The Art of Destiny - Wesley Chu

 

 I was lucky that, when I was invited to review The Art of Destiny there was an opportunity to read the first book in the series, The Art of Prophecy too. It was one of those books that looked just my thing but I just hadn't gotten around to it. Both books arrived, one paperback and one hardback but both looking glorious - I mean, seriously, that artwork is top notch.

 I had the day off, things to do, places to go but I decided to give TAoP a go with my morning coffee. Y'know, just to get a feel of things . . . Well, things didn't get done, places didn't get gone to but half a book was finished in no time. The series reads pretty much like the old Eastern series I used to watch when younger - Monkey, The Water Margin, that kind of thing - and I did see the story in my head (I'm a very visual reader) looking very much like those.

 The general gist for TAoP is that there is a chosen one, Jian, whose destiny is to fight and defeat The Eternal  Khan and save the kingdom. Turns out though that due to poor training and mollycoddling by his assortment of masters he isn't actually any good.

 Enter the elderly Grandmaster Taishi who clears out his whole retinue and starts his training her own way - whether Jian. Think Karate Kid and you won't be far off the mark.

 The Art of Destiny (TAoD) starts up a few years down the line from TAoP and sees our character leads (there are multiple points of View in this series) a bit older, sometimes wiser and basically just "grown".

Jian is no longer the Chosen One but that doesn't stop Master Taishi (still as grumpy, irascible and fun to read as ever) getting a host of other equally elderly Grandmasters out of retirement to help whip him into shape for a mission. He may not be THE Chosen One but he could still be A Chosen One I guess. 

 Where Chu excels here is the conversations, banter, but downs etc between his characters. Don't get me wrong, the world building is excellent and the fights and battles are off the chart but the chat is what makes it for me. I found myself in awe of events only to find myself chuckling or laughing out loud even a couple of pages further on.

 Yes, this is a big chonk of a book but it doesn't feel like one. I lost myself for hours at a time and loved every minute of it.