Chapters 17-19 It was hard to choose what to write about in these chapters. There's a lot of good stuff! My favorite episode features Cao Cao, as he must face down what to do about his troops’ hunger. He orders the Granary Officer Wang Hou to give his
Nights 122-138 Two stories end here, and neither have a particularly strong narrative ending. The first is Aziz’s story. It has a lurid ending: a third beautiful woman is introduced just before the end. We are treated to some erotic poetry about them, they marry, Aziz regrets it, and
Chapters 15-16 This week's theme of brotherhood over family jumped out at me. Chapter 15 began with Liu Bei telling his "brothers" from the Peach Garden Oath an old saying: "Brothers are like arms and legs; wives and children are merely garments that can always
Nights 104-121 The long story nears its climax, only to take a sudden break. The witch finally kills Sharkan! Half-brother Dau swears vengeance! But before he goes to battle, he asks for someone to tell him a story to help him feel better. That brings us to a story within
Chapters 13-14 The Emperor is so miserable in these chapters that we sympathize with how he turns to Cao Cao. We see the Emperor fleeing from armies and find a town with no room for him at the inn. As his courtiers escape by tying silks together so they can
Nights 87-103 The long story of Nights 45-145 feels like it is coming to its end: a “holy war” (p. 420, night 87) where the “Army of Islam” (p. 459, night 101) fights against the heathens (the Christians). The writers enjoy smearing the Christians. Literally! Before battle, the Christians rub
Chapters 10-12 These three chapters start very strong. Chapter 10 is one of my favorites so far, showcasing the different characters of Cao Cao, Lu Bu, and Liu Bei: after Cao Cao’s father is killed pointlessly, he goes after the wrong person for revenge. Then Liu Bei intervenes to
Nights 70-86 It looks like we are nearing a happy ending, but we’re not quite there yet. Prince Dau and Princess Nuzhat are reunited when she recognizes her brother by his poetic laments about how much he misses her. This reunion is followed by a more somber one: We
Chapters 8-9 Great stuff here. These chapters belong to Diaochan. She is the woman who seduces both Dong Zhuo and his general Lu Bu, causing Dong Zhuo’s death. Diaochan is among the most well-known of the Magic cards from Portal: Three Kingdoms. As one of the only female characters
Nights 52-69 We start with a surprise death: Ghabdan kills off a character. And so far, he gets away with it! Our attention shifts to the prince and princess, before landing on Princess Nuzhat for most of it. She gets what is becoming a somewhat standard role reversal in The
Romance, Chapters 5-7 I enjoyed a lot of the episodes in these chapters. I’m hoping that I’ll continue to like the book as much as I have so far! In this part, the structure and tone felt like reading the Iliad (or a more extended narrative of the
Nights 35-51 This section contains three stories. They are all “problematic” in some ways, especially around sex. The first involves two lovers, but the woman is a slave. The story does a good job of making their love look consensual and inevitable, despite the power imbalance. When “he sucked her