Fall of the King Saber by JF Lee

Fall of the King Saber by JF Lee

Author JF Lee continues his adventures of Swordsman Li Ming with Fall of the Dragon Saber, which is my favorite of his books up to this point. Full of entertaining characters, spirited dialog and lots of martial arts mayhem, Lee does justice to predecessors like Gu Long.

The story is set immediately after the events of Fangs of the Black Tiger. Li Ming has taken Shu Yan as his formal student and starts teaching her the Blue Mountain swordsmanship. Of course, they still bicker back and forth like they always have, although Li Ming does see some special potential within her. After some encounters with bounty hunters, the two undertake a dangerous journey back Tu'men, where Shu had worked in a brothel a year or so before. Once in the belly the beast, Shu and Li try to get the bounty removed from her head.

Meanwhile, rebel general Shazha Kui is pushing his rebellion forward and recruiting some of the most powerful names in the Martial World to his cause. And Li Ming will have to find some new techniques to complement his limited knowledge of the deepest secrets of the Blue Mountain in order to stand a chance against the General when their next duel comes around.

Like the other two books, the story is largely episodic, as our heroes move from one locale to anothre and get into all sorts of mischief while Li Ming has to balance out his training Shu Yan with his own preparations for his upcoming duel. There are lots of colorful characters along the way and we do learn a lot more about both Shu's and Li Ming's backstories, which gives them a lot more depth. I especially enjoyed the last third of the book once our characters return to Blue Mountain. Despite the story's episodic nature, the fact that we know it is building to a predetermined climax helps give the different subplots and side quests a unifying theme by casting an ominous shadow over all of their exploits.

The final showdown between Shazha Kui and Li Ming is one for the books. It is very well written and at the end, takes a page from films like Zu: Warriors from Magic Mountain and Strife for Mastery. The book ends on a hopeful note and I'm excited for "Echo of the Blue Mountain."