A review by dorinlazar
A Hero Born by Jin Yong

4.0

So, where do we start? It's something of a soap-opera with kung-fu and Mongols of all things. The story unfolds itself at a fascinating pace, and one has to keep a mental note of every single character in the book, because who knows (spoiler!) which might appear later down the line?

I guess the central story is around this young boy, trained by Seven Heroes in the martial arts, to present himself to a contest in China. This boy, however, ends up being an important piece of Genghis-Khan's entourage among other things, and people are dying to train him.

The story is dense, fast moving, and it has material for something like 100 volumes all caught up into one. Although at times confusing, for example the case of Lotus who is either a he or a she in the middle of the same paragraph, the story does make sense even when it feels like it doesn't. Now the problem with this being the first book of three is that we never know if the 12 hours that Wang needed to have his life saved with magic herbs have expanded to 24 or 48 or not. I mean, we might find out in the second book. Or not. Who knows? Maybe someone who read the second book. :D

It's a nice and intense read. I loved it, yet I was a bit overwhelmed by the number of characters and the fast pace.