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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
En un país en el que la fantasía épica que se nos presenta viene una y otra vez traída de la corriente anglosajona y Tolkieniana, encontrar algo completamente distinto es liberador. Es cierto que estoy segura de que de haber estado más familiarizada con la cultura y la tradición china, con los fundamentos del kung fu y la manera que tienen sus autores en contar las historias, hubiera disfrutado este libro mucho más. Aún así, me he metido de lleno en esta historia de la China medieval, con sus intrigas políticas entre dinastías y con un joven Gengis Khan ganando poder en Mongolia.
Hay partes mucho mejores que otras, con algunas situaciones en las que no he alcanzado a entender del todo lo que estaban haciendo los personajes, pero creo que eso tiene más que ver con que este libro fue escrito en los años 60 (muchos libros de hace décadas tienen un estilo que nos resulta rarísimo comparado con los actuales) y que hasta ahora no había sido traducido al inglés.
Pero lo que más me ha cautivado han sido los personajes, muy definidos cada uno a su manera (a veces quizá un pelín demasiado, rayando la exageración de su carácter) y entrelazados en sus respectivos destinos.
Después de este final, estoy deseando que lleguen las ediciones de los siguientes volúmenes de la saga.
Hay partes mucho mejores que otras, con algunas situaciones en las que no he alcanzado a entender del todo lo que estaban haciendo los personajes, pero creo que eso tiene más que ver con que este libro fue escrito en los años 60 (muchos libros de hace décadas tienen un estilo que nos resulta rarísimo comparado con los actuales) y que hasta ahora no había sido traducido al inglés.
Pero lo que más me ha cautivado han sido los personajes, muy definidos cada uno a su manera (a veces quizá un pelín demasiado, rayando la exageración de su carácter) y entrelazados en sus respectivos destinos.
Después de este final, estoy deseando que lleguen las ediciones de los siguientes volúmenes de la saga.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A multitude of interesting characters, a plot that always moves forward and extremely well written fight scenes. I can see why this became a classic.
Great story, 4.5 / 5.0. My gripe is with the translation of some of the characters’ names. Why translate some and not all? Better to just translate it along with the pinyin in the cast of characters list but keep the pinyin throughout the book.
Don’t let it discourage you you from reading it if you love martial arts fantasy with a touch of historical fiction (Genghis Khan and China’s Song Dynasty)
Don’t let it discourage you you from reading it if you love martial arts fantasy with a touch of historical fiction (Genghis Khan and China’s Song Dynasty)
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"If each of you stands alone, you will be broken as easily as an arrow, but if united, no-one and nothing can break you."
If you had handed me this book with zero context, I would've never been able to tell that it was written sixty-five years ago.
This is an epic multi-layered adventure that kept me hooked once the initial set-up of the story had been completed. No wonder it's as successful as it is outside of the US.
I can definitely see how this book series inspired many of the epic fantasy classics that we so admire in the Western world, and I would love to see an on-screen adaptation of this story.
While I can definitely see myself reading the other books in this series, at this moment I am not sure when exactly that will happen. Still looking forward to seeing where these characters go, though.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The beginning of a great saga, with twists and turns and surprises aplenty. Much detail is given as to the difference in fighting styles / moves, and a great deal on culture and customs. Primarily, though, this is a fairy tale adventure of lost children and parents, mysterious sages, and grand adventure.
Unfortunately, it ends rather abruptly - it is necessary to seek out the next book in the series (which I will do!) for any kind of resolution.
Unfortunately, it ends rather abruptly - it is necessary to seek out the next book in the series (which I will do!) for any kind of resolution.
I think this is the only book where I tried both the audiobook and the print book, hated and couldn't finish either version after weeks of trying.
When I heard that the entire Condor series was being translated into English for the first time ever, I was ecstatic. For those who don't know Legends of the Condor Heroes was a serialized drama in a Hong Kong newspaper in the 1950's. It has two sequels, Return of the Condor Heroes, and The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber. It is HUGE in China. Think bigger than Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter or Game of Thrones in the US - maybe bigger than those combined. They have made at least 1 or 2 (sometimes 3) TV adaptations of the entire trilogy every single decade since the 1970's. Each part of the trilogy is about 40-50 episodes - meaning the trilogy as a whole spans over 100 episodes every time it's remade. And they keep remaking it, over and over and over and over and over again. The last remake came out in 2019 and I fully expect the next version to be out probably in 2025. This is not including the various movie versions. There's also comic books and video games, and the author, Jin Yong himself has revised and rereleased the stories several times.
