Bridge of Birds/YMMV


 * Complete Monster: The Duke of Ch'in, who makes the Ancestress's act of murdering her husband and everyone else who stood in the way of her gaining imperial power pale to the faintest of ghosts in comparison.
 * Crowning Moment of Awesome: The sword dance, as well as the titular Bridge of Birds.
 * Fridge Brilliance: The book practically runs on it. Master Li's slowly growing understanding of the true nature of their quest (and who's pulling the strings) counts as an in-story example.
 * Magnificent Bastard: Master Li - a rare heroic example.
 * Motive Decay: Surprisingly averted. The Master Li and Number Ten Ox go through many epic adventures, all to save the children of the village.
 * Nightmare Fuel: A good-sized helping of it... things like No. Ten Ox's description of the results of eating inaccurately prepared porcupine meat have a way of sticking in the memory.
 * Tear Jerker: is incredibly poignant.
 * Unfortunate Implications: You can count the number of positive female characters in this book on one hand. Okay, one hand plus one extra finger. Take away the ones who are explicitly sexualized or treated solely as love interests. Now take away the ones who are brainwashed and/or dead. Do you have any fingers left?