A Hero Born

The first time I saw the name of this book was in a top 100 fantasy (or maybe SFF, I can't remember exactly) books of all time list, and I was pleasantly surprised because there weren't many translated works from Asia among the list. However, at the time, I still didn't know much about the significance of this series, and also didn't have any knowledge about Chinese history and literature. But it always remained in my mind and I guess I knew even then that I would read this book one day. And finally that day has come.

I don't think I would have had the same appreciation for this book I have now if I had picked it up a couple years ago. Now after having watched atleast a few wuxia shows, understanding some common terms in Chinese that are used in these books, getting to research a bit on Chinese dynasties and in general just loving these stories that I've gotten to explore, I find myself in a much better place to read this wuxia classic that has been a staple for Chinese readers and drama watchers for many years now. And I can totally see where all the dramas that I loved get their inspiration from. The expansive setting of three different empires fighting for supremacy, as well as much more personal feuds between various sects or martial artists in the wulin - this book is full of stakes, big and small and it was exciting to anticipate the next upcoming conflict. I was also delighted by some similarities in plot and characterizations that I found when compared to Handsome Siblings, an excellent wuxia drama which I loved and is itself an adaptation of another classic by Gu Long. The pacing is a bit uneven though - sometimes giving more slice of life vibes, while sometimes years pass by in just a sentence - but it never impeded my enjoyment of the story.

The writing is something I obviously can't comment much about because it's a translation, which I thought was quite good. But I can't deny that there were many moments in the initial chapters where the translation choices jarred me and just pulled me out of the story. One of them was the literal translation of Chinese names to English. As I wasn't actually expecting this, having gotten accustomed to names and honorifics in the original language while watching my favorite Cdramas, imagine my surprise when the two important characters we meet initially are called Skyfury Guo and Ironheart Kang. I had to go searching on wiki to find out that their actual names are Guo Xiaotian and Yang Tiexin. I later realized that this romanization of Chinese names seems to be pretty common in translation of Chinese classics, particularly the versions I checked out of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I can understand this choice being made a few years ago to endear the books to a more broad English speaking audience; but this translation of A Hero Born is pretty new and in this age when many of us are used to watching media of international origins with subtitles, I just found this kind of changing of names to be a bit unusual. And the problem is that it's not even consistent. Almost all the Mongol and Jurchen characters names are kept intact, as well as those of some of the important main/side characters, so I'm not sure why only some names had to be romanized.

The other instance where I found that translations as not quite fitting was when different forms of martial art moves are named. It is ofcourse true that I never understand the Chinese or translated names of these moves when watching a wuxia drama, but it's easier to follow what the move is supposed to be doing in a visual medium. But just using lots of martial art moves names - which are pretty weird like Wild Goose Leaves the Flock, Returning Horse, Trident Searches the Sea by Night etc - during a tense fight sequence felt very out of place and slightly prevented me from enjoying the martial arts action sequences which are usually my favorite parts of anything wuxia.

But keeping my complaints aside, the book does have some great characters, each having signature characteristics which define them. Skyfury Guo and Ironheart Yang are the epitome of sworn brotherhood, who will do anything to protect each other and their families. Guo Jing is described as simple minded a lot of times in the book and he does come across as slightly naive, but he is endlessly determined, very brave and good hearted, and just overall a nice young man. I just didn't expect that the protagonist of such a famous wuxia classic will not be a martial arts prodigy. The various martial artists who show up in the book at times are all eccentric or good or evil or just short tempered in their own ways and it was interesting to see our main character interact with them all. As was it equally interesting to meet the various leaders of the Mongol tribes including Temujin before he became known as Genghis Khan; and the two princes of the Jurchens.

I was slightly disappointed that we don't get to see much of Wanyan Kang, especially how he grew up in a completely different environment to that of Guo Jing. With the way the story started, I thought both their storylines would go in parallel but alas it was not to be. And it was also a complete shock to see the kind of arrogant and powerful prince he became, not at all deferential to his mother or shifu, and finding no fault in bullying people. I can now see where the story is going and I'm sure it'll be very interesting to read but also bittersweet.

To conclude, I'm glad I picked up this classic. As one of the pioneers of the modern wuxia genre, we can find most of the beloved tropes of the genre here which made for a very fun read. It is full of action, adventure, conspiracies and betrayals, ambition, brotherhood, loyalty and love. As this book only represents the first quarter of the first part of the Condor Trilogy, it can feel a bit like a setup for the upcoming major plot but it's still very enjoyable, as long as one is ready to overlook some of the translation choices. I decided sometime early this year that I would read all four books of the series and while I'm not sure I can binge them all together, here's hoping that I can read the rest of the three before the end of the year. And who knows, maybe I'll finally get to watch the drama adaptation as well. Do let me know if any of you have suggestions for which version of the drama adaptation I should watch - it just has too many to choose from.

I haven't read The Lord of the Rings (yeah, shame on me), but I can confidently say this book is nothing like that series. Maybe the comparison is due to the large fan base and impact this book has. However, I can't see the epic fantasy elements here.

