Tom Lin (1)Reseñas

SO damn good. Engrossing, lyrical, thrilling, just a beautiful piece of work. And what a great story - I predict it will be made into a movie.

The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu by Tom Lin has to be the most bizarre book I've ever read in my life! It is a Western/Fantasy/Crime Thriller. Yes, that's what I said. Crazy mix if I ever saw one but I have to admit…it worked!

Orphaned as a small boy, Ming Tsu is taken in by a man named Silas who is a hired gun in the old west. He trains Ming from childhood to be his apprentice in the world of assassins. Striking out on his own after the death of Silas, Ming Tsu meets beautiful Ada. Back then no white man would ever think of allowing his daughter to marry a Chinaman, and although she was promised to another, the two lovers elope. Not married more than two months, a gang of men hired by her father kidnap her, returning her back home and to her intended. Finding himself in hot water, Ming gets a 10 year sentence working on the railroad driving spikes alongside other men of his country, including a blind prophet who befriends Ming. After many years, he escapes with the prophet and they set out to travel west with Ming hell-bound on revenge. His plan is to find and kill each member of the gang that kidnapped his wife. If all goes well he will get his Ada back.

The two unlikely travelers roam from state to state with a list of the men to die, and tick them off one by one. Our prophet has the gift of sight, as in clairvoyance, and occasionally can aid Ming to ward off danger….and bullets. Along the way they meet up with a small ragtag group of entertainers, each having paranormal gifts. There are four men, one woman, and a small boy. The Ringmaster and his wards pay Ming Tsu to travel with them for protection against any who would harm them and together they all head west knowing Ming’s mission. The supernatural gifts these unusual people are blessed with are very different than I’ve read of in other fantasy books and I thought the author was quite clever with them as they use their abilities to aid Ming.

As a warning, this is a highly violent book. There is an abundance of killing. It is gruesome, very graphic, and not for the weak of heart. Blood and guts everywhere. I have to say it is truly the most violent book I have ever read. However, to balance it all out, the camaraderie and friendships that create emotional bonding between the cast of players is often tender and of great heart. I fell in love with most of the characters and would loved to have seen this motley crew in a series.

How this all ends is on one hand predictable, but on the other hand not so much. I did get a surprise that I didn’t see coming that I still am not sure I liked too much. All in all, I must admit I loved this bizarre story. The writing is beautiful and the key characters are for the most part lovable. Even our bloodthirsty gunslinger has his soft spots. The plot and story-line are well done but I think may have been a bit boring without the fantasy elements to give it flavor.

The reason for my rating of four stars instead of five is simple. Even for a Wild West western, and even with a trained assassin as the lead, the violence got to be over-the-top. If the author had cut it back just a bit, and added a bit more of the fantasy with less blood shed, it would have been a 5 star debut novel. I think Tom Lin is an author to watch and I look forward to his next book.

Short Western revenge quest with magical realism elements. Ming Tsu has a pretty high body count (thus the title), but what I really enjoyed were the descriptions of the arid intermountain west.

I do feel like the MRAzn crowd might like this book, because of the masculine violence as Ming kills those who wronged him in effort to get back to his white wife.

Skimming through some other reviews, some felt he should be "more Chinese", which... feels odd given there's no one singular way to be something? The character was orphaned at a young age and raised/trained by a white man, which would be different from the laborers coming predominantly from southern China, but he knows he's different from the majority because of how they treat him. Maybe Ming can spend some time musing on his identity after going through his vengeance list, but I do think there's something inherent in how the traveling circus became a found family of sorts, as they were all people out of time in a way.

Praised for its cinematic appeal, The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu is the story of Ming, an orphaned son of Chinese immigrants, raised by the notorious leader of a California crime syndicate who trained him to be his deadly enforcer. When Ming falls in love with Ada, the daughter of a powerful railroad magnate, the two elope and seize the opportunity to escape to a different life. But in a violent raid, Ada’s tycoon father’s henchmen kidnap her and conscript Ming into service for the Central Pacific Railroad. Ming escapes and takes off on a journey to avenge all who have wronged him and to rescue his wife. Along the way, he encounters a mystical band of traveling performers – outsiders in their own right – and serves as a Sherpa and bodyguard to ensure their safe passage. Part thriller, part revenge drama, part romance: this is a story of one man’s quest for redemption and meaning, set against a distinct brutality that defines the founding of the American West. The New York Times called it: “An astounding debut that reimagines the classic Western through the eyes of a Chinese American assassin on a quest to rescue his kidnapped wife and exact his revenge on her abductors”

