Review of "Changes"

Changes by Charles Colyott

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I read this book based on a glowing recommendation by Sara King, the author of the "Legend of Zero" series. Which is great, by the way. Unfortunately, this book is not.

I was going to give it one star, but I have to add another because I found myself thinking about this book for a couple weeks after I finished it. That doesn't necessarily make it a "better" book, but... it means something.

Mr. Colyott seems to be on a mission to remind everyone that Tai Chi is, in reality, a badass martial art. Those slow movements can be sped up with devastating effect. Because I spent a couple of years taking Tai Chi, the most entertaining part of this book for me was seeing the protagonist reference poses I knew in the context of serious combat.

His other raison d'etre is to proselytize for acupuncture, which is shown as able to fix pretty much any ailment. I reserve judgement about the merits of acupuncture, but I did get a little tired of being forever reminded of its efficacy. (I'm resisting the urge to make a "beating a dead horse, then bringing it back to life with acupuncture" joke. Oh, no, wait, I didn't resist after all!)

The problems I had with this book were mostly based around its cliches and unoriginality. The protagonist is a living collection of well worn tropes. The book is written in the first person, and the narrator is the standard "just can't help myself from making biting witty remarks, even though they get me in trouble" type. The plot is a classic "I fell in to this murder investigation by accident, but since I'm way smarter and more observant than the detective, he can't help but keep me around" situation. Practically everything that he encounters happens to fall neatly into his esoteric areas of expertise. He's inexplicably irresistible to the super hot young woman, who is of course much smarter and more dynamic than most people give her credit for based on her attractiveness. She has a quirky but adorable style, which is fascinating to him in its uniqueness. He is intrigued by her music taste, which is so different and interesting compared to his own; (the fact that several specific bands are name dropped comes across as shout outs to what are probably the author's favorites.)

When he was a young man in Hong Kong, our hero was trained in both Tai Chi and acupuncture by a nearly perfect teacher, who didn't want to teach him, but was worn down by his stubborn (but totally inexplicable) devotion. In famous Mr. Miyagi style, his mentor tells him to stand outside his door for months, occasionally coming out to correct his posture; when the neighborhood bullies come by, the narrator suddenly finds that he is un-push-over-able, and is well on his way to mastery of the ancient secrets.

I was truly irritated by a shameless deus ex machina. Although the narrator runs a dirty little acupuncture and herb shop (known to a few as a hidden gem), he never really works - after all, the author needs him free to have adventures. So how does he afford to live? Well, halfway through the book it turns out that he's independently wealthy, having inherited a bunch of money, but doesn't feel the need to spend it.

The chapters of this book are tiny, some less than a page, and often end with some bit of pithy observation or witty remark. This allows the author to avoid the need to craft actual drama by providing a constant stream of manufactured cliffhangers.

It may sound like I hated this book. That's probably because I largely hated this book. Nevertheless, there were moments of genuine enjoyment, and a couple of those witty remarks actually were witty enough to entertain. I laughed aloud once or twice at the antics of the character that was clearly designed for just that purpose. Also, I did feel compelled to find out what happened to (partially) resolve the mess of a plot.

I think that if you go in with appropriately low expectations you could enjoy reading this book, but there are a lot of better choices available. Check out Forging Zero.


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