Customer Reviews

Tea with the Black Dragon

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a story anyone could fall for. It's just delightful. At first glance it seems to be a fantasy novel, then you think it might be a hard-boiled detective story, but in reality it is a love story. It is fairly typical of MacAvoy's work, all of which is superb.

You will find the main characters a little out of the ordinary. On the one hand we have a, middle aged musician, worried Mother and on the other we have a centuries old Chinese dragon transformed into approximately human form.

That's as far as I am willing to go into the details. Suffice to say that it is a quirky, delightful and warm story from a writer who knows and thoroughly enjoys the business of writing. And if you love this book, as I know you will, you may also want to try the sequel "Twisting the Rope".

This is one of the books I share with people I really like. It very nearly defies description. The closest I can come is to say that I know magic when I see it, and this is magic. Mayland Long is an enigmatic oriental gentleman who just might be the human incarnation of a Chinese Dragon. Martha MacNamara is a fiftyish woman who plays fiddle in an Irish jig band, and she just may be the Zen master that Mayland Long has been waiting for. Together, they unravel a mystery that makes San Francisco of the nineteen-eighties seem as sinister and magical as any land ever depicted in a fantasy novel. Tea With the Black Dragon was written twenty years ago, so the computer technology is severely dated, but that doesn't really detract from the story. If you're anything like me, you'll be so swept up in this book that you won't notice anyway.

Jeff Edwards, author of "Torpedo: A Surface Warfare Thriller"

Tea With The Black Dragon may be the most perfect short novel ever written -- in the scant space of some 180 pages, R.A. MacAvoy builds enough tension and suspense for a dozen novels by a lesser author, while breathing life into two of the most memorable characters in all of fantasy fiction.

The interplay between the main characters, Martha MacNamara and Mayland Long, showcases MacAvoy's gift for flawless, telling dialogue; they playfully, arfully fence with words, hinting at more than is actually said. In Martha, Mayland finds what he has come to America to seek; in Mayland, Martha finds something she never realized she needed. As they work together to uncover the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Martha's daughter, Elizabeth, their secrets are gradually revealed to each other.

A word on Elizabeth's disappearance -- it is in this, perhaps more than any other aspect of the novel, that MacAvoy shows her mastery of craft. Elizabeth is NEVER PRESENT in the first third of the novel, and yet she dominates the story in such a way that when she finally appears, the reader feels that they already know the character. MacAvoy's ability to show without showing that which ISN'T there, as well as that which is, lends the book an intensity that belies its diminutive size.

This was cross-genre fiction before such a thing was ever attempted -- MacAvoy artfully combined fantasy elements with a (for the time period) high-tech thriller to produce a masterfully written page turner that leaves the reader fully satisfied, yet wishing for more. The sequel, Twisting The Rope, provides another outing with the characters, but lacks some of the oomph that makes Tea such a tour de force.

It is a crime that this book was ever allowed to go out of print.

R. A. MacAvoy has done something very rare and special in this book: written with wisdom, compassion and humor about people who are at once very ordinary and quite extraordinary. Martha is a woman in her middle years who moves through the world with freshness, originality, and a youthful spirit; her friend Mayland Long is incredibly ancient and yet has just been born. Together they struggle with a new, technical wizardry, foreign to them both. As in Peter Beagle's _A Fine and Private Place_, the mundane and the spiritual commingle in beautiful and unexpected ways. From the convolutions and paradoxes which are a part of all our lives, MacAvoy weaves a story which is on one level an exploration of what it means to be human, with human emotions and human responsibilities -- and on another level is simply a ripping good yarn. Whatever you look for in a book, you will find here.

