julietorngaard's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
bittercactus's review
3.0
I liked it, even with the problems you’d expect from a book written by a Dutch man in the 1950s about a 7th century Chinese detective. Judge Dee even turned out to have a “love is love” attitude towards the one gay character.
lilithka's review against another edition
4.0
I'm simply delighted. Van Gulik manages to create authentically Tang atmosphere and the murders themselves are well thought through as well. If the author did not use Western style of narration I could almost believe the story to have been written in imperial China. After all Judge Dee is based on a real person and Mister van Gulik knew China very well and translated from Chinese.
annewithabook's review against another edition
2.0
I loved the first book of this series, which is simply van Gulik translating a classic Chinese novel. Imagine my disappointment, then, when I read this and didn't like it. The characters feel too different from the first book, even if this is supposed to be a prequel, set at the beginning of Judge Dee's career as a magistrate. Whereas in the first book the characters felt realistic to the time and place, some of the characters' judgements in this book felt more modern and out of place for the setting. Like the first book, the plot interweaves three cases. But where the first book took time developing each case before moving on to the next one, this one throws you into all three cases within the first fifty pages, making it nearly impossible to keep track of what clue or witness goes with each case. Saying that, the only reason I gave this book two stars instead of one is that it is clear that van Gulik knows a lot of the era and many of the details are rich in historical accuracy. It is just also clear that he is a better translator than he is an author. Perhaps I am being too harsh on this book, for its sequels may be better. I'm just still deciding if I'll read them or not.
writerlibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
A reread. Classic Chinese detective tale, almost verbatim from archival accounts. van Gulik was a world renowned sinologist and he had a passion for Chinese criminal justice. His hero Judge Dee is based on an historical judge and his adventures around the Empire starting around 663 AD. It's well done, the reader is put right inside the story and you get to learn a few interesting things about the Empire frontier life on the Korean borders. I love his original mysteries. The new adventures of Judge Dee are not to be even approached. It's like getting a slice of processed cheese when you had the real thing.
octavietullier's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
carol26388's review against another edition
4.0
Judge Dee is looking forward to getting out of the Chinese Metropolitan Court of Justice. He's tired of only seeing cases on paper, processing routine documents and copies and has requested a recently vacated district judge position. It doesn't matter that the Magistrate position will be in the district of Peng-lai, on the seacoast far from the capitol. It doesn't even matter that the position opened due to the murder of the prior judge, discovered in his library with the doors and windows locked. Though his two friends and co-workers try to convince him otherwise, he remains excited:
"Now he said eagerly, "think of it, a mysterious murder to solve, right after one has arrived at one's post! To have an opportunity right away for getting rid of dry-as-dust theorizing and paper work! At last I'll be dealing with men, my friends, real living men!"
Judge Dee is about to get what he asked for and more. There are honorable highwaymen, prostitutes, Korean nationalists, mysterious monks, supercilious scholars and tormented minor officials. Rumors abound with sightings of the supernatural: the ghost of the former judge and a man-eating were-tiger. Though certainly these things existed to the Chinese people in 663 A.D., the Judge feels the mundane must be ruled out before the supernatural is blamed.
I had only read one other Judge Dee mystery to date, and I found this one even more enjoyable than the first. Part of it may have been the erudite and comprehensive introduction by Donald F. Lach that provided both biography of the author, the historical Judge Dee tales in Chinese literature (think something like Paul Bunyan folk tales) and van Gulik's approach to his version. But I think more likely is that it is a genuinely interesting mystery, wrapped in the atmosphere of historical China, much like Agatha Christie's mysteries provide insight into the local English culture of that time. As Lach points out, "the smallest items--ink stones, nails in a Tartar shoe, the gongs of Taoist monks, door knobs--are brought into the stories at strategic points... to enlighten the Western reader about these strange objects and their function." I was afraid these details might intrude, but instead they added depth to the tale. Lach's insight also made me glad that Van Gulik chose to tailor his tale slightly to Western sensibilities and not reveal the criminal's identity in the beginning (talk about setting the concept of spoilers on its head!)
Overall, a fascinating tale. I'll be looking for some of the other stories written by Van Gulik, although I might focus on the ones written after 1958 as they deviate more from the traditional Chinese Judge Dee tales.
"Now he said eagerly, "think of it, a mysterious murder to solve, right after one has arrived at one's post! To have an opportunity right away for getting rid of dry-as-dust theorizing and paper work! At last I'll be dealing with men, my friends, real living men!"
Judge Dee is about to get what he asked for and more. There are honorable highwaymen, prostitutes, Korean nationalists, mysterious monks, supercilious scholars and tormented minor officials. Rumors abound with sightings of the supernatural: the ghost of the former judge and a man-eating were-tiger. Though certainly these things existed to the Chinese people in 663 A.D., the Judge feels the mundane must be ruled out before the supernatural is blamed.
I had only read one other Judge Dee mystery to date, and I found this one even more enjoyable than the first. Part of it may have been the erudite and comprehensive introduction by Donald F. Lach that provided both biography of the author, the historical Judge Dee tales in Chinese literature (think something like Paul Bunyan folk tales) and van Gulik's approach to his version. But I think more likely is that it is a genuinely interesting mystery, wrapped in the atmosphere of historical China, much like Agatha Christie's mysteries provide insight into the local English culture of that time. As Lach points out, "the smallest items--ink stones, nails in a Tartar shoe, the gongs of Taoist monks, door knobs--are brought into the stories at strategic points... to enlighten the Western reader about these strange objects and their function." I was afraid these details might intrude, but instead they added depth to the tale. Lach's insight also made me glad that Van Gulik chose to tailor his tale slightly to Western sensibilities and not reveal the criminal's identity in the beginning (talk about setting the concept of spoilers on its head!)
Overall, a fascinating tale. I'll be looking for some of the other stories written by Van Gulik, although I might focus on the ones written after 1958 as they deviate more from the traditional Chinese Judge Dee tales.
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