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kathryn_fletcher's review against another edition
1.0
This one it is hard to evaluate the writing. Really I’m evaluating the translation. As a reader, I found this translation very difficult to follow. I teach ESL and I love learning about other cultures, so I was excited to immerse myself in a story originally written in Chinese. The words are translated to English, but there was so much in the way everything was phrased that I really could not follow this story very well. I kept having to look back and determine who this character was in relation to others.
I wanted to like this book because I love stories that have a large cast of character and a rich history. This seems like a story that has that. Unfortunately, I couldn’t grasp the cultural context, subtleties of the Chinese culture enough to grasp this story. I couldn’t relate to the characters or understand their motives. Here is an example of sentences from chapter one:
“I am forever in Madam’s debt, for you saved my life.” (I’m no translation expert but why use the word Madam?)
Later, Yan Lie realizes he has been robbed when the hotel attendant asks for payment. Instead of having the police summoned, he starts a fight with the attendant and beats up some thugs to get the police involved. Then when the police come, he presents a letter to summon the governor of the town. WHY? Why, when he realized he’d been robbed, did he not just ask the attendant to summon the police and the governor to find out who robbed him? I read plenty of novels with violence but in those stories there is usually a good reason for it. This is one example in which I feel like I am missing something because the book has sold enough copies to warrant several reprints, so clearly the book is good, at least to some. This makes me think it makes more sense to those who read it in the original language.
I wish the translator had taken more liberties in her translation to make the story more understandable for the american population.
Who Will Like This?
I can’t recommend this book for students. It is not aimed at students. For example, from what I can understand, Charity is married to a man. Yan Lie is part of an army group that attacks their village. Charity finds Yan Lie wounded and saves him. Yan Lie later returns, murders Charity’s husband and kidnaps her. Charity, not knowing he is her husband’s murderer, falls in love with this kidnapper.
So who will like this? I think those who read it in the original language, would like this.
I wanted to like this book because I love stories that have a large cast of character and a rich history. This seems like a story that has that. Unfortunately, I couldn’t grasp the cultural context, subtleties of the Chinese culture enough to grasp this story. I couldn’t relate to the characters or understand their motives. Here is an example of sentences from chapter one:
“I am forever in Madam’s debt, for you saved my life.” (I’m no translation expert but why use the word Madam?)
Later, Yan Lie realizes he has been robbed when the hotel attendant asks for payment. Instead of having the police summoned, he starts a fight with the attendant and beats up some thugs to get the police involved. Then when the police come, he presents a letter to summon the governor of the town. WHY? Why, when he realized he’d been robbed, did he not just ask the attendant to summon the police and the governor to find out who robbed him? I read plenty of novels with violence but in those stories there is usually a good reason for it. This is one example in which I feel like I am missing something because the book has sold enough copies to warrant several reprints, so clearly the book is good, at least to some. This makes me think it makes more sense to those who read it in the original language.
I wish the translator had taken more liberties in her translation to make the story more understandable for the american population.
Who Will Like This?
I can’t recommend this book for students. It is not aimed at students. For example, from what I can understand, Charity is married to a man. Yan Lie is part of an army group that attacks their village. Charity finds Yan Lie wounded and saves him. Yan Lie later returns, murders Charity’s husband and kidnaps her. Charity, not knowing he is her husband’s murderer, falls in love with this kidnapper.
So who will like this? I think those who read it in the original language, would like this.
altlovesbooks's review
4.0
I enjoyed this book the way I enjoy kung fu movies and Japanese tokusatsu shows. Yes, the story isn't the deepest. Yes, people can't actually fly around with spears and swords and bows. I enjoyed the way this story was told, the way scenes were described, and the picture of old China it painted. The ending (if it could be called as such) was abrupt, but this book is a compilation of basically small serial novellas that came out periodically. If you read these like a monster-of-the-week story, all self contained and satisfying, you'll have a better experience.
That said, I feel like the translation work was a little janky in places. I don't speak or read Chinese at all, but certain passages felt better translated than others. I don't know if that's a result of the source material or no, but it was enough to disrupt my reading in places.