Anti-miscegenation laws—laws prohibiting interracial marriage and relationships—plagued the United States and were a part of the American fabric for centuries, some lasting until the 1960s. Tom Lin frames his debut novel, The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu, around this issue as the eponymous protagonist of the story was married to a white woman until her father and the local law enforcement put an end to it. But, The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu isn't a simple revenge/romance story. You see, Ming is a murderer. The morality of this tale isn't clear and dry. Ming travels a long road to reunite with Ada, and it might not pan out the way he thinks it will.

While the likes of C Pam Zhang have written novels featuring Chinese characters in the Wild West, Tom Lin's novel feels truly pulpy in the sense that he is honoring the tradition of the dime store westerns with all their heroics, descriptions of the land, and description of outlaws. Lin just sets the record straight about how the West wasn't just a bunch of white, Europeans and natives battling it out but it was truly a melting pot. The Chinese emigrated to the Western US in search of gold and ended up helping build the transcontinental Railroad.

Lin has created a dreamy Western landscape, steeped in myth and history, starring a sympathetic protagonist—one who you cheer on till the devastating conclusion.

Lots of killing!! I kept reading thinking it would have some redeeming value, but to the end it was just lots of killing. Somewhat interesting characters and some enlightenment into the racism of the time, but not a book I would recommend.½

Dark but so much light.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book bring on the next one.

Diese Geschichte spielt im Jahr 1869 im Westen von Amerika. Es ist die Zeit des Eisenbahnbaus. Der Chinese Ming Tsu ist einer der Arbeitssklaven, die ungeheuer schwer arbeiten müssen und grausam behandelt werden. Er erträgt das alles, weil er ein Ziel hat. Mit Hilfe eines blinden Greises, welcher „Der Prophet“ genannt wird, gelingt ihm die Flucht. Unterwegs treffen Ming Tsu und der alte Mann auf eine Zirkusgruppe, mit denen sie weiterreisen. Dabei arbeitet Ming Tsu Stück für Stück seines Rachefeldzuges ab und hofft, dass er in Kalifornien seine große Liebe wiederfindet.
Dieses Buch ist eigentlich keinem Genre zuzuordnen, denn es enthält Thrillerelemente (kamen mir etwas zu kurz), etwas Western und Fantastisches. Sprachlich hat mir das Buch wirklich gut gefallen, das Gemetzel dagegen sagte mir weniger zu.
Ming Tsu hat früh seine Eltern verloren und wurde von einem Pflegevater unter die Fittiche genommen. Bei ihm lernte er das Töten, außerdem auch noch, dass man keine Skrupel und keine Moral haben darf. Daher belastet ihn auch nicht, was er tut.
Der Prophet hat seherische Fähigkeiten, die dich unterwegs als hilfreich erweisen. Nicht alle Zirkusmitglieder sind von dem Chinesen begeistert, aber sie profitieren voneinander.
Ein interessanter und spannender Roman mit einem überraschenden Ende.

Very violent. Interesting descriptions and prose. Chinese Ming Tsu seeks revenge. Meets traveling show with supernatural participants. Travels with "Prophet"
Recommended by Lee Farina½

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Tom Lin - The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu: This is a western. Yes, it has a very specific leaning, but I just don’t really like westerns. #cursorybookreviews #cursoryreviews

Cowboys, Indians, Chinese and the history along the newly-built railroads - a journey into revenge - magical and brutally real. Starting in a raw Utah and embarking across a wilderness of murder through Nevada and California, this is a mythological tale filled with characters that shimmer in an amazingly unique way. Cinematic and resembling a story from Tarantino, one is immersed from start to finish. Highly recommended.

This is a wronged man doing wrong vengeance tale, but sort of in the background of a hypnotic tale of journeying across the desert collecting a group of very unusual people. The body count is high and increases steadily along the way.½

The plot here is very simple. Ming Tsu is jailed and forced to work on railroad construction in the western United States for several years in the late 1800's. He is separated from his wife who is the love of his life. Once he escapes he goes on a quest for vengeance to make the men pay for what they did to him. He is not above killing many others along the way. That done, his ultimate goal is to reunite with his wife. He has many adventures including a stint with a traveling magic show. This a capably written novel of revenge checkered by love.

