The Dragon and the Lotus by Joseph Robert Lewis

Author: Joseph Robert Lewis

Description: As a child in Kathmandu, Asha was bitten by a dragon and gained the ability to hear the souls of all living things. Years later in India, she uses her strange gift and her training as an herbalist to save people possessed by ghosts, poisoned by legendary beasts, and tortured by the cruel doctors of Ming. And to fight the occasional bear or tiger, of course.

With the help of a beautiful blind nun and a sleepy little mongoose, Asha confronts both victims and predators, including the man who stole her childhood and killed her lover. But when she journeys into the west, Asha discovers that there are fates worse than death and there are human monsters that can only be defeated by a woman with the strength of a dragon. (From the author's web site.)

What I think:

This book takes us to interesting places, interesting time, and interesting alternative reality. For people sitting at home (I mean the country we leave in) almost all the time, Asia itself is an exotic location. I like to learn about foreign cultures and people. This version of the alternative Asia even more exciting.

The book consists of separate stories about Asha and Priya wandering through the land to heal people. First I was not comfortable with reading the separate stories, they seemed not connected, except that they were adventures of the two women, of course. But later there came the connections, references to experiences in the previous chapters, memories of past events, returning characters. And finally the book became a complete story.

Dragons are always compelling. They are big, dangerous (at least most of the time), dreadful, it seems impossible to defeat them. It is also the case with the one in this story, and the way it is defeated is very interesting.

This whole soul-hearing thing is amazing. The way Asha hears the "sound" of living souls is well worked out. During their journey, the two women met with people with very strange illnesses, and Asha had to find cures unheard of.

There is one thing I should mention what I didn't like: I found the dangerous acts short. The reader usually eager to get to the point, and to know what happens, yes. But before the climax, the reader loves to be delayed, and bite the nails in suspense what happens next. So I would like to fidget a little more before the victory comes.

Rating: four stars.