Book Review: A Hero Born (Legends of the Condor Heroes #1) by Jin Yong

"A hero is not merely born, he is honed in the moments when his love and loyalty are most sorely tested..."

Then comes the day when the hero saves Temujin, who is none other than Genghis Khan himself, the first Great Khan of the Mongol Empire.

The year is 1205. For decades the Song Empire has been fighting an invasion from the north by the Jurchen Jin Empire of Manchuria. Meanwhile, the great Mongol commander Temujin is gathering power and men out on the steppes...

There is a promise of epic battles, strategies, long arrays of helmets, swords and spears, hordes and cohorts of Dynasties and Empires and their foes.

Then that same promise takes a turn. A man, long thought dead - a ghost - rescues and flees with his long lost wife, she who'd kept his memories, his beloved spear, his garments. The promise takes the form of a universal and immortal tale of loyalty, heroism and eternal love.

Jin Yong crafts a seamless boundary between fact and myth of Chinese martial arts combat and swordsmanship, historical and fictional characters, and monumental events in Chinese and world history.

The original text in Kanji, a mixture of pictograms, ideograms and others, is colorfully rendered in picturesque Hanyu Pinyin translation. Translator Anna Holmwood took five years and provides an abundance of background on the use of terms, notes on the text, and a synopsis for the next three volumes of the collection.

Great author. Commendable translation. This is one captivating read!

Review based on a complimentary Advance Reading Copy from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley.

Wow, pretty good! It was an interesting and intricate story with lots of detail and history woven in. Worth a read if that's what you enjoy.

DNF. I feel guilty about not finishing this, because I don’t even think there is anything particularly wrong with it, except that we are just not jiving right now.

I attempted to read the introduction three times before I decided it was way too dry and skipped to the beginning. In the beginning, we meet two heroes, Skyfury Guo and Ironheart Yang, that feel earnest in their desire to be heroes, but also a little like SpongeBob and Patrick in their competence. I hate saying that- because I know this is a cherished piece of literature in China, but the whole thing just felt a little cartoonish.

The part that I read was technically all backstory for the hero: what happened in the months leading up to his birth. I might have continued if the introduction were dropped and the back story was reduced to 10-15 pages. (If we’re looking at the blurb: “Guo Jing, son of a murdered Song patriot” this is as far as I got in the book, the murdered Song patriot.) If the pacing is this slow, 15% of the book is back story, I just don’t want to continue.

The action scenes weren’t very exciting to me. I read once, that the difference between a good action scene and a bad one, is that a bad one will only describe what is happening. Good action scenes will describe how a character feels when they are in the action. This is a case where the movements are described adequately, but entirely without feeling.

I had a hard time envisioning the setting and the characters. The villains, from what I read, seemed like they weren’t going to be very fleshed out at any point in time. Just hooded figures, evil magistrates, maybe a shadowy emperor or something. It’s a dated method of story telling. Understandable, since it was originally written in 1957, but also something I don’t want to read right now.

I might come back to this at some point, knowing what I know and skipping the back story because the premise does sound very exciting (Genghis Khan!) but it’s not going to be any time soon and I don’t want to leave the book unreviewed on NetGalley. I attempted it. I made it through 70 dense pages or so.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley who provided a copy in exchange for review.

This has been a hard review to write because it has taken me so long to read.

This is a translation of a Chinese classic. This is the Chinese epic equivalent of J.R.R. Tolkien or C.S. Lewis. It was originally published in 1957. Now we have an English translation for the first time.

And it took me a long time to read because the translation is absolutely top notch. The translator captured the culture perfectly, while still being accessible to an English reader. I may have struggled with the names, but the action and fantasy never made that be an obstacle to my reading.

I'll be cliche for a moment and say it was like having Crouching Tiger playing in my head every time I read a fight sequence. But that does not overshadow the life journey that is the heart of this story.

I recommend investing the time in reading this classic epic. You will learn a lot about yourself too.

This story was not an easy one to write the review as the original Chinese novel was released in the 1950s so a long time ago. And due to it, I think there was something off in the style for me as a modern woman.
The story starts right before the Jin Empire attack the Chinese provinces, but right before that one Taoist brings 'the prophecy' of future of two unborn yet children of Patriots.
After the attack, two pregnant women must RUN AWAY from their homes and find shelter somewhere in the world.
One of them will find herself in the enemy's empire, but maybe thanks to it she will be able to affect the future of this part of the world?
The other one will be thrown into Mongolian steps. A harsh place where it will be a miracle to survive, but meeting Khingis Khan might be a miracle or curse depends on the future.
Their sons (of two women that needed to run away) grew up separately and with a different set of enemies in their minds, but will they manage the life that long to reconnect like their fathers in the past?
I hope that book two will be even more imaginative than this one as I really liked 'A Hero Born'.

What a great start to what promises to be a much sought after fantasy series. A little hard to get in to but so well thought out and epic!

Book and Film Globe review:

The thrilling movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon blew me away in the year 2000. Samurai films? All over it. But wuxia, the historical genre that combines martial arts with flights of fantasy? Not only had I never seen such a film (or book or TV show), I didn’t even know the genre existed.

I wanted more, right away. So I dove into the genre that Crouching Tiger celebrated. I also ran to the library so I could read the classic novels by Wang Dulu on which Ang Lee based the film.

No such luck. They weren’t available in English. And despite the movie’s record-breaking box office all over the world, they still aren’t. Come to think of it, I also couldn’t find decent translations of any stories about the Monkey King, a character as beloved and familiar in the East as Robin Hood is in the West.

The more I looked, the more titles I found trapped behind the Great Wall of No English Translation.

And the more titles I wrote down, the more one author’s name appeared again and again: Jin Yong. When Jin died last October at the age of 94, Western media outlets tossed out names like Harry Potter and Star Wars to capture how beloved and well known his stories are throughout Asia.

Jin wrote a string of classic adventures, serializing them in newspapers like Charles Dickens and then collecting them in books. He’s sold 300 million copies worldwide. People have adapted his stories again and again into movies and TV shows and comics. In short, he’s the Chinese J.R.R. Tolkien.

Well, not quite. Yes, Jin’s novels have a modest dose of fantasy. But they’re rooted in this world, so a much better comparison is Alexandre Dumas, who knew a thing or two about thrilling adventures.

Both deliver page-turning plots–thank you, serialization. Both favor earnest young heroes surrounded and educated by cynical elders, d’Artagnan for the one; Guo Jing for the other. Both keep an eye on politics and how society crushes the weak, Dumas by commenting on the events of recent years; Jin by safely placing his commentary in the far distant past.

So think of A Hero Born as a Chinese Three Musketeers more than a Chinese Lord Of The Rings.

The opening is instantly familiar to generations of fans. It’s 1205 CE, the age of the Song Empire in China. An itinerant storyteller passing through the tiny Ox Village spins his stories for a modest audience, speaking of injustice in the big cities far away. Two young men who love their country but decry the corruption in the capital invite this stranger to share their meal.

Tragedy strikes and soldiers slaughter the young men, who pay the price for the stranger’s defiance of sleazy government officials. Their two children narrowly escape a similar bloody fate, with the stranger determined to find and raise the boys in martial arts to honor his debt.

That’s just the first few pages. A childhood among the faithful followers of Genghis Khan awaits one child. The other is raised in a different type of isolation. But each eventually proves a master of martial arts. Then the story really takes off, with famous set pieces like a showy display of fighting in a roadside tavern, a gang of freaks (heroes to their friends) who each specialize in a certain style of fighting, romance, betrayal, epic battle scenes, private grudges, forced marriages, and much more.

A Seagull Skims the Sea
A Hero Born is book one in a quartet known as Legends of the Condor Heroes. And that four-part series contains just one novel of a trilogy. All in all, there are twelve books in this sprawling, multi-generational tale.

A few points. I can’t speak to the translation, of course. It’s certainly not the stiff and literal word-for-word English translations I’ve found of certain Monkey King tales, efforts devoid of any poetry or readability.

Still, a translation of such a beloved classic inevitably sparks strong feelings. Online, you’ll discover ferocious debates about many issues here, especially the naming of characters and why translator Anna Holmwood should (or more often should not) have translated one character’s name into Lotus. Her explanation seems logical enough to me, but I suppose if a translator renamed Gandalf He Who Dies And Comes Back Wearing White in a French edition, I too might take exception at such a spoiler.

Worse, the characters in A Hero Born don’t feel as rich as those in the best adventure tales or even the film Crouching Tiger, blessed as it was by great actors. Whether that’s the original writing or Holmwood’s effort to convey it in English, I don’t know. Since this is only book one of twelve, I’ll withhold judgment, especially since books five to eight are said to contain the greatest romance in the genre’s history. If that doesn’t move me, I’ll know something is lacking.

Another potential stumbling block for some? The awkwardly-translated description of the book’s many fights. Here’s one very typical passage: “Mu Yi adjusted his sash and leaped into a Seagull Skims The Sea. The young man responded with a blow to the old man’s belly, in a Poison Snake Seeks The Cave.”

