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Book Review of Deception

Deception
PIZZELLEBFS avatar reviewed on + 331 more book reviews


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This book's main characters, Magistrate Dee and Empress Wu Tse-tien, are historical figures who lived at a calamitous and well-recorded moment in seventh-century Chinese history. Dee is a detective whose investigation into the murder of the transport minister shows his intelligence, integrity, and faithfulness to traditional, rational Confucian principles. At the same time, Madame Wu, chief consort of Emperor Kao-tsung, schemes to depose his empress and wield absolute power as ruler of China. Eventually, Dee and Empress Wu are brought together. He discovers the truth of the numerous murders she has committed as she seeks to usurp the ancient T'ang dynasty and replace it with her own Chou dynasty, founded on a corrupt form of Buddhism that relies on magic, superstition, and deceit.