Li Ju-Chen (–1830)

This book definitely fits its category, A Book With Magic.

The back cover of my copy claims Flowers in the Mirror is "virtually unknown in the European Languages heretofore." Given that I'm one of only sixty thingers with this book their library and the first to review it, little seems to have changed in the seven years since my copy was printed.

Li Ju-Chen's book in its abridged form is at times a tedious read, a simultaneously straight-forward narrative whose allegories and historical allusions are lost on those unfamiliar with Chinese history and culture (such as me). There is an overwhelming cast of characters (requiring multiple lists of familial relationships), most of whom make cameos with little or no explanation of who they are or their purpose in the story. The opening story of the Empress Wu ordering all flowers to bloom simultaneously, which results in the fairy of a hundred flowers to descend to Earth, disappears from the narrative until it is nearly over, by which point I had forgotten it.

The preface to my translation relates that the original book is over 400,000 words in length and that the translator has removed large portions due to its unrelatibility (my paraphrase of her reasoning) and added her own text to bridge the gaps. Even my highly condensed version was still as arduous a read as the journey the main characters take to distant lands, where they endlessly meet warrior women who save them from peril, are somehow related to or known by the main characters, have recently lost their parents, and have some need to accompany the main characters on their journey. The story ends with a battle between an army attempting to restore the emperor to the throne and several evil warlords. The fighting occurs across four passes; a warlord has cast a spell over each of the four. Members of the attacking army enter the pass and are overcome by the spell before anyone thinks to capture one of the warlord's warriors and learn why the warlord's soldiers are immune to the spell. The repetition of this pattern becomes unbelievable after its second—but not last—occurrence.

There are some interesting parts within the story, but without a cultural understanding, I feel I missed most of the significance of the events and characters. For instance, all the fairies are "of the hundred...," but the importance of one hundred goes unexplained and I wasn't curious enough to research it. Not a book I would recommend to anyone lacking an interest in immersing themself in the research necessary to understand the connection between the story and the historical time it takes place in.… (más)