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4.0 

The Story of Kao Yu

By Peter S. Beagle
The Story of Kao Yu by Peter S. Beagle digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

"The Story of Kao Yu” is a fantasy short story by the legendary author Peter S. Beagle which tells of an aging judge traveling through rural China and of a criminal he encounters.

Of the story, Beagle says it “comes out of a lifelong fascination with Asian legendry — Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Indonesian — all drawn from cultures where storytelling, in one form of another, remains a living art. As a young writer I loved everything from Robert van Gulik's Judge Dee mysteries to Lafcadio Hearn's translations of Japanese fairytales and many lesser-known fantasies. Like my story ‘The Tale of Junko and Sayuri,’ ‘The Story of Kao Yu’ is a respectful imitation of an ancient style, and never pretends to be anything else. But I wrote it with great care and love, and I'm still proud of it.“

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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24 Reviews

4.0
“The Story of Kao Yu begins on a solid foundation of building the character of Kao Yu, a travelling judge in south China respected for his bond with the mythical chi-lin- a Chinese unicorn known for appearing during the reign of an Emperor enjoying the Mandate of Heaven, a messenger of justice if you will- as much as his fairness and patience and wisdom. The judge falls under the spell of a young pickpocket, her beauty marveling him to the point of clouding his judgment and allowing her to slip through his fingers not once but twice. When the young pickpocket appears before Kao Yu for the last time, the chi-lin makes his final appearance with disastrous consequences for the judge. I loved how Kao Yu's emotion and the conflict he experienced over Lanying drove the story while we patiently waited for the chi-lin to make an appearance; you really felt for what Kao Yu was going through. What I struggled with was the absence of the chi-lin for the bulk of the story, even though it made sense for what the author was trying to achieve. Four out of five judicial rounds.”

About Peter S. Beagle

Peter S. Beagle is the bestselling author of The Last Unicorn, which has sold a reported five million copies since its initial publication in 1968. His other novels include A Fine & Private Place, The Innkeeper’s Song, and Tamsin. His short fiction has been collected in four volumes by Tachyon Publications, including The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche, The Line Between, We Never Talk About My Brother, and Sleight of Hand. He has won the Hugo, Nebula, Mythopoeic, and Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire awards and the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

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