If Loki crashed Don Quixote with monkeys, dragons, demons and the Buddha.
adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Loveable characters: No

Una novela de aventuras muy entretenida, con una prosa detallada pero directa que transmite mucha viveza y riqueza en los escenerios en los que tiene lugar la historia y la acción. Me ha resultado una introducción bastante ligera ( a pesar del número de páginas) a la literatura clásica china.

Very fun. Foundational. Now I understand so many things I've seen and heard before.

I have had Journey to the West in the back of my mind for a few years so when I saw this beautiful, abridged, newly translated edition in Waterstones I decided to pick it up.

This novel is so much fun to read. I'm kind of sad this is an abridged version because I loved the translation so much, and I think that is why I enjoyed this as much as I did. The actual content of the book is a great fantasy novel and I really enjoyed both the first part about Monkey and the second part about the actual journey. It is compared to The Canterbury Tales on the little sleeve I got with it, which I haven't read but definitely want to bump up my tbr now if this is true! I would say this is mostly just the conflicts that the party has due to it being an abridged version but I kind of loved that I was hopping from fight to fight, especially as I spent so long with this one.

As mentioned, though, I think the translation is really clever. Now, this is an old book. Usually, in translating and updating old books, people update the language used and modernise it. Usually, I don't like this. In this, though, it worked so well and it was so subtle. It really makes the humour shine.

I would definitely recommend this translation of the book, though I haven't read any others so can't compare it. I really enjoyed it, though!

What a fun story!
adventurous medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous funny medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
adventurous lighthearted medium-paced
Loveable characters: Yes

muy divertido pero es medio un bodrio