Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds was a delightful adventure set in a mystical China where legends walked the earth. The Story of the Stone, Hughart's sequel to the brilliant Bridge, is somewhat less delightful.

Like Bridge of Birds, The Story of the Stone recounts the adventures of Li Kao and Number Ten Ox as they attempt to unravel yet another baffling mystery. This time the mystery involves the killing of a monk and the theft of a seemingly inconsequential manuscript from its library. Suspicion soon lands on the infamous Laughing Prince--but the Prince has been dead for three millenia. To solve the mystery, the incongruous duo will have to travel across China, outwit half-barbarian kings, and saunter into Hell itself.

The Story of the Stone's greatest strength is its setting. Like its predecessor, The Story of the Stone takes full advantage of the fantastic ancient China that Hughart has conjured. As a result, the wonder in the previous book at times surfaces in this book as well.

Unfortunately, The Story of the Stone at times sticks too closely to Bridge of Birds, particularly when it comes to the plot. Like Bridge, The Story of the Stone contains unususal companions who turn out to be more than expected, and last-minute revelations that turn into Heavenly visits. Moreover, as in Bridge, the villain in The Story of the Stone turns out to be the person you would least expect, giving The Story of the Stone all the mystery of a Scooby Doo episode. This wouldn't be a problem if the first book hadn't already used all these plot twists to such great effect, but since it had, the same twists seem stale the second time around.

But there are also some important differences between The Story of the Stone and Bridge of Birds, and, unfortunately, it is primarily those differences that make The Story of the Stone a weaker novel.

Part of the charm of Bridge of Birds came from the whimsical and at times insouciant style of the entire book--from Hughart's writing, to Li Kao's exploits, to the actions of various sub-characters. For instance, on several occasions the various dupes of Li Kao find their way back into the story screaming, "What have you done with my ___?!": a deliberate repetition of unlikely coincidences that emphasize how seriously we are to take the book (that is, not at all). The Story of the Stone, however, is a much darker tale told in a much darker manner. It begins with a fairly shocking murder by Li Kao that occurs for no clear reason, then moves onto the macabre story of the Laughing Prince (and all that that entails). Now it's true that the first book was hardly free of grotesqueries: the various atrocities of the Duke of Chi'in were hardly fit for weak stomachs. But for some reason the first book managed to toss off these morbid elements with aplomb, whereas in The Story of the Stone the darker bits sit more heavily on the mind.

The Story of the Stone is also a far less cohesive book than Bridge of Birds. This can be seen most clearly in each book's use of magic. Bridge of Birds had almost no confirmed magical occurrences for at least half the book--and from that point onward the incidence of magic grew at a steady pace until it exploded (quite literally) in the last, glorious chapter. In The Story of the Stone, on the other hand, magic occurs sporadically throughout the book. The problem with this is that it can be quite jarring to expect a secular response to a particular problem and then to be presented with a supernatural response; and vice-versa. But the problems with cohesiveness do not end with each book's treatment of magic. In Bridge of Birds the mystery was an intricately constructed puzzle box with every element fitting into each other. In The Story of the Stone the different elements are far more disparate: for instance, several events occur in the first two chapters that seem completely irrelevant to the plot as a whole, and the search for Golden Lotus (or her replacement) seems unrelated to the story of the Laughing Prince.

Finally, and most importantly, The Story of the Stone is simply less interesting than Bridge of Birds. This is true even for the minor stories and legends recounted at various points in the book: The Story of the Stone's longest sub-story (the one about Wolf) doesn't hold a candle to the romantic tragedy of Henpecked Ho, or to the sad history of Old Generosity (nee Miser Shen). But the various adventures and plots that Li Kao and Number Ten Ox go through are also less interesting: less funny, less ingenious, less hair-raising, and simply less memorable. With some effort I could probably recount in rough outline the plot of Bridge of Birds. To do the same for The Story of the Stone would be nearly impossible.

I'm not sure how much of my negative reaction to The Story of the Stone is just that it's so different from Bridge of Birds. But I can't help but feel sorry that The Story of the Stone fails to live up to the merits of its illustrious predecessor.

Copyright © 2002 Steven Wu