Dream of the Dragon Pool: A Daoist Quest

By Albert A. Dalia

Book Overview

Dream of the Dragon Pool - A Daoist Quest is a novel-length tale woven around the historical fact of the death-sentence exile of China's greatest poet, Li Bo (701-762 A.D.). This is a wuxia adventure story of magic, myth, and occult powers written as traditional Chinese-style heroic fiction. Forced by the emperor's exile order, Li Bo travels the Yangtze river, toward certain death in distant Burma/Myanmar. Along the way, he unwittingly befriends the emperor's most powerful shamaness who is trying to escape from palace life to Mount Wu and serve the mythical Rain Goddess, legendary mistress of that sacred mountain. Li Bo accidentally awakens the dark forces of the Blood Dragon, a mythical Chinese water creature, and its ghostly followers in pursue of a magical sword, the mythical Dragon Pool Sword, that he receives in a dream from a Daoist Immortal. The cast is rounded out by Li's bodyguard/companion, a wandering blade veteran of the Tang dynasty's Central Asian conquests, known as the "Iron Talon;" a mysterious swordsman/musician, who travels with a ghost-catching drunken monkey; a "dream assassin," capable of killing people from within their dreams; and a blond, green-eyed, Central Asian female ghost, enslaved by the Blood Dragon's powers. All the characters are authentically inspired by medieval Chinese "tales of wonder" storywriters and woven together by the author, a medieval China scholar turned novelist. Among other awards, Dream of the Dragon Pool was chosen for inclusion in the Penn State University Introduction to Chinese Religions course.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1975753429
• ISBN13: 9781975753429
• Release Date: August 2017
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.29 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

An extraordinary and wondrous tale

Wine and dreams are at the heart of this remarkable novel. Frankly I have never read anything like it. Dalia who is a Chinese scholar has recreated a style and a world view long gone from this realm, a style that interprets the world as dream and mystery, a style that celebrates Dao as an occult religion. The form of the novel is a quest. Li Bo, a celebrated poet from the eighth century of the current era, whose drunkenness has led to his banishment from the imperial court, is the central character. He has lost his power with words. He is a poet who can no longer rhyme, to whom metaphors no longer occur. He and his warrior companion, Ah Wu, are traveling west as the adventure begins. What will they find? Will they encounter the Daoist immortals? And what does it mean to acquire the Dragon Pool Sword? Is it a curse as Ah Wu believes or an instrument to bring about heavenly recognition to Li Bo and perhaps a return to the imperial court with his poetic powers restored? Dalia's prose, like those of a fairy tale master, immerses the reader in the mists of the long ago, into a world in which ghosts and dragons, shamanesses and wondrous magicians, goddesses and monsters, exist in reality as they do in myth. He recalls a vision of this world in which there is no line drawn between the mysterious and the mundane, between the world of spirit and that of mortal flesh. The gods and the goddesses are real. Monkeys can catch ghosts and creatures such as the Albino Swordsman can enter your dreams and kill you while you lie sleeping. The dragon can assume horrific forms, terrible and awesome to the eyes. And mortals can mingle with immortals. To write such a novel requires a child-like love of mystical adventure combined with a deep understanding of the subconscious of human beings. It requires a love for the legends and the mysteries of the past. Dalia's quest is to take us back to the supernatural world that existed for the people who lived during the time of the Tang dynasty and to allow that consciousness to invade our minds and envelop us in wonder and mystery. His is a splendid accomplishment, a fantasy rich in imagination and history, an atmospheric tale charged with the phantasmagoric.

All this...and a drunken monkey!

The great poet, Li Bo, has been ordered into exile, but on his way out of the Empire he decides to stop at Dream Temple, "a place where dreams bring peace to troubled hearts." But, the dream vision he receives sends him and his friend Ah Wu on a quest to bring the magical Dragon Pool Sword to the Rain Goddess on Mount Wu. And so, Li Bo sets out on an epic quest that will lead him through life and death, and choices...and back again. OK, Where do I start? I have read and enjoyed a few pieces of Chinese literature before, and found them interesting, if heavy, going (most notably Chang Hsi-kuo's city trilogy). This book was written by Albert A. Dalia, a Western scholar and traveler with two masters degrees and a Ph.D. in Chinese history and religion, and it ably succeeds in bringing a Chinese story home to a Western reader. The story is set in eighth-century China, but it is the China of legend. Through his quest, Li Bo and the reader meet ghosts and dragons, magical assassins and potent shamanesses, magic swords and Immortals...oh yeah, and a drunken monkey. The story itself is quite excellent, being equal to any of the recent wuxia movies coming out (including House of Flying Daggers, which I highly enjoyed). So, let me sum up by saying that this is an excellent fantasy story, a wonderful Chinese-style story that brings Chinese culture and religion within the grasp of a Western reader, and a very entertaining read. All this...and a drunken monkey. Come on, you know you *have* to read this book! I loved this book, and give it my highest recommendations!

