The Court of the Lion: A Novel of the T'Ang Dynasty

by Eleanor Cooney and Daniel Altieri

Book Overview

Political conniving, passion, treason and pageantry fill the days at the Emperor's court during the T'ang dynasty. But as the Emperor loses himself in a concubines's delights, he is little aware of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0877959021
• ISBN13: 9780877959021
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 920 Pages
• Weight: 3.05 lbs.

Customer Reviews

1200 YEARS AGO IN CHINA . . .

The characters in this book are not just your ordinary people. They are one of the Tang Dynasty's greatest emperors, Tang Minghuang, and the court beauty, Consort Yang Guifei, who gained control of his court in his later years. It is the story of An Lushan, the "barbarian" from the north they 'adopted', who eventually attacked the dynasty. Included in the story are some of China's most famous artists and poets (Li Bai, and Tu Fu), and other notable personages of the time. This well-researched novel brings Chinese history alive in a compelling story of love, intrigue, deception, dissipation. It is a worthy read on many levels.

Real history, fictional format

This is one of the most incredible historical novels I have ever read. The sheer deviousness of the intrigue, the twists and turns of the plot, and the settings (both glorious and decadent) keep you glued to it, but remembering that most of the content is taken from historical fact is frosting on the cake. Cooney and Altieri do a remarkable job of taking actual historical events (and you would be surprised at how many of the events are actually historical!) and filling in the gaps with well-written prose to make each and every character come to life with personalities and motivations that explain it all. One of my all-time favorites!

brings a lost world to life

This is a complex and well written novel. Set at the end of the T'ang dynasty (AD738)in China it shows how the dynasty fell. Virtually all the charcters in the novel are based on historical people and the society as laid out in the novel is obviously based on a lot of research. It involves death, deception, loyalty and dishonour - and the founding of Korea as a penal state for political dissidents. (shades of Australia!)This is not a quick book to read (it's quite big at 920 pages). However at the end you marvel at the author's ability to portray so well a world so long gone. Esecially when you consider that the authors are from "the west" and not China.

A amazing view into a very rich Chinese history

I have read this book a total of four times since my mother bought me this book. The description of the T'ang city is extremely rich and very colorful and the characters are very wonderful to read.. To put it simply, it is about several characters who struggles to save the T'ang dynasty from corruption from within. If you're looking for a very good drama/mystery book, I strongly recommend you to hunt this book down, because it is worth the time to read..