Liu, Marjorie M. - The Red Heart of Jade

[oyceter]

Several people have already mentioned that this is a very flawed book, and how!

People are getting burned alive in Taiwan, and Dean Campbell of Dirk & Steele goes to investigate. He soon discovers that his childhood best friend and sweetheart Mirabelle Lee is actually alive, not dead as he's believed for twenty years. There is a lot of plot that involves dragons, several different factions, magical stones, mummies, strange memories, and probably some other things as well. It feels like Liu threw in everything and the kitchen sink, and despite the long exposition at the ending, I'm still not sure what happened. The book could have used about five fewer plots and been much more coherent.

That said, I actually enjoyed this a lot. I generally don't care that much about plot anyway, and given everyone's warnings, I felt free to completely ignore the plot and focus on the characters instead. It helped that the book included Taiwan (yay!), a heroine who lives in Bay Area and is Chinese, my favorite Dirk & Steele agent from the previous books, a lot of banter, childhood romances, romantic reunions and second chances. Given how cynical I am in real life about romantic reunions, I am not sure why this hits my buttons so hard, but it does.

Also, best lines ever:

"There, there." Miri patted his back. "If you like, I can touch your throbbing manhood and make it all better."

"Maybe I should handle your weeping flower. Water it with my hot man-juice. Caress your love grotto with my swinging showerhead."

I love Dean and Miri so much. I think they are my favorite couple so far, largely for the banter contrasting with the twenty years of angst.

And now, nitpicky things that only matter to me!

I was completely confused by the romanization of "Ni Ni" (grandma), as the book mostly seemed to be going with pinyin ("Nai nai"). I briefly thought it might be Canto or Taiwanese, except I'm pretty sure Miri only speaks Mandarin. (Dean does too! Awesomesauce!)

The Taipei still feels a little too shiny for me, though I liked the mention of stray dogs, Dean's observation that Taipei 101 looks like takeout cartons stacked on top of each other, National Taiwan University looking like concrete blocks, and the detail of the Far Eastern Hotel. Having spent part of an internship in that building, I squeed a bit when Liu mentions the bakery in the lobby.

Too bad Dean and Miri didn't have enough time for street food, what with all the demons and shapeshifters and people out to kill them.

Anyway, the plot is a total mess and the ending feels like a deus ex machina, I'm still confused as to why Dean can't sense Miri, and I'm not sure what the resolution means for the Dirk & Steele universe, but I am happily keeping the book anyway for good banter and sex that actually sounds like fun.

Links:
- oracne's review

Comments

[jiawen]

I think I remember going to a bakery in the Far Eastern Hotel once... Is the bakery in the Mall?

[oyceter]

There's a bakery in the basement of the Mall around the food courts, and I vaguely remember a fancy one in the hotel, but maybe I am making that up and it was a cart displaying desserts for the lobby restaurant/cafe...

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

Hee!

Marjorie Liu is definitely fond of the crazily complex plots and sometimes I think they get away from her. I had pretty much the same reaction as you about the end: What just happened?

[oyceter]

She is! So far, this is the craziest, though the others have been pretty nuts as well. Although no Hawaiian-raised sexually abused white ninjas yet, so that's saying something.

[estara.livejournal.com]

I always think of this book as "Liu does Indiana Jones" - with better romance.

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

The book sounds like fun, but I'm going to ask you about Lupe Fiasco instead. What do you think?

[oyceter]

I think I like? I like "Conflict Diamonds," but I tend to listen to music without looking at the artist, so I can't remember what the others sound like!

Off topic, but the title reminded me of something ...

[seraphcelene]

Have you read The Eye of Jade?

It's out among the pretty books at Costco and every time I see it I'm curious. The cover's pretty and the summary on the back looks interesting, but I'm on a book budget at the moment and my shiny new library card hasn't come yet.

Re: Off topic, but the title reminded me of something ...

[oyceter]

No! I just saw that at Borders yesterday and checked out the back cover copy, but I haven't read it.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I need to reread this, and just skip all the confusing plot!

[oyceter]

That's what I've been doing! I love the dialogue in this one so much.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

Just read this: the lines you quote made me laugh out loud for a good minute!

[oyceter]

Those are my favorite! The book is a total mess, but I love Miri and Dean.