I definitely watched several versions of the trilogy growing up, heck Tony Leung's version of New Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre was on repeat at my house for awhile because my brother was addicted. It's not like representation in media was that big in the 90's, so watching Chinese TV shows made more sense. I've never been able to read the series myself because my Chinese reading level is probably around that of a primary school student. I struggle with reading my Chinese version of Harry Potter even though I've read the English version a million times and basically know what's happening in every chapter. I'm forever destined to read those short stories about Chinese idiomatic expressions. And for some reason, I can barely remember those to be able to use them in conversation. So for there to be an English translation of this coming out? Super exciting. Except, no.
Translated fiction tends to be hit or miss. The prose is hideously clunky at best to just plain not making sense at worst. I can figure out what the Chinese dialogue must have been from the translated dialogue, but the direct translation of it does it such a disservice. This is a series about friendship, family and clans, loyalty, and love. It's about the choices and sacrifices that people are willing to make. The characters, their interactions and conversations are so simply written so bare and minimalist - the translated dialogue is more fitting for a playground full of young Google Translate bots than real people. And the translated names. Oh. My. Fucking. God. One would think that giving a quick explanation that, for example, Tie Xin means iron heart and why he was named that would be the end. But the translator chose to just go with the literally translated names. Yang Tie Xin becomes Iron Heart Yang. And then proceeds to do this with most the characters, but oddly, not all the characters. To say that it's distracting and weird is an understatement. It's as if someone wrote a story about myself and my husband and then translated it and used the literal meaning of our names in the story instead of our real names but didn't do that with everyone. "Full of grace" and "Protector" sat on the couch and watched the latest episode of "Bojack" with her brother Dan.
This trilogy is supposed to be the archetype of Chinese wu3xia2. It's a huge genre in Chinese fiction and there are even variants of it like xianxia (more high fantasy than wuxia). Frankly, the translation does both the wu3 (martial/martial arts?) and the xia2 (hero/generally someone with a strong moral code) a horrible disservice. The martial arts and action scenes are like reading a play-by-play written by someone who played a game of telephone with the person who actually witnessed the action. Because the writing in general is so basic, it's hard to tell if the characters have a strong moral code or are just so simple and basic that they don't see that there are other options in front of them.
To say I'm disappointed is an understatement. I want to note that none of the stars are filled in not because I forgot to rate the book. Rather, I am actually giving this 0 stars. For the love of God, get a better translator. This series deserves better.
When I heard that the entire Condor series was being translated into English for the first time ever, I was ecstatic. For those who don't know Legends of the Condor Heroes was a serialized drama in a Hong Kong newspaper in the 1950's. It has two sequels, Return of the Condor Heroes, and The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber. It is HUGE in China. Think bigger than Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter or Game of Thrones in the US - maybe bigger than those combined. They have made at least 1 or 2 (sometimes 3) TV adaptations of the entire trilogy every single decade since the 1970's. Each part of the trilogy is about 40-50 episodes - meaning the trilogy as a whole spans over 100 episodes every time it's remade. And they keep remaking it, over and over and over and over and over again. The last remake came out in 2019 and I fully expect the next version to be out probably in 2025. This is not including the various movie versions. There's also comic books and video games, and the author, Jin Yong himself has revised and rereleased the stories several times.
I definitely watched several versions of the trilogy growing up, heck Tony Leung's version of New Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre was on repeat at my house for awhile because my brother was addicted. It's not like representation in media was that big in the 90's, so watching Chinese TV shows made more sense. I've never been able to read the series myself because my Chinese reading level is probably around that of a primary school student. I struggle with reading my Chinese version of Harry Potter even though I've read the English version a million times and basically know what's happening in every chapter. I'm forever destined to read those short stories about Chinese idiomatic expressions. And for some reason, I can barely remember those to be able to use them in conversation. So for there to be an English translation of this coming out? Super exciting. Except, no.
