I will not even pretend that I could write a critique about such a work as this. I would not do so for other works embedded into national psyche, and I will not do so for this. I’ve read many reviews mentioning this work with reverent tones, many equating Jin Yong’s work with other fantasy writers and calling him what amounts to the Chinese literary Tolkien. I respectfully disagree. Yong could be more accurately described for those who have not read his saga in the realm/genre of writers such as Scott. No work of Tolkien’s Middle Earth was historical in nature. Sure, it incorporated historically mythical creatures of Scandinavia and Britain, but it did not include such legendary figures in it from history such as Ghengis Khan.

Just as Scott brushed a majestic picture of Jacobean Scotland and a humorous, heroic picture of the medieval England of the Merry Men, so Yong paints a portrait of China in the 12th and 13th centuries. The landscape is vast, the characters lovable and flawed, honorable and sometimes cheesily villainous. No characters are treated with developmental flippancy. I especially liked the honorable masters, whose expertise as martial heroes did not keep them from being humble and passing their wisdom on to young people.

On perhaps a more important note, what a monumental shame that I have just now been introduced to Guo Jing and Yang Kang. How many students could I have pulled back from the brink of the Reading Apathy Abyss with stories of the Seven Heroes of the South? How many girls could have opened the pages of a novel that contained a heroines such as Huang Rong and Mu Nianci—both butt-kicking girls who have no superpowers but their fists and feet. If someone would have put this into my hands when I was a young reader, I would have gobbled it up. It also would have changed my literary consciousness.

If my local library doesn’t get a copy of this on their own budget, they’ll have it from mine. These are books young fans of fantasy need to be reading today as part of their word diet. It was a great pleasure for me to join in the experience that is Legends of the Condor Heroes.

My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, for which I give my own opinion.

Thankful to have access to a classic story because of this translation. It’s a rare find and a great read.

A fantastical generational saga and kung fu epic, Jin Yong's A Hero Born is the classic novel of its time, stretching from the Song Empire (China 1200 AD) to the appearance of a warlord whose name will endure for eternity: Genghis Khan. Filled with an extraordinary cast of characters, A Hero Born is a tale of fantasy and wonder, love and passion, treachery and war, betrayal and brotherhood.

And then a hero is born...

I wanted to read this book because I was curious about the Chinese storytelling concept. Written in 1957 and still popular today this kung fu and wuxia skills story will be a feast for practitioners of the disciplines. My interest was more curiosity about Chinese culture and less about an adventure into good versus evil kung fu style, so after the first several hundred pages of descriptions of kung fu named moves I was a little worn out with it all. I wanted something this novel does not give; I was expecting and hoping for almost poetic descriptions of the land and the people who lived there, but that is not what this legend is about. That really isn't the fault of the book, that's my problem and why I gave the book a 4 star rating instead of the 3 stars I had originally decided on.

I can't speak the language or read this book in the original so I have to accept the translation as it is. There are so many places in the book which remind me of the old black and white kung fu movies with English subtitles. The actor goes on talking for several minutes and the caption on the screen reads: I had a long journey. That's the feeling I kept getting as I read this book, but it may be that is exactly the way the original is written; I just don't know. I am glad I read this first book but know the next volumes are not something I want to invest more time in. According to the information provided in the back of this book there are three more volumes to come: Volume II: A Bond Undone; Volume III: A Snake Lies Waiting; Volume IV: A Heart Divided. Be sure you read the Appendices at the end because there is a great deal of information there. I wish I had read that part first because I think it would have helped me to keep track of the large number of characters better. The book also has many line drawings to illustrate portions of the text and those are wonderful.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an e-galley of this novel.

I didn't realize that this was a translation of the *legendary* Condor Heroes trilogy! I got through the first chapter of the book and realized that I recognized some of the names from somewhere. And then it hit me.

I love that Young made the effort to translate something so full of culture to English readers, but the presentation of the translation made for a really hard to navigate book.

The translations were just translations, making much of the commentary and narration awkward and unnatural, which of course detracted from the quality of the plot. It just felt like the different events were of a list instead of woven into the complex storyline.

Otherwise, I very much enjoyed the process of recognizing the familiar elements of the different characters, though the language was still a bit on the choppy side.

My thanks to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for another wonderful ARC!

A Hero Born is the biggest disappointment of the year for me. I admit, I picked it up because it was called "Chinese Lord of the Rings". But sadly, such comparison only resulted in me having enormous expectations that were not met.

Instead of epic powerful tale, all I got was boring story, poor storytelling and impersonal writing style that left me indifferent towards characters. Even fight scenes were super boring and I truly struggled to finish this book. I definitely will not continue reading this series.

This story starts off following two pregnant women and their husbands. Ultimately the husbands are murdered leaving each of the women to support themselves. Guo Jing, son of one of the murdered husbands, ends up growing up with Genghis Khan's army and is trained in the martial arts fated to duel the son from the other family.

This books had high and low points. I was really intrigued while reading the very beginning, but the book started to lag towards the middle. However, by the end of the book I was upset that it was already coming to an end... Needless to say, I will be looking forward to the English translation for book #2.

Just a couple other points to make:

This book does read like a marital arts movie, which can make it hard to read. I did just get to the point where I stopped caring what each of the moves meant...

