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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
I can't believe this has never been translated in English before now. This first volume is an excellent story of the young life and education of a future hero in a world where practitioners of the martial arts can perform supernatural feats.
This book obviously owes a good deal to the classics of Chinese literature like Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin, but with more modern pacing and characterizations. At least modern for the time these stories were written, starting in the 1950s.
There are several more modern factors included in the book. The main hero has a more modern sense of morality. It has a cast of characters that while still large, is far more manageable than the huge numbers found in the classics. While it doesn't have an overabundance of strong female characters, it lacks the outright misogyny found in some earlier works.
I've seen comments to the effect that non-Chinese can't really appreciate these stories, and while I may be missing subtleties, I don't really think that's the case. It helps to be familiar with the classics, but I don't think it's necessary.
I'm really glad to have read this with my only regret being that I apparently have to wait a year for the next volume to come out.
Edit: As I edit this the top review of this book has only been up a week and has 106 likes, despite being in disagreement with 96% of the other reviews. It appears that the only reason it's a top review is because the reviewer is an "influencer" and his followers "liked" the review because they follow him, not because they agreed with the review.
What use is that to anyone else?
It's probably because I tend to review mostly non-fiction, but this is the first I've come across this phenomenon. It makes me worried about the future usefulness of Goodreads.
This book obviously owes a good deal to the classics of Chinese literature like Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin, but with more modern pacing and characterizations. At least modern for the time these stories were written, starting in the 1950s.
There are several more modern factors included in the book. The main hero has a more modern sense of morality. It has a cast of characters that while still large, is far more manageable than the huge numbers found in the classics. While it doesn't have an overabundance of strong female characters, it lacks the outright misogyny found in some earlier works.
I've seen comments to the effect that non-Chinese can't really appreciate these stories, and while I may be missing subtleties, I don't really think that's the case. It helps to be familiar with the classics, but I don't think it's necessary.
I'm really glad to have read this with my only regret being that I apparently have to wait a year for the next volume to come out.
Edit: As I edit this the top review of this book has only been up a week and has 106 likes, despite being in disagreement with 96% of the other reviews. It appears that the only reason it's a top review is because the reviewer is an "influencer" and his followers "liked" the review because they follow him, not because they agreed with the review.
What use is that to anyone else?
It's probably because I tend to review mostly non-fiction, but this is the first I've come across this phenomenon. It makes me worried about the future usefulness of Goodreads.
Crossing paths with the greats
A tricky proposition
I know Kung-Fu
The first part of the classic Chinese epic of Gou Jing. A very fun book with varied martial arts fights, classic mistaken identity leading to battles between the good guys, soap opera twists, dastardly bad guys, colorful characters with great names, and appearances by real life historical figures. You can definitely see the prototypes of later martial arts movies. I could picture Jackie Chan doing battle with the Seven Freaks kicking a wine censer back in forth. I particularly liked Qiu Chuji as that Odysseus-like clever schemer. I was somewhat surprised by the favorable cast to Genghis Khan and the Mongols in a Chinese story, but that might be my culture ignorance. I will definitely read the rest of the series. Check it out if you like a fun epic adventure, with perhaps a different cultural frame than usual.
A tricky proposition
I know Kung-Fu
The first part of the classic Chinese epic of Gou Jing. A very fun book with varied martial arts fights, classic mistaken identity leading to battles between the good guys, soap opera twists, dastardly bad guys, colorful characters with great names, and appearances by real life historical figures. You can definitely see the prototypes of later martial arts movies. I could picture Jackie Chan doing battle with the Seven Freaks kicking a wine censer back in forth. I particularly liked Qiu Chuji as that Odysseus-like clever schemer. I was somewhat surprised by the favorable cast to Genghis Khan and the Mongols in a Chinese story, but that might be my culture ignorance. I will definitely read the rest of the series. Check it out if you like a fun epic adventure, with perhaps a different cultural frame than usual.
DNF. I had really high hopes for this book considering it's fantastic reputation, but I didn't love it enough to keep going til the end. It's not the smoothest read. I think that largely has to do with it being translated; your brain just has to do a little extra work to keep the story and all the characters straight. On top of that, I just didn't enjoy the pacing. It reads like an old-timey wuxia film, which was fun in some parts, but overall I found it really slow.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was a very interesting read! I can see why this is a classic. I do recommend this read, especially if you are already a fan of East Asian literature. The storytelling structure was different than what I’m used to, having read largely from European and North American authors. I usually really struggle staying engaged with books from this era (late 50’s ish) but I didn’t experience that with this read. The characters were distinct and easy to keep track of as were the locations.
