REVIEW: Tale of the Drunken Sword by Jeannie Lin

JayneB Reviews / Book ReviewsFantasy / Historical-China / POC / POC author / short-story / Tang Dynasty / Wuxia2 Comments

A Tang Dynasty martial arts fantasy from bestselling author Jeannie Lin

Lu Yan is a hard-drinking, womanizing scholar on a crooked path to enlightenment. When a mysterious woman at a roadside inn warns him of an approaching horde of demons, it’s time for Lu Yan to sober up and discover what he’s made of. Now if he could only find his sword…

Dear Ms. Lin, 

Whoo-hoo. That was fun. A little bit wuxia with some super-hero badinage thrown in just to spice things up. Lu Yan might only have hazy memories of the partying he did last night but he does (vaguely) remember doing the “flip a cup of wine with his sword” thing to impress two giggling singers who entertain at the rural inn. But when he wakes up (fully dressed and a bit woozy) it’s another woman who skewers him with her no-nonsense gaze and gets him up to face a bit of his destiny. It’s self discovery time while fighting off a horde of demons. 

This would make a fabulous graphic novel as I could easily picture the various nasty sounding demons and freaks coming after Lu Yan and Jian as they whirl, spin, and thrust their way out of this mess. I had to laugh at Lu Yan’s little quips and humorous lines though I’m with Jian – come on man, this is no time to be flirting with a sing-song girl! Please, please let us have more Lu Yan and Jian in the future. B    

~Jayne 

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Jayne

Another long time reader who read romance novels in her teens, then took a long break before started back again about 25 years ago. She enjoys historical romance/fiction best, likes contemporaries, action- adventure and mysteries, will read suspense if there's no TSTL characters and is currently reading more fantasy and SciFi.

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