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Jan 06, 2018breemu rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Largely a good story. The initial submersion into an ancient culture and its people is extremely well told (as is some of China's history from that viewpoint), and when the now familiarized reader later sees some of those ancient customs in a most jarring contrast to the methods of the modern western world, they no longer seem at all strange but rather quite appropriate for the occasion. On the other hand, the fate of the main character travels a path almost laughably fairy tale-ish (you can see it coming for miles), and I hate stories that require a man (especially an extremely wealthy one) for things to turn out well for the heroine (and there's more than one very rich "prince charming" in this story which negates it being indicative purely of an older culture where women seldom if ever advanced without a wealthy, male benefactor...). Thankfully, the final pages of the book return once again to the ancient culture, and amidst its old and ordered customs a rather lovely - if purely serendipitous - ending offers some small redemption for the book's failings mid-tale.