That said, I feel like the translation work was a little janky in places. I don't speak or read Chinese at all, but certain passages felt better translated than others. I don't know if that's a result of the source material or no, but it was enough to disrupt my reading in places.
kayla_m0's review against another edition
2.0
It’s not bad, I just don’t get it. I assume something was probably lost in translation.
ljavery's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Such a fun swashbuckling martial arts adventure. It ends on a hell of a cliff hanger so I’ll have to read the next one soon.
nandocho's review against another edition
4.0
The story is really fun, but I think a lot got lost in the translation, which is why I'm docking a star. Looking forward to the next book with a different translator. Lots to absorb in the story and very glad the author put a list of characters with descriptions as a reference.
sch91086's review against another edition
DNF. I feel guilty about not finishing this, because I don’t even think there is anything particularly wrong with it, except that we are just not jiving right now.
I attempted to read the introduction three times before I decided it was way too dry and skipped to the beginning. In the beginning, we meet two heroes, Skyfury Guo and Ironheart Yang, that feel earnest in their desire to be heroes, but also a little like SpongeBob and Patrick in their competence. I hate saying that- because I know this is a cherished piece of literature in China, but the whole thing just felt a little cartoonish.
The part that I read was technically all backstory for the hero: what happened in the months leading up to his birth. I might have continued if the introduction were dropped and the back story was reduced to 10-15 pages. (If we’re looking at the blurb: “Guo Jing, son of a murdered Song patriot” this is as far as I got in the book, the murdered Song patriot.) If the pacing is this slow, 15% of the book is back story, I just don’t want to continue.
The action scenes weren’t very exciting to me. I read once, that the difference between a good action scene and a bad one, is that a bad one will only describe what is happening. Good action scenes will describe how a character feels when they are in the action. This is a case where the movements are described adequately, but entirely without feeling.
I had a hard time envisioning the setting and the characters. The villains, from what I read, seemed like they weren’t going to be very fleshed out at any point in time. Just hooded figures, evil magistrates, maybe a shadowy emperor or something. It’s a dated method of story telling. Understandable, since it was originally written in 1957, but also something I don’t want to read right now.
I might come back to this at some point, knowing what I know and skipping the back story because the premise does sound very exciting (Genghis Khan!) but it’s not going to be any time soon and I don’t want to leave the book unreviewed on NetGalley. I attempted it. I made it through 70 dense pages or so.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley who provided a copy in exchange for review.
I attempted to read the introduction three times before I decided it was way too dry and skipped to the beginning. In the beginning, we meet two heroes, Skyfury Guo and Ironheart Yang, that feel earnest in their desire to be heroes, but also a little like SpongeBob and Patrick in their competence. I hate saying that- because I know this is a cherished piece of literature in China, but the whole thing just felt a little cartoonish.
The part that I read was technically all backstory for the hero: what happened in the months leading up to his birth. I might have continued if the introduction were dropped and the back story was reduced to 10-15 pages. (If we’re looking at the blurb: “Guo Jing, son of a murdered Song patriot” this is as far as I got in the book, the murdered Song patriot.) If the pacing is this slow, 15% of the book is back story, I just don’t want to continue.
The action scenes weren’t very exciting to me. I read once, that the difference between a good action scene and a bad one, is that a bad one will only describe what is happening. Good action scenes will describe how a character feels when they are in the action. This is a case where the movements are described adequately, but entirely without feeling.
I had a hard time envisioning the setting and the characters. The villains, from what I read, seemed like they weren’t going to be very fleshed out at any point in time. Just hooded figures, evil magistrates, maybe a shadowy emperor or something. It’s a dated method of story telling. Understandable, since it was originally written in 1957, but also something I don’t want to read right now.
I might come back to this at some point, knowing what I know and skipping the back story because the premise does sound very exciting (Genghis Khan!) but it’s not going to be any time soon and I don’t want to leave the book unreviewed on NetGalley. I attempted it. I made it through 70 dense pages or so.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley who provided a copy in exchange for review.
eklsolo's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
gooeykablooie's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed reading this book as I like fantasy, but I've never read much Kung Fu. I suspect it would have been better in Chinese, I don't think the book translated all that well. All around solid but not spectacular, and I'm glad I read it because it broadened my horizons.
lilcurious's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0