Bridge Of Birds is book one of "The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox", in which Number Ten Ox, the tenth youngest in the family, narrates a tale of adventure set in "an ancient China that never was". This tale is told with fervor and wit, as Number Ten Ox lends his brawn and Master Li lends his brains as they try to cure the village's children.

It begins with Number Ten Ox being sent to fetch a wise man to cure the strange malady that afflicts all the children of his village, whereby they have all gone into a deep sleep or even coma. He isn't given enough money to afford one of the more famous wise men of the city, so he is forced to settle for the drunken Master Li, someone with a "slight flaw in his character".

Master Li proves to be up to the challenge, but it requires many quests to find the correct variations of the mighty ginseng root. Along the way, they meet many strange people and beasts, battle invisible hands, rising tides, and an emperor without a heart. And they even help the gods right a serious wrong along the way.

This book was a lot of fun. There were a few laugh out loud spots and certainly plenty of close calls. The relationship between Number Ten Ox and Master Li was fun to read about, as they complemented each other perfectly. Each contributed his own strengths and even "flaws" to make it all right. And the environment of the "China that never was" was fully realized and populated with many memorable side characters. I particularly liked the first adventure with Henpecked Ho.

I did think the conversations were peppered with modern words and phrases that sometimes felt jarring. And I have to admit to losing the narrative flow about 2/3 the way through the book. There were 3 or 4 quests that went on and I kind of lost track of what they were doing and why. It didn't matter that much but it was a little disconcerting.

Not sure I'm ready to take on the second book, [b:The Story of the Stone|77207|The Story of the Stone|Barry Hughart|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1321813561s/77207.jpg|850766]. I have the omnibus edition from the library, that contains all three books in it, but I am not sure I feel up to book two right now. I would like to revisit it and will certainly put it on my To Read list, but I might move along for right now. But I highly recommend it to anyone interested in a fun quasi-fantasy novel, with quirky characters and unique environment.