RE: Imperial Lady - Discussion
Irene > December 29th, 2021, 10:31 AM
Over a month. I just finished IMPERIAL LADY yesterday.
I normally read at a book-a-day pace. This 290 page book taking over a month means I found it hard reading.
The first half of the book is about the Ch'in royal court. I found that the use of a mix of Chinese and English words for the same person or place a bit confusing. I don't like needing to figure out who is who. [I don't want to keep a list of alternate names.]
This first half was slow, and maybe was needed to make the second half make sense, but it felt like a knowledge dump. Telling me everything that the authors knew of ancient China. The second half was more interesting and was about life beyond the Great Wall.
Sadly, that part was also a bit tedious. Once you tell me that the drumhead was probably made of human skin, there is no way I would forget that. As for patching the drumhead mid-adventure, well that probably wouldn't work, as the drumhead would need to be removed, patched, re-installed, and the patch would probably make the drum unplayable.
I don't recommend this book.