adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Very interesting and spiritual text, even more interesting that it's one of the oldest in the world. Blend of fantasy and religious adventure about Buddhism with cultural folklore too.
adventurous
adventurous funny medium-paced
adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This is exactly how I remember the story of Sun Wu Kong being. It's more a series of vignettes with a loose over-arching storyline.

A mountain lays this stone egg which hatches a monkey. This monkey goes on to wreak mischievous havoc on everything and everyone until finally the goddess of mercy puts a magic ring on his head that contracts when a spell is recited. She tells this to a monk, Tripitaka, and then instructs monkey to accompany Tripitaka on his quest to the west to bring Buddha's sacred scrolls back to China. 

The main story is that of this "Journey to the West", which is a book in itself, but adds Monkey's origin story at the beginning so you fully comprehend the extent of his mayhem. 

The one thing that really annoyed me was that the narrator, given his name and if he's the actor, his profile on IMDB, being Chinese, couldn't pronounce the Mandarin words properly. It wasn't terrible, but I expected better. He did a great job with the voices and the dramatic element though, which helped me overlook that defect. Perhaps the other version of this narrated by Kevin Shen would have been better.

This was hilarious, the monkey is absolutely incredible and his attitude made this book fun to read. the journey itself was so interesting and action packed.
adventurous lighthearted slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

  • The first section of Monkey becoming an unstoppable immortal is fantastic; but the actual Journey to the West seriously ebbs and flows
  • Tripitaka stop crying at any possible inconvenience challenge (impossible)
  • Still fuming that Sandy doesn't get to do anything despite having the coolest design concept

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

Um livro culturalmente rico e de leitura muito interessante, mesmo nessa versão resumida onde cortes da longa versão original foram feitos. Uma aventura longa com personagens bem definidos e muito criativa para a época, mas que em momentos pode ser repetitiva e cansativa.

Brilliant in its own, unique way. Amidst the confused pantheon of old China and the parody of its endless bureaucratic labyrinths, there is a light-hearted story involving redemption and the discovery of one self. But mostly, it's just pure hearted fun.
adventurous funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted relaxing slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes