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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5 stars. For me this had a very strong beginning to middle, and then started to falter. The graphic violence, while a standard piece of most westerns (which I would consider this novel to be), did not always seem to serve the story's forward momentum and eventually started to make the novel feel repetitive. For example, the especially violent storyline that plays out in the last third of the book with the "giant" outlaw felt out of place and didn't add anything for me, making the story drag.
The writing was beautiful, causing me to pause and re-read sentences here and there, and I loved the element of the travelling miracle show, especially the characters of Hazel and Hunter. I also greatly enjoyed reading a western from the point of view of a Chinese-American, by a Chinese author- something that I haven't come across before. I would read another title by this author and think others will likely very much enjoy this book, it just wasn't a 5-star read for me personally.
The writing was beautiful, causing me to pause and re-read sentences here and there, and I loved the element of the travelling miracle show, especially the characters of Hazel and Hunter. I also greatly enjoyed reading a western from the point of view of a Chinese-American, by a Chinese author- something that I haven't come across before. I would read another title by this author and think others will likely very much enjoy this book, it just wasn't a 5-star read for me personally.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu" by Tom Lin lived up to the cover blurb from the New York Times Book Review which said that it was "reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy". A revenge adventure across the 1860's western U.S. as Ming Tsu accompanied by The Prophet and the cast of characters from a magic show rains down retribution on the men who forcibly separated him from his wife. An impressive first novel with a satisfying ending. I highly recommend this novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, Murder
adventurous
dark
tense
was kind of all over the place and had a lot of good underlying themes, but none were fully developed or the main theme. the imagery was very dramatic and vivid, would make a great movie!