![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katikatEarly in his career, Judge Dee visits a senior magistrate who shows him a beautiful lacquer screen on which a scene of lovers has been mysteriously altered to show the man stabbing his lover. The magistrate fears he is losing his mind and will murder his own wife. Meanwhile, a banker has inexplicably killed himself, and a lovely lady has allowed Dee's lieutenant, Chiao Tai, to believe she is a courtesan. Dee and Chiao Tai go incognito among a gang of robbers to solve this mystery, and find the leader of the robbers is more honorable than the magistrate.
Review: I needed a change of pace, so I chose an old mystery book, one of the Judge Dee Chinese mysteries, that I read a long time ago - and it was just as good this time around. I know that van Gulik's books aren't exactly known for their historical accuracy - the Judge Dee mysteries are set in the 7th century - but I love them nonetheless for their atmosphere and for the camaraderie between Dee and his bodyguards, in this book Chiao Tai. Loved it.
But the Czech translation was awful. Oh my God, I work as a translator too and that was... Trash. I mean it. I'm not saying my work is worthy of an award but this... *shudders*
Review: I needed a change of pace, so I chose an old mystery book, one of the Judge Dee Chinese mysteries, that I read a long time ago - and it was just as good this time around. I know that van Gulik's books aren't exactly known for their historical accuracy - the Judge Dee mysteries are set in the 7th century - but I love them nonetheless for their atmosphere and for the camaraderie between Dee and his bodyguards, in this book Chiao Tai. Loved it.
But the Czech translation was awful. Oh my God, I work as a translator too and that was... Trash. I mean it. I'm not saying my work is worthy of an award but this... *shudders*
