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The Dragon's Tail
A first edition published in hardcover in 2007 with unclipped dust jacket in mylar. Very minimal shelf-wear generally and the pages in the main body are clean. Page block and page edges are lightly tanned. Overall excellent condition. GE
560 pages, Hardcover
First published November 12, 2007
8 people are currently reading
112 people want to read
About the author
Adam Williams
166 books29 followersThe son of a Hong Kong Taipan, Adam Williams was born and raised in Asia, though educated in the United Kingdom. His family has been in China since the 1880s and he has fulfilled his destiny by joining Jardine Matheson and rising to head its operations in China as well as those of Jardine Fleming. He has undertaken an expedition by camel into the heart of the Taklamaken Desert to seek the lost cities of the Silk Road, and having survived this, competed in the 'Rhino Charge'. He is also an OBE.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 22, 2017
This book was long--608 pages long--but rarely tedious. Emotionally, it tore me back and forth, and finally, at the end, I threw the book on the floor. I threw it with all my strength. I was angry because I had only hastily read the final chapter. I was convinced I had been on this emotional roller coaster for nothing.
This book will entertain, frustrate, and frighten. It will make your heart ache and groan inside, "why?" You'll potentially learn more about China under Mao's rule than before, and feel it very personally. And you may hate it.
But, whatever you do, read the final chapter in its entirely and slowly. Don't rush because you're desperate for resolution. Don't rush because you just finished reading 600 pages. Don't rush! Read it all the way through because you will smile a bit at the end. It's not the more rewarding end, but it's enough.
This book will entertain, frustrate, and frighten. It will make your heart ache and groan inside, "why?" You'll potentially learn more about China under Mao's rule than before, and feel it very personally. And you may hate it.
But, whatever you do, read the final chapter in its entirely and slowly. Don't rush because you're desperate for resolution. Don't rush because you just finished reading 600 pages. Don't rush! Read it all the way through because you will smile a bit at the end. It's not the more rewarding end, but it's enough.
August 27, 2021
secondo libro sulla cina suggerito da Cathrine Simpson del Guardian
dopo death of a red heroine
mi è piaciuto meno, quasi un pò banale per picchiare una trama nella storia cinese
dopo death of a red heroine
mi è piaciuto meno, quasi un pò banale per picchiare una trama nella storia cinese
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 17, 2014
The last gift from a friend, and I was back in China, being dragged through the twentieth century as Williams crafts an epic thriller which is crushed by the turbulence of the country it takes place in.
Kicking off with the introduction of Harry Airton, and his early friendship with Chen Tao which is brutally ended by the Japanese invasion, I thought the tension between the two young boys was quickly introduced, created a sense of foreboding in the prologue of what was to come.
Fast forward and Harry is back as a spy in Mao’s China, his handler Julian manoeuvring him to be picked up by the Chinese and turned. As the Chinese carefully plan a honey trap, the young Ziwei is introduced as the bait due to an old family connection with Harry. Williams bowls along at an amazing pace, but never dropping the detail, The Dragons Tail is a tight taut thriller, as the characters seem to be on top, before everything flips over at the end of part one (which in my opinion could have been a book in it’s own right) and you are left wondering where it is going to go.
It is part two that is the main course, Ziwei emerges as the books main character, the first part merely building up to the full horror of the Cultural Revolution, as she is sent off to a labour camp for failing to do her patriotic duty. It is this part that I found myself most engrossed in. Having read Jung Chang’s Wild Swans I wasn’t as shocked as I think I would have been, however it is no less powerful for being fiction, it was just as incomprehensible to me reading of the atrocities meted out on the Chinese people by their own leaders as part of a narrative story as it was reading about them in a biography.
I remember feeling that there was no coming back from the characters as Mao finally exits and Ziwei discovers secrets from her mother, and I was deliberating the end I wanted, and whether I really wanted it, the characters deserved a happy ending, but I couldn’t decide whether it would ultimately detract from what was an epic and emotional story. I think Williams balanced it just right in the end, tying up loose ends without dropping into sentimentality, showing sometimes even if you try, you may not always be able to reach over a gulf of time and experience.
At the end I discovered that this was the third of a trilogy, and that the second book was about Ziwei’s mother, so I expect at some point I’ll be back in Williams’s China once again.
(blog review here)
Kicking off with the introduction of Harry Airton, and his early friendship with Chen Tao which is brutally ended by the Japanese invasion, I thought the tension between the two young boys was quickly introduced, created a sense of foreboding in the prologue of what was to come.
Fast forward and Harry is back as a spy in Mao’s China, his handler Julian manoeuvring him to be picked up by the Chinese and turned. As the Chinese carefully plan a honey trap, the young Ziwei is introduced as the bait due to an old family connection with Harry. Williams bowls along at an amazing pace, but never dropping the detail, The Dragons Tail is a tight taut thriller, as the characters seem to be on top, before everything flips over at the end of part one (which in my opinion could have been a book in it’s own right) and you are left wondering where it is going to go.
It is part two that is the main course, Ziwei emerges as the books main character, the first part merely building up to the full horror of the Cultural Revolution, as she is sent off to a labour camp for failing to do her patriotic duty. It is this part that I found myself most engrossed in. Having read Jung Chang’s Wild Swans I wasn’t as shocked as I think I would have been, however it is no less powerful for being fiction, it was just as incomprehensible to me reading of the atrocities meted out on the Chinese people by their own leaders as part of a narrative story as it was reading about them in a biography.
I remember feeling that there was no coming back from the characters as Mao finally exits and Ziwei discovers secrets from her mother, and I was deliberating the end I wanted, and whether I really wanted it, the characters deserved a happy ending, but I couldn’t decide whether it would ultimately detract from what was an epic and emotional story. I think Williams balanced it just right in the end, tying up loose ends without dropping into sentimentality, showing sometimes even if you try, you may not always be able to reach over a gulf of time and experience.
