I loved Amy Tan's novels all the way up to Bonesetter's Daughter (which is still my favorite of hers), and than Save Fish From Drowning happened and I never finished it it was so bad. I was weary going in to The Valley of Amazement, but the novel started off great. I was drawn in by the characters rather quickly. Sadly after chapter 2, this began a descent in to just baffling decisions by characters who you would think would have better insight based on previous incidents. While I know they were needed to push the story being told, they just never sat as ever making sense. The entire courtesan period past Chapter 2 was a slog to read through. When magic started going over customs and rules, I ended up skipping whole sections out of sheer boredom as they seemed endless. Knowledge is great, but it felt more like I was reading a textbook and not a novel during that part.

After a certain life event for Violet (don't want to spoil), the book got better to the point that I didn't find myself struggling to read again. Unfortunately it still wasn't a read I found fascinating like the novels of Tan's I always enjoyed. The ending was the saving grace of this book not receiving a much lower rating. So a good start and great finish to The Valley of Amazement, but a very sub-par to mediocre middle of this book. I wonder if, and hope that, Tan can recapture what made Bonesetter's Daughter so fascinating. I give this book though a 2.75 out of 5. If not for the ending, it was pushing more along 2 stars.