Customer Reviews

The Story of the Stone

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am Barry Hughart's number one fan.

With that said, I recommend this book without reservation. In fact, any book involving Hughart's alter-ego, Master Li, and Hughart's young hero, Number Ten Ox, would be high on my "must read" list.

I just re-read this tale of a mad prince and his array of fascinating characters and was just as enchanted and entertained as I was the first time I read it in ten years ago.

If you're looking for a wonder-filled story with character that will stay with you long after you turn the final page, read this book!

You can also do yourself a huge favor by purchasing "Bridge of Birds" and "Eight Skilled Gentlemen," the only other Master Li/Number Ten Ox adventures. "Bridge of Birds" was Hughart's first effort and the book introduces the reader to Master Li...the most interesting character is all of fiction.....

After all, how can you NOT love someone who introduces himself by saying:

"My surname isLi and my personal name is Kao, and there is a slight flaw in my character"?

The people at amazon.com are masters at locating the "difficult to find" books on their site. Order this book....and then, read and enjoy!

i read this book many, many years ago when i was a kid--found it at the public library and have read it twice since then. this book is a true adventure and the author does a wonderful job of painting both character and setting. i just found out he's written other novels and can't wait to pick them up. it's been about 10 years since the first time i read this work, and i still find it as enchanting as i first did.

I discovered this book as part of one of those book club deals several years ago -- you know the kind that send you books and charge you if you don't return them by a certain date. In this case, it was a blessing. I enjoyed the characters, the locations, the colors and the twists that unfolded in the story. If you can find it, it's definitely a must-read.

Since then, I've collected the only other books that I know this author has produced: "Bridge of Birds" and "Eight Skilled Gentlemen". They are as enjoyable as this one.

The Laughing Prince - long dead - has returned to life. As he was homicidally mad, this is not regarded as a good thing. So Master Li and Number Ten Ox have once again to lurch around ancient China to solve the mystery. Expect wit, wisdom, intrigue, general mayhem, a cast of crazy characters - and an absolutely brilliant read.

The blurb on the cover describes "The Story of the Stone" as "an oriental Holmes and Watson plunked down in an Indiana Jones movie." Pretty decent summary, actually, although I'd also throw a little Puccini into the mix (the author is incredibly hard on his heroines), along with Dante Alighieri. The ancient ("Ah, if I were only ninety again...") Master Li and his faithful sidekick and beast of burden, Number Ten Ox set out to investigate the brutal death of a monk in the Valley of Sorrows in this second volume of Hughart's fantasy trilogy.

The monk appears to have died of fright in the monastery library, a scrap of forged manuscript clutched in his hand, and a very unmonkish dinner of thousand-year-old eggs and other expensive delicacies in his belly (Master Li performs an autopsy that would make Dr. G. proud).

The chief suspect is the infamous Laughing Prince. Unfortunately (actually, fortunately for the peasants whom he murdered in droves) the sadistic prince has been dead for over 700 years. Master Li and Number Ten Ox descend into the tomb of the evil prince, along with his painterly descendent, Prince Liu Pao where they find jade-encased mummies, mad Monks of Mirth, a water slide that wouldn't be out of place at Disney World, and of course, treasure and torture chambers. The one thing they don't find is the corpse of the Laughing Prince.

At least, not right away.

Master Li must call upon his friends, old, new, dead, immortal, and immoral to solve the mystery of the Laughing Prince and the Stone of Immortality. You will meet characters in this book who are to be found nowhere else in fiction, including the beautiful Moon Boy who sings and buggers his way through the ten principal Hells and the great Wheel of Reincarnation, acting as a sort of Virgil to Master Li's Dante.

The plot is complicated, but the characters and the mythical scenery of an ancient China that never was make "The Story of the Stone" a fantasy to read and reread in those dark hours when you don't think you can stand another page of the noble Frodo. Plus Barbarian readers like myself who have only a "rudimentary concept of Hell" will be exposed to the two most incredible fallacies of our educational system: "that Hell is reserved for the damned, and that the world is flat."

P.S. The world is a cube measuring 233,575 paces across.

Author Barry Hughart has done it again. Like his first book "Bridge of Birds" he brilliantly delivers another knockout adventure of Li Kao and Number Ten Ox. This time a mysterious murder and theft in a monastery sets this duo off in pursuit of a mysterious stone. But unlike their first adventure this quest takes them on a wholly different type of journey that, well, almost defies description. And why spoil the wonderful reading of this enchanting tale anyway? Read for yourself this truly imaginative and charming book. In addition to Li Kao and Number Ten Ox you'll meet Grief of Dawn, Moon Boy, the Laughing Prince, et al - uniquely eclectic characters that you will totally enjoy and long remember.

It's a pity that more readers haven't discovered Barry Hughart's wonderful works. But so be it. Just don't be one of those who has missed them.

Why did Barry Hughart stop writing these wonderful fantasies? They have taught me boatloads of Chinese mythology and history. Master Li and Number Ten Ox are two of the most enjoyable characters ever. There are sections in this book that make you bite your fingernails down to nubs and other parts that leave you out of breath with a cramp from laughing so hard. READ THE WHOLE SERIES. Lovers of the Hitchhiker's Guide and the Hobbit will not be dissapointed. Adams and Tolkin have nothing on Barry Hughart.

I have been looking for The story of the Stone for years. Mr. Hughart, please do not leave us like this! Your stories are wonderful, your characters, unforgivable, your world, amazing! I have read all your stories and am waiting anxiously for the next one.

best read aloud with a friend. if it is possible, it gets better with each additional reading.

If you haven't yet read the first Master Li and Number Ten Ox book, Bridge of Birds, go read it now; it's quite good. If you've already read it and want more of the same, then the Story of the Stone may slake your thirst. Be warned, however, that this iteration borrows more than just the two protagonists and the style of the first novel. Without giving too much away, too many of the plot twists from Bridge of Birds made it into the Story of the Stone. At the same time, this second novel lacks some of the grandeur and scope of the first. It's still not a bad read, though.