<|begin_of_text|><|begin_of_text|><|begin_of_text|>Too many potions muddle the alchemy in "The Great Magician," a picaresque romance set around the rivalry between a warlord and a conjurer in 1920s China.
Too many potions muddle the alchemy<wm> in "The Great Magician," a picaresque romance set around the rivalry between a warlord and a conjurer in 1920s China. We meet our hero, the protagonist, a clumsy but endearingly awkward warlord and his talented but scatterbrained protégé, who finds an untested alchemist willing to produce the latest in magical concoctions. They concoct potions with surprising results, making money and gaining notoriety, but also alienating friends and foes</wm> alike.

But in one memorable battle, a handsome foreign agent is killed in one of their experiments,