At the end I discovered that this was the third of a trilogy, and that the second book was about Ziwei’s mother, so I expect at some point I’ll be back in Williams’s China once again.
(blog review here)
October 3, 2022
It is about China during the cold war and the rise of China’s Cultural Revolution. Historical fiction usually gets me especially story’s about China or Germany. The political propaganda and show of dictatorship power control is scary. The author manage to capture true History facts and essence into the book. He was raised in China and is the fourth generation in his family to still be living and working in China so I’m definitely not doubting the author’s credentials. May I remind you that this is not some light reading. It needs concentration and imagination to understand this book. So for those who are not into the Historical thing, please choose another book and stop complaining books like these are boring.
The Dragon’s Tail is divided to 3 parts which highlights 3 main character.
1) Harry Airton, born and raise in China until the Japanese invasion left him orphaned and rootless.
2) Chen Tao, the childhood friend who he grew up with and who later betrayed Harry.
3) Peng Ziwei, the unlucky girl who Harry didn’t expect to fall in love and the scapegoat of Chen Tao.
Of course a little romance in the book wouldn’t hurt and I appreciate the intervals. Overall its pretty epic with high drama and political intrigue at the same time poetic and romantic.
The Dragon’s Tail is divided to 3 parts which highlights 3 main character.
1) Harry Airton, born and raise in China until the Japanese invasion left him orphaned and rootless.
2) Chen Tao, the childhood friend who he grew up with and who later betrayed Harry.
3) Peng Ziwei, the unlucky girl who Harry didn’t expect to fall in love and the scapegoat of Chen Tao.
Of course a little romance in the book wouldn’t hurt and I appreciate the intervals. Overall its pretty epic with high drama and political intrigue at the same time poetic and romantic.
Want to read
December 29, 2008When Harry Airton returns to Mao’s China at the height of the Cold War, it is to exact his revenge on a regime that has exiled him and destroyed the country he knew as a child. The plan, conceived by a British Intelligence agent during the Korean War and patiently nurtured for 12 years, is fool proof, because Harry is the spy whose cover cannot be broken. He has the secrets China needs. Even the honey trap has been foreseen…
But not the bait. Innocent Ziwei, blackmailed by an unscrupulous Communist spymaster, has been told to seduce Harry by whatever means it takes, or her mother will be shot.
As the cynical machinations of two opposing spy services spin their deadly webs, two lovers find themselves faced with a terrible choice. Either way it’s a betrayal and sacrifice - of their countries or their humanity.
As China becomes engulfed in the horrors of the Cultural Revolution, and the world goes mad around them, Harry and Ziwei must contemplate the unthinkable to survive.
But not the bait. Innocent Ziwei, blackmailed by an unscrupulous Communist spymaster, has been told to seduce Harry by whatever means it takes, or her mother will be shot.
As the cynical machinations of two opposing spy services spin their deadly webs, two lovers find themselves faced with a terrible choice. Either way it’s a betrayal and sacrifice - of their countries or their humanity.
As China becomes engulfed in the horrors of the Cultural Revolution, and the world goes mad around them, Harry and Ziwei must contemplate the unthinkable to survive.
March 15, 2012
This book has to be read intently. For me, it's more of a personal account of the real events in China several decades ago, though I could not tell of course the extent to which the events described in the novel resembled the actual. I felt closeness and sincerity in every word written, words not meant to please the reader just like the other best sellers but to convey a message to the future generations. It's political, romantic, historical, gory, passionate, and unpretentious. And by the way, I liked how the story ended.
December 23, 2011
A very long read, yes, but worthwhile. The story of the people's struggle during Mao's regime in China was vividly narrated, almost real as if exactly re-enacted. Of course, there was the tragic love story of Harry Airton and Ziwei. There's much drama and it can make your heart sink, page after page, just like how it made mine. Anyway, this is among the best historical novels that I have read. It actually made me like historical novels! :)
May 1, 2012
it is a great tome on Chinese socio-political situation from cultural revolution to Tiannamen..didnt know there had been such concentration camps in China also...though it is a fiction book, the effort of author to describe each aspect in detail has left it huge and unwieldy..still glad to have read it through.
June 15, 2010
Would have given it 3 stars, but since I've been living in China and have been to many of the places mentioned in the book, I felt connected to the story.
thriller/spy/romance/history.....all in one!
thriller/spy/romance/history.....all in one!
February 7, 2013
Extremely interesting history about a little-understood time in China's past. I enjoyed Ziwei's story but I thought that overall the book was too long and the story contrived to make the most of the historical events.
May 5, 2013
Well worth the effort to read this book. I enjoyed every page and Adam William's incredible writing style only added to the experience. I'm only sorry that I started with this one, but I will definitely go back and read the previous two books in the season.
January 14, 2014
It's a great book. It give us a better understanding of how the chineses lived during those years and the relation of China with the rest of the world.
The characters are very real and the plot is very good.
The characters are very real and the plot is very good.
December 6, 2013
A deeply moving book- one whose story cuts across time and makes you see the world from different points of view.
I am keeping this in my collection- with the hopes of handing it over to the next generation.
I am keeping this in my collection- with the hopes of handing it over to the next generation.
January 14, 2008
Lengthy, colorful and desperate. This attempts to give an insight into 2 generations of Chinese history through Mao. Its a good effort.
January 8, 2010
This is a great story, and I'm having to force myself to read slowly (and re-read sections) to keep from missing any of it. I don't want it to end!
September 27, 2010
not a pleasing start but yes ,when you are at the middle of the story you wont regret spending your time on this book.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews