Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Grave Robbers' Chronicles- Angry Sea, Hidden Sands

Today's post is The Grave Robbers' Chronicles Volume 2 Angry Sea, Hidden Sands by Xu Lei and translated by Kathy Mok. It is published by ThingsAsian Press and it 237 pages long excluding author's info and preview of the next book at the end. In my post about volume one I had some problems with that I thought was the translation style but now I think differently. Volume one was the first novel that Xu had written and the second volume is much better. It is easier to read, the action is more exciting and in general all in all just better. The language is still coarse but not as bad as in the first one.

The plot of volume starts right where one left off with Wu opening the box he found in the tomb of dead warriors. Inside there is a fish with eyebrows that are shaped like fish. His uncle Three pulls another one out of his pocket that looks just like the one Wu has. His uncle takes off without telling Wu anything> At first Wu is not concerned but when a week goes by without hearing anything from his uncle he is starting to get worried when he is called by a rental company. Uncle Three rented a boat with a full crew to find an underwater tomb which is a story that Wu has heard about all his life. Over the course of the story Wu ends up with two of his companions from the first Fats and Poker-face whose name we learn is Zhang Qilin The plot twists in this volume are more unpredictable then in the first one. I am looking forward to the next one because of the way he ends this one. Once again if ancient Chinese lore is your thing then definitely is a story for you. The third book is still being translated in English but I hope so see it soon.

My rating is 4 stars.

2 comments:

  1. Lynne, what a compliment and what a delight it is to find your review. Thank you so much! Volumes Three and Four will be out this year--soon, and I'm just finishing the edit of Volume 6, which is a nail-biter. (Five is my favorite of the series, I think--there are some honestly terrifying chapters in that.)
    Janet Brown

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    1. Thank you for reading my review and I'm excited that someone who is working on them took the time to read it. Excellent news on future books. Cannot wait to read them!

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