It can be hard to write a skillfully entertaining fiction, but a great book wants to be more, and wants more from us.

Liu Fang is a truly gifted, world-famous player of the pipa and the guzheng, classical Chinese stringed instruments.

Irritation for some men was their response to strain.

There was some sadness in how that could happen, Tai thought: falling out of love with something that had shaped you. Or even people who had? But if you didn't change at least a little, where were the passages of a life? Didn't learning, changing, sometimes mean letting go of what had once been seen as true?

The world could bring you poison in a jewelled cup, or surprising gifts. Sometimes you didn't know which of them it was.

What man would dare believe that all he planned might come to pass?

One man sees a riselka: his life forks there. Two men see a riselka: one of them shall die. Three men see a riselka: one is blessed, one forks, one shall die.