The Story of the Stone is the second installment of Barry Hughart's
Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox. It continues shortly after
Bridge of Birds, though I don't believe you need to read them in order as the events of each are completely independent of one another. As before, the novel takes elements of Chinese history and myth and blends them together with a lot of fantasy. In this book, we get to see references to Prince
Liu Sheng,
Ssu-ma Ch'ien, and the novel
Dream of the Red Chamber, among many others.
Below follows my full review.
