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A review by thebooknerdscorner
Envoys of Celestials by Ryu Zhong
4.0
A fun conclusion to an Asian fantasy trilogy full of magic, mischief, and a couple of rogue demons.
After taking over as the leader of the monk Soliang's quest bestowed by the Goddess of the West, Sung-Guan (also known as Takuan) must face the demons of his past. Previous deeds of devious origin will now come back to haunt Takuan as he makes his way towards the final destination of his party's quest.
This book once again starts off with about three chapters of pre-knowledge that sets up the story to come before Takuan's name even crosses the page. In this volume, we are reacquainted with Bricabrac, Prince Danian (the Prince of Blue Flowers), and Duke Bao-Zhu. Takuan has wronged all three of these men in the past, so I could just feel the karma that was coming to get Takuan as I read the beginning of this book. It was nice to tie up some loose ends with these antagonists and once again show that Takuan is not immune to the consequences of his schemes.
I'm glad to say that Ta-Guan, the stone marten, also makes her reappearance, though she isn't that important. Some secrets about our trustworthy fox friend Jin are revealed at the end of this book, which was certainly something I looked forward to the entire saga. Takuan's family also plays an important role in this story, which was nice.
I really enjoyed the vast array of characters in this series, but I wish there would have been any female representation that didn't rub me the wrong way. Qingbao literally shows up and the book just calls her "pretty" and "beautiful" over and over again without her contributing much of anything to the plot. This is such a toxic representation of women, and I was greatly saddened to see this. The only other girls in this series are Takuan's mother (she's a cookie-cutter mom), Takuan's sister (who pretty much values beauty above all else), the goddess Xiwanmu (who makes others do all the work for her), and Ruo Lian (who literally shows up to play love interest). It makes me sad that all of these women are petty, selfish, and can't seem to lift a finger for themselves. This didn't take away from the overall story too much, but it just nagged on my brain the entire time.
The very end of this story was very entertaining. A battle of wits is always fun to witness, so it was great seeing Takuan go head to head with the evil sorcerer, Bing Lieu. It may not have been much of a competition, but I thought it was funny to experience Bing Lieu trying to outwit the trickster.
Overall, "Envoys of Celestials" was a great conclusion to a fun, adventurous romp of a series. It may have wrapped up the main conflict a tad quickly and dwelt more on the consequences of Takuan's devious ways, but I honestly appreciate this. It felt nice that this series was more about Takuan's character than some heroic quest that the god's needed the characters to complete. Obviously, that was still a huge chunk of it, but dwelling on our main character's life was much more entertaining to consume, at least in my opinion. I would be interested to see what the author plans on doing next if they so decide to return to this world. The mythology is complex, there are many characters to touch back on, and there are many plot lines I could see a future adventure taking. If one is willing to read a semi-cheesy adventure story featuring a tricky trickster, a deft fox, and a bunch of bizarre demons, I think it's safe to say that "The Adventures of Takuan from Koto" might be worth checking out (especially if you are a fan of Asian fantasy).
After taking over as the leader of the monk Soliang's quest bestowed by the Goddess of the West, Sung-Guan (also known as Takuan) must face the demons of his past. Previous deeds of devious origin will now come back to haunt Takuan as he makes his way towards the final destination of his party's quest.
This book once again starts off with about three chapters of pre-knowledge that sets up the story to come before Takuan's name even crosses the page. In this volume, we are reacquainted with Bricabrac, Prince Danian (the Prince of Blue Flowers), and Duke Bao-Zhu. Takuan has wronged all three of these men in the past, so I could just feel the karma that was coming to get Takuan as I read the beginning of this book. It was nice to tie up some loose ends with these antagonists and once again show that Takuan is not immune to the consequences of his schemes.
I'm glad to say that Ta-Guan, the stone marten, also makes her reappearance, though she isn't that important. Some secrets about our trustworthy fox friend Jin are revealed at the end of this book, which was certainly something I looked forward to the entire saga. Takuan's family also plays an important role in this story, which was nice.
I really enjoyed the vast array of characters in this series, but I wish there would have been any female representation that didn't rub me the wrong way. Qingbao literally shows up and the book just calls her "pretty" and "beautiful" over and over again without her contributing much of anything to the plot. This is such a toxic representation of women, and I was greatly saddened to see this. The only other girls in this series are Takuan's mother (she's a cookie-cutter mom), Takuan's sister (who pretty much values beauty above all else), the goddess Xiwanmu (who makes others do all the work for her), and Ruo Lian (who literally shows up to play love interest). It makes me sad that all of these women are petty, selfish, and can't seem to lift a finger for themselves. This didn't take away from the overall story too much, but it just nagged on my brain the entire time.
The very end of this story was very entertaining. A battle of wits is always fun to witness, so it was great seeing Takuan go head to head with the evil sorcerer, Bing Lieu. It may not have been much of a competition, but I thought it was funny to experience Bing Lieu trying to outwit the trickster.
Overall, "Envoys of Celestials" was a great conclusion to a fun, adventurous romp of a series. It may have wrapped up the main conflict a tad quickly and dwelt more on the consequences of Takuan's devious ways, but I honestly appreciate this. It felt nice that this series was more about Takuan's character than some heroic quest that the god's needed the characters to complete. Obviously, that was still a huge chunk of it, but dwelling on our main character's life was much more entertaining to consume, at least in my opinion. I would be interested to see what the author plans on doing next if they so decide to return to this world. The mythology is complex, there are many characters to touch back on, and there are many plot lines I could see a future adventure taking. If one is willing to read a semi-cheesy adventure story featuring a tricky trickster, a deft fox, and a bunch of bizarre demons, I think it's safe to say that "The Adventures of Takuan from Koto" might be worth checking out (especially if you are a fan of Asian fantasy).