to conclude the series in traditional Chinese mythological fashion, by deifying his truth-seeking protagonists. He never wrote that story, but the extraordinary Li Kao and Number Ten Ox have achieved a form of immortality just the same. They are just as vivid in the final book as in the first two, and I deeply regret not having the chance to invite them over for a jar of wine or two.

I read Bridge of Birds when it first appeared in 1984 (and I believe that title won the World Fantasy Award) and was, like all his other readers, captivated. The Story of the Stone followed with equal success. Eight Skilled Gentlemen was the third of the Master Li stories (and appears to be the last to date). It follows much the same path as the previous books - spoof Chinese mythology turns out not be quite so mythological after all, and Number Ten Ox gets to play Watson again - never quite as stupid as he appears, but nothing compared to the brilliant deductions of Master Li. What is the secret behind the wicker cages? Where does the puppetmaster and his beautiful daughter come from? Where does fake Imperial Tea fit into the plot? As usual, Hughart weaves a marvellous tapestry and wraps you in a fantasy world that is extremely real. Read it, if you get the opportunity. I cannot believe this book is out-of-print! Oh, and Mr Hughart - if you do read this - we want more!

No surprise, another entertaining and delightful Li Kao and Number Ten Ox fantasy-adventure. The grisly murder of a prominent mandarin by a mysterious ghoul provides the catalyst for this duo to go delving into China's ancient mythology searching for the answers. Along the way, author Barry Hughart creates some of the most curious and imaginative heroes and villains you will ever encounter. Just superb.

Sadly, as noted by previous reviewers, this is the third and last book that the author has written in this series. On the bright side, the books he did write were all sparkling 5-star reads. "Eight Skilled Gentlemen" is a winner - just read it.

What happened to Mr. Hughart? After gobbling up his three hilarious books on Master Li and Number 10 Ox, I have seen no more from him for scads of years! Mr Hughart, if you are reading this ... hop to it! I loved Eight Skilled Gentlemen and its hip and zany potrayal of all things ancient Chinese. At the same time, the mystery plot was intriguing enough to keep my glued to the pages. As with the Bridge of Birds and The Story of the Stone, I couldn't put it down.

How easily Chinese history (that never was) segues into mythology. "Eight Skilled Gentlemen" is the third book in the 'Master Li and Number Ten Ox' trilogy, and these books should be near the top of everyone's favorite fantasies list.

The execrable villain, Sixth Degree Hosteler Tu is on the execution block at the beginning of "Eight Skilled Gentlemen." The executioner, who is going for the record in cleanly-performed beheadings by sword, botches this particular job for a very peculiar reason--a vampire ghoul crashes into the crowd around the execution block in pursuit of a band of frightened band of soldiers.

This is just the beginning of a bizarre monster-fest (in case you were wondering who the eight skilled gentlemen were.) These are demons like you've never seen before. For instance, the first demon-deity "resembles a three-year-old child with red eyes, long ears, and beautiful hair, and it kills by forcing its victims to strangle themselves."

Luckily Master Li happens upon Number Ten Ox before he finishes choking himself to death.

The plot is quite complicated, but the exotic settings and oddball characters kept this reader mightily entertained. In addition to the 'Eight Skilled Gentlemen,' there is a very old, partially deaf Celestial Master and saint who has some of the best lines in the book: at the funeral of a demon-slain high muckety-muck minister of state, he glares at a row of tight-lipped mandarins, and shouts, "Damn fools!...If you'd given Ma's corpse an enema you could have buried what remained in a walnut shell!"

Chinese saints seem to be much more opinionated and interesting than their European counterparts.

Master Li and Number Ten Ox join up with a puppeteer and his beautiful daughter to break up a ring of mandarin smugglers who are using mysterious cages to communicate with one another. The story finally resolves itself in a wild end-of-the-world dragon boat race that pits our two heroes against the gods.

I only wish Barry Hughart had continued on with this eccentric and wonderful myth of old China.

In this, the final of Hughart's three Master Li books, we learn about ancient shamanistic deities and the homicidal Sixth Degree Hosteler Tu. The twists and turns are a little less surprising in this third outing, and even Number Ten Ox guesses the identity of the villain before the end. But the journey is just as magical and wonderful. Hughart has a gift for being able to tweak his cosmology - or our perceptions of it - ever so slightly, without damaging the integrity of his world. This wasn't supposed to be the last book, but since the esteemed Master Hughart has apparently set aside his labors, we can only savor the bittersweet ending of a series not halfway done. The Master Li series is in a class of its own, and I fervently pray against all odds that another volume of these 'long-lost chronicles' will eventually come to light.