Enjoyable Read

As a high school English teacher whose specialty lies in British Literature, I could not put this book down; I wanted so much to finish reading it. Aside from the lush imagery and mystical setting, one cannot fail to see the unversal archetypal theme in the story; the fundamental importance of enjoying and participating in all aspects of life that can only come by creating and sustaining a balance. You will find yourself empathizing with the characters, both male and female, whose flaws closely mirror our own. This story is a craftful and beautiful story whose narrative is reminiscent of early epic stories in any mythology, not to mention, I learned a few concepts about Daoism that I hope to pursue and incorporate in my own teaching.

Dream of the Dragon Pool - a multi-faceted and compelling tale of action and adventure

Dream of the Dragon Pool is a tale in the classic Chinese genre of wu-xia xiao-shuo - "heroic fiction" - based upon the real-life bard Li Bai (A.D. 701-762), the famous, prolific Chinese poet who supposedly drowned while trying to embrace the moon's reflection in a river after a night of hard drinking. Branded an outlander after being dismissed for an unknown indiscretion, Li Bai was exiled for a second time to the province of Yelang in southernmost China following an attempted coup but was pardoned by Emperor Xuan-zong of Tang and allowed to return before reaching Burma. Dream of the Dragon Pool is Albert Dahlia's exciting, compelling narrative about what might have happened during the period of Li Bai's second exile. Dahlia, an expert on Daoism and Daoist history, does a masterful job of threading his characters into a colorful tapestry woven on the loom of Chinese medieval history from the twin strands of speculation and truth. He portrays Li Bo as a talented but flawed man with a taste for adventure, liquor, and women. Nevertheless, the all-too-human Li Bo proves to be a virtuous warrior as he shows courage, grace under pressure - and ultimately, wisdom - during his dangerous journey up the Yangtze River to reach an evil dragon's lair called the Dragon Pool. Seeking spiritual advice and direction from a Daoist Immortal, Li Bo travels to the Dream Temple with his friend Ah Wu, a veteran sharpshooter known as the "Steel Talon" because of his lethal prowess with a crossbow. There the Immortal presents him the magical Dragon Pool Sword and sends Li Bo on a mission that when successfully completed will rejuvenate the poet's literary powers. To fulfill his quest, Li Bo must deliver the sword to a Rain Goddess whose home is a mountain in the Yangtze River's Three Gorges region, distinguished by twelve peaks. Along the way, Li Bo is pursued by the dark forces of the Blood Dragon and its ghostly slaves and other phantasmagoric creatures, including an albino swordsman with special powers. Also headed toward the twelve-peaked mountain is Luo Jhu-yun, a beautiful Grand Shamaness to the Chinese Emperor Xuan-zong and who is on a spiritual quest of her own. Add to the cast of characters a few shrewd and sylphlike nymphs, some vicious monsters, an ethereal assassin whose killing fields are the dreamscapes of mortals, plus a "wandering blade" minstrel accompanied by his ghost-catching drunken monkey, and you have the makings of a truly spellbinding and entertaining yarn. Albert Dahlia's skillful combination of mythic symbolism, supernatural forces, and historical fact makes Dream of the Dragon Pool a rich, multi-faceted novel that adult readers will discover is a joy to read - and reread.

If Only More Historians Wrote Such Fine Stories

I have known Albert over thirty years, and Li Bo longer. And I've been waiting for this book for more moons than I have hairs left on my head. The wait was worth it, though I hope the next one won't take so long to reach me. I can't imagine anyone not enjoying this journey. But then again, I'm so out of touch with the times, sharing, as I do, Albert's love of the Tang. Meanwhile, I will be keeping an eye out for the glint of a sword blade, the next time I travel through the Yangtze Gorges.