Under Heaven

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED? Remember that from Gladiator? What if you had a person, off camera say...."Meh"? or "Uninspired!" (Gladiator instantly turns into a Mel Brooks movie).  Anyway, Under Heaven, while well written, was just not my thing.  In fact, it supposedly gets "exciting" at the end but by then I was kind of in slog-mode. It is about 85% historical fiction with a "hint" of supernatural.  They say it's fantasy but it's not really fantasy. Set in 8th century China its about some dude, horses, concubines, ghosts, a wolf-man (not the fun kind, who makes a wolf-man boring!), ninjas...even "lady ninjas" and lots and lots of court intrigue.

I'm not sure women were this empowered in the olden times.  I guess theoretically there would be a lady ninja or a petite, super-cute lady warrior but I doubt it. You know there would be some 8th century idiot that made a proclamation that lady-ninjas weren't smart, strong or "too emotional" to be hired.  It turns out the idiot is just some bro who lives in his parent's basement playing mah-jong all day and never held a sword in his life (he had a collection of swords but had no idea how to actually use them).

There are plenty of people that liked this book, but sadly, I thought it meh.  I listened to some on audio and the narrator is excellent (one reason I picked this up) but still.....I've heard this is not Kay's best work so I'll probably give him another chance.

Drinks: The characters in this book drink warm spiced rice wine.  Mulled wine will sound amazing in about three months but it's a still a little too hot right now. How about a Ginger Ale and Sake drink?: Mix roughly equal parts sake and ginger ale in a glass with ice and serve with a lemon twist.