http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2023/02/review-of-eight-skilled-gentlemen-by.ht... ( )

An enjoyable read 3.5 but I thought the story tailed off towards the end but Ox and Mater Li make up for it as there a great duo ( )

Eight Skilled Gentlemen is the third story of Master Li and Number Ten Ox. Unfortunately, the first thing that hit me about this story was historical inaccuracies. The story takes place in the familiar environs of Peking (Beijing), but many of the referred-to landmarks such as the Forbidden City and the artificial lakes weren't built until hundreds of years after the story's Tang dynasty setting (in fact, Beijing was mostly a frontier outpost at the time). That aside, I found the story fairly compelling, as politically corrupt officials pitted themselves against a mysterious supernatural force, with our protagonists of course getting stuck in the middle. I found the big reveal at the end to be surprising, though in hindsight it was completely in line with the reveals in the other stories. The final boat race scene at the end was a bit odd, though, and not as satisfying an ending as I would have preferred. ( )

I adore the first two books in this series, so the third was a bit of a let-down by comparison. Still a good fantasy, amusing adventure. But much less funny - in fact I can't really think of any funny moments. Pathos and a quest to solve a murder and end a drought. For me it was missing the overall feel of the earlier books. Each book is stand-alone with the same main characters. ( )

I did not find this book as interesting as the first two. Maybe I read it too soon after the last one, but the twists and turns annoyed me. I felt like the story dragged more than the others as well. I still love the two main characters, but I can see why the author stopped writing the stories (I read somewhere that he felt he was getting repetitive, and I agree). Too bad Hughart didn't seem to publish anything else. ( )