Book Review – Tong Lashing
Author: Peter David
Publisher: Pocket Star
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: 1995
In Tong Lashing, Peter David returns to his self-obsessed, self-analyzing anti-hero, Apropos. In the first two books of the series, we are introduced to Apropos, a cripple who is born to a bar wench/prostitute by way of a knightly gang rape. We see his adventures as he tries to be a hero, only to realize that he is (repeatedly) a secondary character in someone else’s grand adventure. And, more importantly, we watch as he does everything he can to avoid heroics only to be forced into that role despite his best efforts.
Now Apropos, abandoned by his companion Sharee (who tried to kill him in both the other books), sets sail on a ship that is destined for tragedy. After an on-board roleplaying game gets insanely out of hand, the ship sinks and Apropos finds himself washed up on the shores of Chinpan, a land with strange, exotic people: the Chinpanese.
He slowly finds a place for himself in the farming village of Hosbiyu, where everyone’s last name is Chin. This fact at first disturbs him, imagining an incestuous culture, until he realizes that it’s just a very common name. Though he eventually learns the names of the citizens, he refers to them continuously in the terms he first thinks of them: Take On Chin, Bit Chin, Cleft Chin, Double Chin and his wife (who loves the noonday meal) Lun Chin, her sister (who likes the process of cooking) Kit Chin and her daughter, little Kit Chinette.
Just as he is settling in, believing that he could live a quiet farmer’s life and raise a nice Chinpanese family, the village is assaulted by the outside world, in the guise of warriors of the mighty Skang Kei clan. They are quickly dispatched by a crazy old man who lives on the edge of town, Chinpan Ali. Apropos soon becomes a student of Chinpan’s art of Zennihilation: creating the total absence of your enemy by creating a total absence of self. One of the lessons: sand the floor. The problem? It’s a dirt floor.
After a group of eroticized ninja women murder Chinpan Ali, Apropos sets out to avenge his master and eventually arrives in the capital Tiakyo. He is barely in town a few minutes before being attacked by the Skang Kei clan, and learns that their mighty leader, the Skang Kei Ho, has marked him. He then becomes a trusted aide to the mighty Imperior of Chinpan… but he realizes quickly that the honor practiced in this land is just as detrimental to one’s well-being as the honor in his own, and he will have none of it.
Virtually every page has humor in it, many of which are so funny that the reader (or, at least, this reader) is forced to laugh out loud at them. The genius of the story is that the humor comes out of a genuine understanding of the characters, rather than a series of one-liners that serve no purpose. The humor connects the reader emotionally to Apropos, as we watch him oscillate between hero and coward. The setting, though also humorous, is populated by realistic people, and when those characters die it feels as though it truly is a tragedy. The first book had this feel, though in the second I felt that this was somewhat lacking. Peter David has returned to the narrative in full force with Tong Lashing, and I certainly hope this isn’t the end of Apropos’ tales.
About Azjones: 
Recent Comments