Translated fiction tends to be hit or miss. The prose is hideously clunky at best to just plain not making sense at worst. I can figure out what the Chinese dialogue must have been from the translated dialogue, but the direct translation of it does it such a disservice. This is a series about friendship, family and clans, loyalty, and love. It's about the choices and sacrifices that people are willing to make. The characters, their interactions and conversations are so simply written so bare and minimalist - the translated dialogue is more fitting for a playground full of young Google Translate bots than real people. And the translated names. Oh. My. Fucking. God. One would think that giving a quick explanation that, for example, Tie Xin means iron heart and why he was named that would be the end. But the translator chose to just go with the literally translated names. Yang Tie Xin becomes Iron Heart Yang. And then proceeds to do this with most the characters, but oddly, not all the characters. To say that it's distracting and weird is an understatement. It's as if someone wrote a story about myself and my husband and then translated it and used the literal meaning of our names in the story instead of our real names but didn't do that with everyone. "Full of grace" and "Protector" sat on the couch and watched the latest episode of "Bojack" with her brother Dan.
This trilogy is supposed to be the archetype of Chinese wu3xia2. It's a huge genre in Chinese fiction and there are even variants of it like xianxia (more high fantasy than wuxia). Frankly, the translation does both the wu3 (martial/martial arts?) and the xia2 (hero/generally someone with a strong moral code) a horrible disservice. The martial arts and action scenes are like reading a play-by-play written by someone who played a game of telephone with the person who actually witnessed the action. Because the writing in general is so basic, it's hard to tell if the characters have a strong moral code or are just so simple and basic that they don't see that there are other options in front of them.
To say I'm disappointed is an understatement. I want to note that none of the stars are filled in not because I forgot to rate the book. Rather, I am actually giving this 0 stars. For the love of God, get a better translator. This series deserves better.
My Recommendation: I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. It really is like one of the late-90s/early-00s martial arts films in book form. The characters were unique enough that even though I couldn't keep all their names organized I knew who they were. The author has clearly weaved a lot of historical people, places, and fighting styles into the book and I'm looking forward to the rest of the trilogy (series?) being released in this new English translation.
My Response: I was already thinking about requesting this on NetGalley when I received an email from the publisher, so I thought "why not?"* I might've been sucked in by the advertisement that this was the Chinese The Lord of the Rings, but I can neither confirm nor deny that. (It totally was—we all know it.)
I wasn't sure what to expect going in to the book, I honestly kept putting it off because I assumed it would be way too hard to read. When I started the book to find dozens of pages of prologue, character lists, and historical information I started to get worried this was going to be more tome-like (i.e. Dickens; This was also initially published serially in a Hong Kong newspaper) and less like the martial arts movies that made huge splashes in the late-90s/early-00s in the US (think "Hero", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "House of Flying Daggers", etc.).
Continue reading on my book blog at geoffwhaley.com.
*I received a digital copy of A Hero Born from the publisher via NetGalley in return for my honest opinion. No money or goods were exchanged.
My Response: I was already thinking about requesting this on NetGalley when I received an email from the publisher, so I thought "why not?"* I might've been sucked in by the advertisement that this was the Chinese The Lord of the Rings, but I can neither confirm nor deny that. (It totally was—we all know it.)
I wasn't sure what to expect going in to the book, I honestly kept putting it off because I assumed it would be way too hard to read. When I started the book to find dozens of pages of prologue, character lists, and historical information I started to get worried this was going to be more tome-like (i.e. Dickens; This was also initially published serially in a Hong Kong newspaper) and less like the martial arts movies that made huge splashes in the late-90s/early-00s in the US (think "Hero", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "House of Flying Daggers", etc.).
Continue reading on my book blog at geoffwhaley.com.
*I received a digital copy of A Hero Born from the publisher via NetGalley in return for my honest opinion. No money or goods were exchanged.
Ahoy there mateys! I tried multiple times (3+) to get into this book and just wasn't excited to keep reading. I am not really sure if this was because of me mood or the translation or the story itself. I am not adverse to trying again in the future because it sounds awesome. But I have come to terms with the fact that I am not going to read this before its release date of 9/17/19. I am however grateful to the publisher for the review copy. Happy reading and sailing!
A Hero Born by Jin Yong is the English translation of the first volume of a series set in ancient China and originally published as a serial in the 1950s. This is a book of adventure, fantasy, heroes, villains, and lots and lots of martial arts. The language takes a while to settle into, but then the story takes over. I am sorry when the volume comes to an end because I want to know what happens next. I am looking forward to volume two and three hopefully to be translated.
Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2020/04/a-hero-born.html
Reviewed for NetGalley.
Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2020/04/a-hero-born.html
Reviewed for NetGalley.