Lao Tzu is one of China's most famous philosophers, and while he left us his writings about Taoism there is little known about the man himself who lived in the 6th century BC during the Zhou Dynasty. That leaves plenty of room for artistic license to tell his origin story and what led up to his disillusioned ride out of China on the back of a water buffalo. For a novel told almost entirely from Lao Tzu's perspective, it avoids the greatest pitfall by never taking a didactic turn for all the wisdom being necessarily shared to understand Lao's motives and character. Lao Tzu (and later Confucius) convincingly speaks at times like the master philosopher he was. That's difficult enough to capture, but the more impressive authorial feat here is that, for all of his deep thoughts and devotion to unearthing a correct philosophy for life on earth, Lao is also shown to be a flawed human being who proves just as susceptible to worldly fears, motives and errors as anyone else.

This is Lao Tzu's story and so he is naturally its hero, humble though he is, which places Confucius as his opponent in a way that I wasn't expecting. Between the royal court intrigues, intellectual debates, and speculation about Chinese culture and lifestyle during this period at all levels of society, for such a relatively short novel (approximately 250 pages) it manages to pack a lot in without feeling rushed. There's a strong sense of place and time that I would have liked to see prolonged and expanded somehow, given the general lack of historical fiction using this setting. I would even have liked to know more about Taoism, rather than wishing for less. I don't foresee an obvious sequel, but I hope this author has more to share if he simultaneously keeps his stories this entertaining. ( )