I have never heard of this series before, so my review is based solely on my first encounter with this series.

That said, I don't think this is a bad book. I see a lot of people complaining about the translation, but for being honest I didn't think it was too bad. I'm sure I missed some wordplays and puns, but I guess that can't be helped. Chinese and English have different structures so I can't expect every translation to be perfect.

So why the rating? The main character. I found him so frustrating sometimes, that I wanted to stop reading just to slap him on the face. Maybe he changes later on, but I don't know if it's worth to invest in a book I'm not very sure I'll like.

Despite all of my objections, I still found the book interesting. The culture and worldview were refreshing and different from everything I've read.

i grew up on TV adaptations of Jin Yong novels, but i've never actually read the source material of any of them. Legend of the Condor Heroes is not the most popular story to adapt, but it's a good place to start for me because it's really chronologically the beginning of everything else - all the other popular Jin Yong stories are almost like sequels and take place generationally downstream from Legend.

this is the first official English translation of a Jin Yong novel and while i can read Chinese, i found it difficult to understand the complex writing style the the original books were written in, so i was really excited for this one. overall, it was enjoyable, but a few things put me off - mostly to do with the translation work, unfortunately.

Skyfury Guo and Ironheart Yang are fellow patriots of the fallen Song dynasty, who are trying to eke out a humble living in a rural village while biding their time to rebel against the reigning Jin empire. they're sworn brothers, so when their wives get pregnant at the same time, they agree to name each other's unborn child, who eventually turn out to be Guo Jing and Yang Kang, the real main characters of this entire series. shit goes down, and the families are separated. Guo Jing grows up in the steppes of Mongolia, in the retinue of Temujin, also known as Genghis Khan, no less. he learns horsemanship and archery from his Mongolian tutors, and martial arts from a bunch of famous martial artists called the Seven Freaks of the South. unbeknownst to him, he is actually the subject of a bet that the Seven Freaks have placed with a Taoist that they had met years before, Qiu Chuji, and is being trained to defeat Qiu Chuji's protege when he turns 18.

a huge thing i noticed almost immediately in the opening few chapters is how much more violent the book is compared to the TV adaptations that i grew up in. the story pulls no punches when it comes to just how gruesome and ruthless the martial arts world can be, whereas this is mostly censored and sanitised to be family-friendly in the TV shows. this is great though, and gives me more incentive to continue reading the source material.

i had issues with the names of the characters - why were some translated and some not? Skyfury Guo is also known as Guo Xiaotian in the original novel; “Skyfury” is a very literal translation of the characters “Xiaotian”, and it seemed unnecessary to make that translation. it was also jarring because so many other characters did not have translated names, like Guo Jing, Qiu Chuji, Wang Chuyi, etc. it seemed almost like a random decision on which characters got their names translated and which didn't. i wish it had been more consistent in that aspect.

i has issues with the way the book was translated. this is a long epic story that has captured the attention and affection in Chinese pop culture since the 1950s, along with other Jin Yong works. my dad said he made it a point to rush home and listen to the radio drama of Jin Yong novels broadcasted at a certain time every day. it was the 50s and 60s equivalent of a soap opera almost. it's meant to be mad exciting and keeping you at the edge of your seat. the fact that Jin Yong novels are still continually being adapted for TV till today is testament to the undying popularity of his works. but the translation in this one fell a bit flat for me. i found myself getting bored towards the second half of the book, and started skimming really hard in the last third.

but as i've mentioned before, Jin Yong's writing style is really complex and i can only imagine how nightmarish it must have been to attempt to translate it, so for that i have to give Anna Holmwood kudos. although the translation wasn't as exciting as i may have wanted, i can still appreciate how much effort it took to even get it to this decent standard.

I was really excited to read this due to its historical status and influence, and because of those factors I remain glad that I read it. The historical setting, and the place the book has in the history of the wuxia tradition made it enjoyable. However, I wasn't really able to connect with it on a deeper level than that, which hampered my enjoyment somewhat.

I enjoyed this book the way I enjoy kung fu movies and Japanese tokusatsu shows. Yes, the story isn't the deepest. Yes, people can't actually fly around with spears and swords and bows. I enjoyed the way this story was told, the way scenes were described, and the picture of old China it painted. The ending (if it could be called as such) was abrupt, but this book is a compilation of basically small serial novellas that came out periodically. If you read these like a monster-of-the-week story, all self contained and satisfying, you'll have a better experience.

That said, I feel like the translation work was a little janky in places. I don't speak or read Chinese at all, but certain passages felt better translated than others. I don't know if that's a result of the source material or no, but it was enough to disrupt my reading in places.

Great story, 4.5 / 5.0. My gripe is with the translation of some of the characters' names. Why translate some and not all? Better to just translate it along with the pinyin in the cast of characters list but keep the pinyin throughout the book.
Don't let it discourage you you from reading it if you love martial arts fantasy with a touch of historical fiction (Genghis Khan and China's Song Dynasty)