FREE EBOOK ⚣ Manchu Ú This novel transports the reader back to the savagery and the passion, to the opulence and sensuality, and to the great adventure of the last days of a dying dynasty. Plague of Darkness to the opulence and sensuality One Step Too Close and to the great adventure of the last days of a dying dynasty. Bogs down in some places, and I just somehow could not warm up to the central character, but the background was painted in lush words that made me keep reading just for that. Took me a while to finish this book but I learned a lot about China in the mid 1600s. Seems a constant was was going on, Europeans, mainly Portuguese were involved, although the main character was an Englishman; whose main skill was in artillery, both making and using canon. Also learned about the large spread of Christianity in China in the 1600s and the disagreements between the various Catholic branches like the Jesuits. How the Europeans military was helping Chinese armies, both technically and by selling arms to both sides of a dispute.
This is a Trilogy so will be reading the other 2 books in the series soon. This was a really wellwritten novel of the Manchu takeover of China (spoiler alert, the Manchu win) that does well to bring the reader into not only the intricacies of the Ming and Manchu courts, but also into the culture and history of the times. It's an interesting point of view, to put the reader into the mind and heart of Francis Arrowsmith, an English artilleryman, who is assisting the Jesuit Mission to China. The story is told almost entirely from the point of Catholic characters, giving it that interesting point of view as we see flawed characters who struggle to justify their soldiery or smutty activities with their faith. It's an interesting perspective that ultimately limits the book, even if that perspective is incredibly well fleshed out and detailed. I enjoyed it. Lovers of Chinese history will love it too for the fresh perspective (since most work on Chinese history tends to ignore this point of view). Demasiado largo y lo que es peor, con un personaje principal insulso y quejica.
Es interesante para conocer sobre la cultura China y Manchú del siglo XV. La manera en la que están descritos los colores y sabores de Asia a los ojos de un europeo es bastante buena, así como algunos de los personajes secundarios, sin embargo, el conjunto es flojo y la historia no fluye, lo cual, para un libro de casi 500 páginas hace que su lectura se convierta más en una prueba que en un placer.