And now for something completely different. Ken Liu usually writes pretty serious fiction. That continues here, and The Litigation Master... is somewhat dark stuff. Tian Haoli is a lawyer (songgun) in Manchu China. Law and the ability to argue at court was a pretty disrespected profession, but while today's lawyers can be wealthy, Tian is rather poor. Probably because he helps the poor himself. The Monkey King is a demon from that time that seems to talk to or appear to Tian. That's the speculative part. Helping the poor against the powerful is always a dangerous proposition, and that's no different here.
Liu likes to teach a bit in his fiction, and Tian is apparently based on a real character. It's not a light read, but you will come away knowing more than before. 3 stars, because it's a bit more straight-up than his previous work.
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