Court politics isn't my usual cup of tea, but I'm so glad I picked up this novel by Chang Jiang (常江) from the library. It's the first part of a two-part novel (and drama) based on the life of 司马懿 (Sima Yi), a government official (and later on military general) who lived in the Eastern Han dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period. I usually steer away from such books/dramas because I find them either too dry or too angsty, dragging a single conflict out for no reason. But the book hits all …