As always with translations, I do wonder how it reads in the original language.
I did listen to the audiobook and did enjoy it, although I believe I would have equally enjoyed a printed version.
As always with translations, I do wonder how it reads in the original language.
I did listen to the audiobook and did enjoy it, although I believe I would have equally enjoyed a printed version.
adventurous
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I actually really enjoyed this!!! I can understand the comments about the translation not being amazing (and will note there were some parts where it was noticeable enough to take you out of the action/overall plot,) but overall it was a really enjoyable adventure story. I was not expecting that many twists and turns in the last like 40 pages lol.
My only other thing was that I felt as though the characters often died quite unceremoniously? The book would spend so much time building up different characters to be an integral part of specific plots/side stories, and then kill them off in a sentence with barely any explanation (perhaps most egregious with the deaths of Temujin’s adoptive father and sworn siblings who ended up betraying him and were then killed in a single sentence) .
Aside from that, there was a lot to enjoy - the quiet and more action-packed moments alike (the dialogue was probably my favourite part of the book - lots of very witty, introspective, and emotional moments that helped to carry the story along and make it more than just a fighting novel.) I would happily read the rest of the books in this series (and will probably end up doing so!) And I would definitely consider reading more kung fu books
My only other thing was that I felt as though the characters often died quite unceremoniously? The book would spend so much time building up different characters to be an integral part of specific plots/side stories, and then kill them off in a sentence with barely any explanation
Aside from that, there was a lot to enjoy - the quiet and more action-packed moments alike (the dialogue was probably my favourite part of the book - lots of very witty, introspective, and emotional moments that helped to carry the story along and make it more than just a fighting novel.) I would happily read the rest of the books in this series (and will probably end up doing so!) And I would definitely consider reading more kung fu books
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Kidnapping, Pregnancy
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
3,5⭐️
Demorou ate uns 35% pra historia me prender e ainda assim os últimos 15% pareceram se arrastar infinitamente, variando entre cenas que tiravam meu fôlego e títulos de personagens sendo repetidos incessantemente de uma forma que MDZS e TGCF não tinham me preparado. Falando em ambos, eu achava que a escrita de MXTX serviria de base pra eu me acostumar com a escrita, mas ainda assim foi difícil. Obviamente a tradutora fez um ótimo trabalho, mas ainda assim o ritmo da história acaba se perdendo.
Ainda estou na dúvida se vou continuar lendo as sequências apenas porque Guo Jing é um grande idiota e todas as decisões que ele toma me fazem respirar fundo para não arremessar o kindle longe com a frustração que ele me faz sentir.
De qualquer forma, o caminho dos personagens foi muito interessante de se acompanhar, e o final deixa uma grande curiosidade do que vem a seguir (apesar de idiotice de Guo Jin)
Demorou ate uns 35% pra historia me prender e ainda assim os últimos 15% pareceram se arrastar infinitamente, variando entre cenas que tiravam meu fôlego e títulos de personagens sendo repetidos incessantemente de uma forma que MDZS e TGCF não tinham me preparado. Falando em ambos, eu achava que a escrita de MXTX serviria de base pra eu me acostumar com a escrita, mas ainda assim foi difícil. Obviamente a tradutora fez um ótimo trabalho, mas ainda assim o ritmo da história acaba se perdendo.
Ainda estou na dúvida se vou continuar lendo as sequências apenas porque Guo Jing é um grande idiota e todas as decisões que ele toma me fazem respirar fundo para não arremessar o kindle longe com a frustração que ele me faz sentir.
De qualquer forma, o caminho dos personagens foi muito interessante de se acompanhar, e o final deixa uma grande curiosidade do que vem a seguir (apesar de idiotice de Guo Jin)
3.75
A fast paced action packed story with numerous interesting characters. Most of it was very predictable from the bread crumbs that are laid from the start and
much of the good prose is lost in translation ( as I’ve seen this text in Chinese and the translation was very literal.)
The cliffhanger ending is fantastic as o really what to know how this progresses and I do recommend this book to anyone that is into action pack historical fiction with elements of fantasy.
A fast paced action packed story with numerous interesting characters. Most of it was very predictable from the bread crumbs that are laid from the start and
much of the good prose is lost in translation ( as I’ve seen this text in Chinese and the translation was very literal.)
The cliffhanger ending is fantastic as o really what to know how this progresses and I do recommend this book to anyone that is into action pack historical fiction with elements of fantasy.