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.