It's difficult to like or dislike Tea with the Black Dragon. While it is well-written, the reader begins to realize about halfway through that the story is going nowhere. That impression is born out by the anemic plot, which basically serves as a backdrop for characterization. Characterization is a wonderful thing, particularly in the hands of R.A. MacAvoy - yet one longs for a more conclusive encounter with her fascinating protagonists. Wandering without thematic anchor, Tea with the Black Dragon is a short book but a long ride. The passage of paragraphs is alternately streamlined and stymied by MacAvoy's writing: on one hand, her prose is very sleek; on the other, it can be dull when she slides into introspective rambling. Thankfully, the book tends generally towards a sort of lyric simplicity reminiscent of Frank Herbert. MacAvoy invents concise, marvelously accurate means of describing complicated visuals; her specialty is quantifying the interplay of light and shadow on various surfaces. And yet perfectly simple images seem to defy her trim articulacy. I have never encountered a writer who is simultaneously so adept at defining small details and so inept at painting broader swaths. Overall, MacAvoy's descriptions are conducive to wonderful worldbuilding. Like Frank Herbert, she excels at constructing indoor settings: her hotels, apartments, and high-rises all coalesce naturally in the reader's imagination. Equally realistic are the characters. Every individual who appears in the book, no matter how briefly, is both colorful and believable. Even their physical appearances correspond convincingly to their personalities. More importantly, these people are genuinely charming, loveable in a fashion one seldom encounters in adult literature. They bounce off one another easily, and their dialogue is very evocative of their mannerisms. Mayland Long, the titular dragon, is reserved and erudite, qualities reflected in his formalistic lines. The characters' internal narratives are quite affecting; their transformations are subtle and organic yet deeply powerful. The psychology of every action is explored sensitively. Unfortunately, that psychology is explored at entirely too much length. The characters undergo moving changes and seem primed for some explosion of fervor...but they continue to sit on the page. They are still very alive, yet they're frustratingly static. And MacAvoy doesn't juggle her players very adeptly. One character is effectively removed from the story so early in the book that her significance to the plot is undercut. Others are featured so sporadically that their relevance is negligible. The few characters who do appear consistently don't accomplish anything of great importance. The reader feels cheated of an emotional payoff that ought by rights to have occurred but never solidifies. The framework plot, minimal as it is, retains its direction but loses its focus. It (barely) concludes within the final pages, and despite some momentous occurrences and much character development, the bulk of the preceding narrative feels totally extraneous. The characters do change, the central mystery is solved - but those developments could have transpired over the course of a short story without any of the tedious detective work which dominates the central chapters of the book. Fantasy elements are virtually nonexistent. Yes, there is a dragon. He tells us he's a dragon in the opening chapters and never manifests any extraordinary powers to validate that claim besides superhuman stamina and strength. Actually, he doesn't even have a reptilian form; he's a Chinese man with unusually broad hands and a high body temperature, that's all. When asked to explain his transformation into human form, he offers only the cryptic (and rather inane) analogy that dog breeders come to resemble their dogs. Don't tell me he lost his scales simply from spending so much time around humans! The character's lack of dragon-ness is especially vexing because one would expect his magical qualities to be central, or at least important, to the plot. They aren't, except that they allow him to survive some sticky situations. The story actually revolves around computer science rather than mysticism, which makes the presence of a dragon distinctly superfluous. Now, MacAvoy has patently done her research, because said science is very credible. But what is a mythical creature even doing in a story about high-technology crime? That placement is comparable to randomly inserting a reincarnated Norse warrior into a British spy novel just because you can. Such incongruities don't build atmosphere; they destroy it unless they serve some practical purpose. Poor dragon doesn't even get to do very much. He experiences the only action scenes in the book (which are written with great sensory force but aren't particularly exciting) and still doesn't manage to accomplish much more than some pedestrian investigative work. In addition, while he is an intelligent individual, the sense in his actions depends largely on plot development: he can accurately guess the functioning of an elaborate computerized crime ring based on the slightest evidence - because the plot requires that he uncover the crime; but he breaks into a house without considering the risk of burglar alarms - because the plot requires that he get caught. At least the narrative acknowledges that it was stupid of him to forget such basic home-security precautions, but the affair feels improbably convenient. So, too, his insistence on not involving the police. Dear readers, can you spell "deus ex machina"? That's a rather low-brow technique from such a staggeringly intelligent writer. In the end, the story falls flat on its face, and the reader moans in betrayal. One wants so intensely to like Tea with the Black Dragon, but in the final judgment, it amounts to an enjoyable exercise in high style with no substance as a novel.

This little book is a quick magical read. I agree with the reviewer who said, "It very nearly defies description". It is unlike anything I've ever read, very original. While having said all this, and yes it was delightful, there were a few things that threw me out of the story. The daughter's storyline somehow didn't "fit" with the tale, even the action scenes seemed wrong somehow. And there were just so many unexplained things about Oohlong, and no follow-up. Where do they go from here? It was just a bit too strange for me. But beautiful nonetheless.

I read this book when it first came out in paperback and loved it. The storyline stuck in my mind, especially the character of Mayland Long. Re-read it recently in the e-publish paperback version and still found it a great read. I did notice the "computer" lingo was way out of date and I wish Ruth would update the next edition, and correct the minor flaws that an earlier reviewer pointed out. All in all, STILL a GREAT read, while it's not Shakespeare, it wasn't meant to be... just a fun frolic on a winters day. Me? I'm looking for my own Black Dragon. :-) mary w3

This is a sublime little book. I normally don't go for books that contain a lot of internal dialog. But, this book is like a perfectly crafted little jewel. Don't mistake it for something that would only appeal to people who read fantasy books. I'm so happy to see this back in print.

Most reviewers seem focused on the fantasy/romance element of the book, which seems to miss the point. This is Zen fiction, with Zen Mistress (Martha), Zen student (Long) and an extended sangha of musicians and computer geeks. It builds to a shining Zen ending in the present moment. If this appeals to you, don't miss it.

Several people told me to read this book and I did, but, I must admit to a bit of disappointment.

The story line was original and the plot worked but it didn't have the flesh to it. It wasn't satisfying at all. I understand that the next in the series is better but this one fell a bit flat for me.

Also the constant description of the physical attributes of the main characters got to me a bit. I would love to see it re-released but with much more about the Black Dragon and much more interaction between the characters. I didn't hate it, but I expected much more from it.