Review of Eight Skilled Gentlemen by Barry Hughart

One of the major aspects of Terry Pratchett's success was not the rate of production (sometimes three novels per year), but that each of his books possesses a human foundation that lingers when the humor and slap-bang plots fade. There is a heart to each of his books that most people can relate to and take away through the giggling and smiles. This is a poor way to introduce a good novel, but Barry Hughart's Eight Skilled Gentlemen (1991) shows what happens when the layers of divine humor and potent zip-zap storytelling have a moment to settle.

In Eight Skilled Gentlemen, the heroes of Bridge of Birds and The Story of the Stone return: the drunken detective Master Li and his intelligent muscle for hire Number Ten Ox. When a ghastly ghoul interrupts a funeral proceeding, the pair are tasked with investigating the undead monster's source. The search leads them to the most powerful yet unlikely person in the world: the Taoist master. He tells them of a group of eight demons disguised as men, and tasks the dynamic duo to go out and identify them before their nefarious plans go any further.

What follows is a flashy, imaginative romp through fantasy China-land. Master Li and Number Ten go here and there, following leads, almost getting killed, and getting to the bottom of the uncanny mystery. Along the way they encounter mouth watering bits of Chinese culture and mythology twisted to colorful life by Hughart's fecund imagination.  At times it feels like Hughart brought to fantastical life Tibetan murals and life wheels or the statuary of Daoist temples.  The book certainly does not lack creativity, and readers who enjoy fast-paced adventures through exotic places of demons, good and evil, are in for a treat.

That being said, Huhgart had trouble securing publisher support for his planned series of seven books featuring Master Li and Number Ten Ox. And in the Eight Skilled Gentlemen the reasons begin to appear. Slapdashery, lightning jokes, bright imagination, and fast pace are a formula that can sustain a novel, even a couple of novels. But in this, the third such novel, things start to blur. At times it can feel like a firehose spraying jelly beans. Each bean on its own is tasty and wonderful, but hit by a stream of them they lose their individuality, blending together til one can't tell the beginning from the end, or vice versa.

As I was reading the first two books in the series and wholeheartedly enjoying them, this risk slowly appeared. And so I forestalled several years reading Eight Skilled Gentlemen, the third and final Master Li and Number Ten Ox novel. But it wasn't enough. There are readers who can taste the jelly beans in the spray, and all the power to you. But I eventually got bowled over. Hughart's humor and imagination are truly to be appreciated, but it all eventually becomes a bit much without anything to break the flow, something more stable, something like a Pratchettian foundation to affix the story to.

In the end, Eight Skilled Gentlemen is a strange novel in that there is nothing to not recommend. Flashy story, colorful creativity, and in-your-face humor, it's truly an enjoyable novel. But after three such novels, it feels overmuch. There is such thing as too much of a good thing, unfortunately. Perhaps the worst part is, you can't read this novel before you read Bridge of Birds. Bridge of Birds should be read first as it introduces the concept, characters, etc. Eight Skilled Gentlemen can be read before The Story of Stone, but when the reader does eventually read The Story of Stone, they will encounter the same problem as I did. So does that mean this review recommends reading only two Hughart novels? No. Readers are all different, and who knows, maybe you have talents I don't and can taste the flavors of the rainbow reading all three?