A review by aesthival
A Hero Born by Jin Yong

3.0

Another buddy read with my partner, the first installment of Legend of the Condor Heroes. This story has inspired countless others, and is referenced in as many more. But for such a legend, I have mixed feelings about it. The translation may be the root of my griping, but I can't be sure without the ability to read the original text. Some of the names are over translated and others are left as they are originally, which creates some incongruity. I thought it was weird so looked it up and they translated Bao Xiruo into Charity Bao, Li Ping into Lily Li... westernization. I think these characters should have more depth than what comes through in the translation, but they came off rather flat. The story itself was hard to follow at times, but individually each scene was enjoyable. I think this was a long prologue to the story that evolves in the next books, getting an idea of the characters, their backstory, and their ambitions. Since I'm blaming most my gripes on translation, I do think I'll try to continue the series and hopefully another translation exists.