It was a lifetime ago that I had read Legend of the Condor Heroes in
Chinese. I've long forgotten the plot and the myriad of characters. The
only names that I still remember are perhaps Guo Jing and Huang Rong
(renamed Lotus in this English version). As a primary school student
reader, I certainly hadn't been able to grasp the significance of the
historical background the story was set in. But what have really stuck
in my mind all through the years are probably the themes of brotherhood
loyalty and knight-errant righteousness.
I found that this first volume of the 4-book series was still very gripping as a wuxia story with its huge cast and complex plot twists. I was particularly impressed with the Temujin story, which closely adheres to The Secret History of the Mongols. The historical character Qiu Chuji (an irascible Taoist martial arts expert in the novel) was given a colorful treatment. The story was set against a tumultuous background of incessant conflicts/wars between the Song (Han Chinese), Jin (Jurchen) and Mongolian regimes and expounded on how the chaos impacted on individuals and society.
It appeared to me that Jin Yong's story structure with intertwining plot lines was more evocative of Dumas (Count of Monte Cristo) than Tolkien (Lord of the Rings).
The fight scenes, which make up half of the book's contents, were vivid and cinematic and never boring. On the other hand, the narrative did not lack poignant episodes. The only thing lacking was perhaps romance, at least in this volume. However, the final episodes seemed to have set the stage for the relationship between Guo Jing and Lotus to bloom into something more than friendship.
Some reviewers have complained about the literal translation of the character names. Perhaps the decision to do literal translations of names was out of concern that non-Chinese-speaking readers might find pinyin romanization a bit hard to follow.
I found that this first volume of the 4-book series was still very gripping as a wuxia story with its huge cast and complex plot twists. I was particularly impressed with the Temujin story, which closely adheres to The Secret History of the Mongols. The historical character Qiu Chuji (an irascible Taoist martial arts expert in the novel) was given a colorful treatment. The story was set against a tumultuous background of incessant conflicts/wars between the Song (Han Chinese), Jin (Jurchen) and Mongolian regimes and expounded on how the chaos impacted on individuals and society.
It appeared to me that Jin Yong's story structure with intertwining plot lines was more evocative of Dumas (Count of Monte Cristo) than Tolkien (Lord of the Rings).
The fight scenes, which make up half of the book's contents, were vivid and cinematic and never boring. On the other hand, the narrative did not lack poignant episodes. The only thing lacking was perhaps romance, at least in this volume. However, the final episodes seemed to have set the stage for the relationship between Guo Jing and Lotus to bloom into something more than friendship.
Some reviewers have complained about the literal translation of the character names. Perhaps the decision to do literal translations of names was out of concern that non-Chinese-speaking readers might find pinyin romanization a bit hard to follow.
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