There were a couple instances where it did not really translate to the English very well, but I think that's just maybe due to the words having a specific meaning.reading

#netgalley

An interesting read but a little hard to follow at times. Martial arts background was the interesting part but the way the story was written was little confusing

I love classical stories about ancient China so I was really looking forward to this book. The author gives a glowing account of the history an beauty of this story. The story is an interesting one but I I didn't find the beauty in it. I think it gets lost in the poor translation. It doesn't flow well and the language is awkward and stilted. This work is in desperate need of a good editor. I do not speak Chinese but I am fluent in Japanese and I understand that translating from one language to another is a daunting task and I think this needs more work to make it flow and to express the beauty in the wok. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I have experienced some trouble with reading this book. A Hero Born by Jin Yong sounds from the description like a book pretty much right up my alley. I enjoy books that mix fiction with history, stories that go through several generations, folklore or mythological characters are a great addition. I think a part of my trouble was the translation, I don't have a lot of experience reading translated work so it may be me but the words did not flow easily for me. Much of the text seemed stilted or unnatural. Again it may be me or it may be the way this genre is meant to be, I don't know. I also don't have any experience reading books with kung fu fights in them and I found it difficult to keep track of what was going on. I don't want to put the blame on the translator because I think that it is a very tough job. A translator just doesn't translate word for word but has, also, to translate the nuance, the inflections, the culture, etc. That can't be an easy task especially with a much loved and much known classic.

I think, in retrospect, that perhaps this book isn't for me. It sounds quite exciting and I think many people will enjoy it immensely. I wish I could have felt more involved in it and I may try it again in the future. It may be that I was not the right audience at this time and may be in the future. I believe that the right book comes at the right time and perhaps we met too early.

A huge amount of fun to read. This is the first of English translations of a series of Chinese historical novels, chock full of kung fu, mysticism, actual historical figures (Genghis Khan, among others), patriotic heroes, and monstrous villains. The action is constant, and the author/translator do a marvelous job of describing the many fight scenes. I highly recommend the book.

The Quick Cut: An English translation of the classic Chinese novel, a man returns to China after previously fleeing to fulfill his destiny.

A Real Review:
Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There is so much classical literature out there, but we rarely remember the most important aspect to bring able to actually read it: the translators. Without these tireless individuals who expertly take the original material and find a way to preserve that original nuance. A great translation is needed to keep that same descriptive detail, beautiful lyrical phrasing, and rapturing environment. It's a careful delicacy that was missed in the translation of this Chinese literature by Jin Jong.

Guo Jing fled home with his mother after his father was murdered and joined Genghis Khan's nation. After learning all he could from him, Guo ends up instead returning to China and facing what would be his biggest challenge.

The problem with this book isn't the story, but the translation. Due to the indelicate work done with the translation, the beauty of the original story is missed. I found myself constantly putting this one down because the phrasing used in English made it sound like a bad Kung Fu movie.

Chinese is a beautiful language with characters that have such strong depth. That beauty never makes it from it's original language into the English and that's why this book is left practically unreadable. The true meaning and beauty was left behind.

My rating: 1 out of 5

Very interesting read. I enjoyed it while curled up during a chilly rainy weekend. Would be interested to read more from this author as well as more in this genre/categories.

Any time there are swords and martial arts in a story, I'm interested, and A Hero Born sounded right up my alley. As I read, I couldn't help but picture subtitled B-rate martial arts movies, and even though I tried to stay intrigued, I really struggled with it. The history was interesting, but not enough to keep me invested in the story.

It took me weeks to get through this book and I fully admit to skipping pages. I have read many books from other cultures and countries and have never struggled so much as I did in this book. I think a lot went missing in translation and caused the beauty of the story to be severely lacking.

I was provided with an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Two men who are brothers at arms befriend a Taoist. The Taoist helps choose names for their unborn children and leaves them. These two men are betrayed and murdered. Their wives are captured and their family lines are in jeopardy. That's only the beginning of this generational tale.

A Hero Born is a story that struggles from things outside of it's control, at least in the US. It's an old book that was first published in the 1950s. On top of that it's translated into English which undoubtedly costs it much of it's flair. The writing just feels simplistic even though the foundations of a strong story are undoubtedly present. The descriptions are lacking, but that's largely a factor of the time period it was written in more than anything.

My biggest disappointment may be that the book just doesn't describe the fighting in a compelling fashion. I thought that the fighting may be the books saving grace, but it was mostly forgettable.

A Hero Born is a story out of time and it's native language. Unfortunately nothing really stood out about it.

2 out of 5 stars

I received a copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A Hero Born by Jin Yong, I had trouble with it. I struggled with getting in to this book, simply felt it wasn't for me, but that others will enjoy it. Thank you for giving me a chance with it.

This is a great book if you enjoy martial arts. I really enjoyed it. The characters are well developed and the story is packed with action and adventure. The author does a great job delivering a story with a solid plot and interesting subplots.

A really fantastic adventure wonderful read can absolutely see this as a movie .Looking forward to more by this author,.#netgalley #st.martinsbooks

This was a fun read! It was adventurous and exciting! The story line was well written. I felt just like I was there, in this story! It was great!!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own