It chronicles Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong) and takes place during the period of Taiwan under Dutch rule.

Hilton Yip of the Asian Review of Books stated that "Lord of Formosa is not so much a biography as it is a historical action novel with Koxinga as the main character.

"[1] The book, which has a total of 566 pages,[2] covers Koxinga's life, from the period which he was taken from Japan to China, and includes his expulsion of the Dutch.

[1] Koxinga's adventures, including two naval battles with the Dutch, make up portions until the mid-point of the novel, when the Manchus sack his estate.

[4] According to Yip, the novel's Koxinga is "a flawed but driven warrior" who "is not romanticized or lionized, but neither is it easy to develop much admiration or sympathy for him.

"[1] Bradley Winterton of the Taipei Times stated that "Koxinga himself is generally shown as an unsympathetic figure, but someone who nevertheless usually keeps his word.