Reviews

A Snake Lies Waiting: The Definitive Edition by Jin Yong

grogu_djarin's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted tense 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

4.0

Overall Thoughts:
This is easily the weakest of the first three books in my opinion. There are stretches where the story meanders about and where not a lot happens ranging from several chapters spent being lost at sea and several more resting in an abandoned inn. That said, a lot of the tension in this story is emotional more than action-based and the stakes are incredibly high for a lot of the characters. There are still some great action sequences though, but it's quite an emotional rollercoaster on who is loyal to who, what allegiances are made and broken, and who lives or dies. There is a lot of build-up in the last few chapters, no doubt setting the stage for the last book. 

Likes:

• I liked that Lotus gets a power-up this time and not just Guo Jing (who also gets one). It's also really shown how much they've grown in that they're now on more equal terms with the villains from the end of the first book.
• Zhou Botong is hilarious in his scenes. It's especially great when he shows up with a "friend".
• It's hard to tell if Viper Ouyang or Apothecary Huang are meant to be the villain of the story, but both are extremely terrifying for many reasons and you'd just hate to be on their bad side. 
• I liked seeing more of the Quanzhen Sect and the Beggar Clan. The Quanzhen Sect in particular have a fascinating fight scene. 
• This book took some of the themes of the earlier books (loyalty, duty, honor, love, etc) and started to add some obstacles or grey areas that made things a lot more morally ambiguous for the characters. 
• There's a callback to the beginning of the first book that has some significance and I like how that came full circle in a way.

Dislikes:

• I started to get frustrated at how many times the protagonists get into bad situations because they extend trust or kindness to people who have already shown themselves to be untrustworthy. 
• There are a lot of slow periods in the book where characters stay in one place and not a lot happens besides dialogue. 
• Not a lot actually happens in the book outside of a few key moments and a lot of the focus is on secondary characters.

Other Notes:

• Like the last book, this one also starts immediately after the cliffhanger of the last book and ends on another cliffhanger. Because these are long books and four altogether, I'd say the best place for a break would be between volumes 2 and 3 because the end of this one feels like it's building up to the conclusion. 
• Like the earlier books, the appendix is full of notes that give added meaning to various cultural and historical references. Again, they aren't necessary but I found them worthwhile reading.

Would Recommend To:

• Anyone who enjoyed the first two books, A Hero Born and A Bond Undone. This book starts after the cliffhanger from the second book but I feel if you need a break (because these are long books) the best place would be before this book since this one also ends on a cliffhanger leading into the last book. 

Do Not Recommend To:

• Anyone who hasn't read the first two books, A Hero Born and A Bond Undone, because they are essentially volumes 1-2 of a four volume book and this is volume 3. 

thorium0232's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted tense 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

4.0

danreadsitall's review against another edition

adventurous funny informative sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.25

 How many passes does a person get to betray you before you are done with them? Guo Jing is a kind of a nice himbo so folks can trick him with words, so people take advantage of that.

"A Snake Lies Waiting" is book 3 of The Legend of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong. In which the ability to swim is more important than anyone expected. This one goes in some different directions. We have boat fights, shark massacres, island survival, peed on food, and this is just in the first part. But things are coming to a head, Yang Kang, despite all his chances is doubling down on his treachery, the different martial factions are aligning themselves and promising larger conflicts. And the biggest conman of them all, actually had a pretty good racket going there. It's wild and I am excited for the conclusion.

Narrated by Daniel York Loh, I was cackling when Zhou Botong returned with his new friend.

Translated by Gigi Chang and Anna Holmwood. Thank you again for helping bring it to a wider audience.

Reasons to read:
-One of the deadliest people in the world forces 2 young people into a relationship because they were too shy to say anything to each other
-The Beggar Clan is ridiculous
-Some side folks got more page time since the mcs were hiding to heal
-One of the best cons, with an interesting end

Cons:
-Someone really needs to make sure these youths know where babies come from 

catmisae's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

colinhdempsey's review against another edition

3.0

there’s just too many motherfcukers at this point

aigigugu's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.75

silliam's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

timburbage's review against another edition

5.0

Another amazing part of this epic story. We have kung fu fights on a sinking ship that is also on fire. We have kung fu fights on a desert island. We have kung fu fights in an inn where someone throws manure around as a defense. We have kung fu fights on the edges of cliffs. We have kung fu fights over honour. We have kung fu fights over misunderstandings. There is a lot of kung fu.

One of the sworn brothers is now a full villain. We have more of the Jin/Song/Mongolia politics going on. We have the tragedy of unrequited lovers. The drama is so epic.

I love this series so much, I genuinely don't want it to finish, and I also have no idea what is going to happen.

katekoda's review against another edition

5.0

This is an absolute revelation. They call him Chinese Tolkien, but this is more like Dickens, but with kung fu. The characters are diverse and fleshy, totally believable and with more than one dimension to all of them, the plot keeps developing with surprise twists, the romance is going strong, the villains are doing their villainy things, etc. This is an absolute joy of a book, and I can't recommend it enough.
The audio version is superb! I cannot wait for the next book to be translated!

rosemary_nagy's review against another edition

5.0

This book started as a buddy read with my brother, who then got a new job and lost all interest in reading with me. So here I am, finally finishing it over a year later from when I started it, remembering nothing about the entire first half. Ah, the joy of buddy reads.