This is like reading a Quentin Tarantino movie! Tons of violence, yet somehow it pulled me into the story and the main character Ming Tsu is memorable. Ming was orphaned and raised by a white man whose life was crime yet he showed love to Ming. Ming has fallen in love with a white woman and they elope. The wife's father has hired killers to kill Ming, but Ada pleads for his life and he is taken to work on the railroad with the other Chinese. Now he is determined to kill those who caused him so much pain.

The kills a man to escape from the railroad and ventures onto a path back to Sacrament to Ada that is filled with violence as he kills one man after another without any kind of remorse or guilt. Along the way he encounters a "traveling show" which shows miracles - one being Hazel who is able to withstand fire. Along with the troupe and the Ringleader is a young boy Hunter.

This is the story of Ming who outwardly is so cold and violent yet is capable of love and tenderness to those around him especially Hazel and Hunter. The travel West is over the mountains and unbelievable scenes of violence and hardship including a gang of killers they meet along the way.

When he reaches Sacrament, he finds Ada (spoiler: his killer reflexes actually kills her). It seems she was afraid of his killing nature and although she loved him, agreed to have him removed from her.

Actually, this is an interesting book and character study of a man so prone to violence, yet capable of so much concern for others. Well-written. (Sometimes, I did have to wonder why I was reading all the blood and killing, yet each chapter pulled me into the other - and the ending was will done).

audiobook (10 hours), adult fiction - adventure/western, a US-born Chinese assassin plots his revenge as he journeys from Salt Lake City back to Sacramento, in the company of a blind prophet, and a circus of people with magical abilities, set in the railroad-building days of Utah-Nevada-California, by a Chinese-American author who is local to Northern California.

I don't read a lot of westerns and would not have picked this up if this weren't a local POC author producing significant buzz, but I enjoyed this--lots of action scenes (watch out for that sharpened railroad spike) as well as a little romance, some characters with fantastic abilities, a bit of railroad history from the point of view of the "disposable" Chinese workers, and a whole lot of vengeance.

This is a western story set in the time when they were building the transcontinental railroad. It is also a story of revenge and magical realism. Ming Tsu is a Chinese man who was raised by a white man and trained to be an assassin. When his wife is taken from him and he is forced out, he finds himself working on a railroad gang until the time is right to seek his revenge to those who wringed him and get his wife back. With the assistance of and old blind Chinese man known as the Prophet, they set out. They hook up with a traveling magic show as they head west. This is a violent story as the title suggests, and it is all about Ming and how he fits in this world of his. I found it quite enjoyable and fascinating. I was first put off by the magical realism, but it worked and I am glad I read it.

This is more a video game in words than a novel. There are great characters: The Ringleader, The Prophet, The Deaf-Mute Boy who can transmit his voice into other people's minds (but not theirs into his), the Indian who can erase memories, The Woman Who is Impervious to Fire. Then there's Ming Tsu himself a Chinese-American orphan and expert gunslinger who is used to highlight the racism of the west. All of these people together could have made a fascinating story, instead, it's just murder and vengeance over and over and over again. What a waste of a good idea.½

weird-western, violence, retribution, Chinese-hero, assassins, magic, 1870s*****

Think a spaghetti western directed by Quentin Tarantino and Tim Burton. It's been too long since I've read a novel of the Weird Western genre, but now I'm going to hope that I find some again. The plot is odd, the characters are almost believable (c'mon, if you can go with witches...), the violence is less graphic than crime fiction. It's all overlaid on the era of the building of the western railroads and the inequities among people. I liked it a lot!
I requested and received a temporary digital ARC of this book from Little, Brown and Company via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu, opens like a traditional Western. The protagonist, Ming Tsu, wronged by some monstrous injustice is seeking revenge by gun fight. He moves through the salt dessert of the American West, sleeping by campfire under the stars. The novel moves out of the genre, though, when he meets his first adversary. After killing and robbing him, Ming calls out for "the prophet." The blind, ageless, prophet does not remember Ming - he has no memory at all - but, he has power to know the death of all men. He joins Ming, whom he refers to as "my child." From this point in the novel onward, reality is abandoned for the most part and memory and the lack of memory play an ever increasing role in the plot.
Tom Lin is a talented writer with a polished literary style to his narrative; however, it is wasted with this insipid plot and gratuitous violence.