Often, these evocative names create an image in your mind. If you want to make an effort to literally picture what is being done, you can. I just went with it, thoroughly enjoying this approach to action scenes without bothering to figure out exactly what the heck is going on.

Indeed, I felt that same enjoyment while barreling through the 400-plus pages of A Hero Born in two days. We have to wait until March for Book Two, A Bond Undone? At that rate I won’t know what I really think of the entire 12-part series for another five years. But I do know I’m going to find out.

-- Michael Giltz

My Review: I have heard a lot about this book and have been curious to give it a try. I started off reading the digital version and it was slow going for me. This is not uncommon for me as I generally struggle a bit with books based on or set in eastern cultures. So when it was released on audio book I downloaded that to read side by side and it went much better. At times this story was super interesting and intriguing, I found the time we spent with Charity & Lily Li to be the most interesting, it read the smoothest of all the story. After that it started jumping from character story to character story line but I didn't spend enough time with any of them to really connect with them. One of the things that I really struggled with in this one (and all similarly set books) were the names, all the characters are referred to by several different names and they are often very similar to other characters, so it was extremely confusing; fortunately, this book included a character list at the front so you knew to refer to it as necessary. I think this would be great for those who are really interested in Martial Arts, even though I spent years watching my brother take classes, I still really struggled to wrap my head around all the various forms and moves described throughout this book. I also think that this would adapt to film really well and I would enjoy watching it (I am sure with it having been popular in the original language for so long it has already been adapted into non-english formats). I would also recommend not reading the introduction as it doesn't do a great job of setting you up for the story, it only served to confuse me. With that said, now that I have read it once and kind of understand the characters and the story a little more, I believe a re-read would be vastly more enjoyable.

My Rating: I feel if this book would have been broken up into 2 smaller books it would have been more enjoyable. It is clear that it follows 2 different generations and character groups with a large bit of time missing in the middle. It made it a bit confusing to jump from Charity and Lily Li's story to their sons' story without really knowing. I give it a rating of Two Paws and a Stump Wag. It is clear that this is quite the saga and it is suited to a particular audience, I would need to re-read it a few times to be able to fully grasp and appreciate the story.

The swimmer is the one to drown,
The cart always breaks on flat ground.

For those of you who think this book was just an epic telling of a destined hero, you would be half right.

The other half is EVERYBODY WAS KUNG FU FIGHTING!

I absolutely loved how over the top some of the scenes were with all the different characters. It did take me a while to remember all the characters (just in time to learn a whole new set of them), but there were many awesome scenes on understanding many of their backgrounds and motivations. It may take me a while to read the other three books in the series, but I think anyone who loves kung fu movies and punny characters will find themselves enjoying this book immensely.

I’ve always loved kung fu; from Bruce Lee to David Carradine, from the classic movie Fist of Fury to the Academy Award winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. So, I was truly looking forward reading “A Hero Born.”

And it did not disappoint except for a few minor things that can’t be helped because it was written for a different era of readers.

Listed under the sci-fi/fantasy genre, I knew going it that it was a work of fiction. But, the author Jin Yong incorporated so much history that I had a hard time discerning which was fact and which was fiction.

Since my knowledge of Chinese story, Genghis Khan and the Mongols is at best cursory, I just had to enjoy the book because it is truly epic in both its classic meaning and today’s urban definition with epic meaning “cooler than cool.”

As most everyone knows, Jin Yong is the most famous literary exponent of wuxia, the world of kung fu chivalry which is familiar to today’s audiences thanks to martial arts movies. “A Hero Born” is the epitome of this genre.

Set in Song Empire (China 1200 AD) to the appearance of a warlord whose name will endure for eternity: Genghis Khan, the story of “A Hero Born” encompasses 18 years.

In its simplistic form, it is the story of two young men who were sworn brothers, and both were Song patriots. Murdered by treasonous soldiers, their wives fled their village with their unborn sons. One of the wives was rescued by a prince while the unborn Guo Jing and his mother fled to the plains and joined Genghis Khan and his people.

The main story plot follows Guo Jing but there are so many subplots that there really is no other way to describe it as epic. Fantasy readers who are familiar with Robert Jordan’s “The Wheel of Time” will understand how involved the telling of such a story can be.

“The Wheel of Time” took 16 books and 20 years for fans like me to get to the ending. That’s dedication, not only by the writer and his fans.

Reading and finishing “A Hero Born,” I realized that this is only first book of the “Legends of the Condor Heroes” to come out in English translation. I would like very much to read the others. But since I don’t speak Chinese nor read it, I will have to wait for the next translated work.

That said, “A Hero Born” is an auspicious start. Aside from the history lessons albeit embedded in fantasy, the battle scenes are described so vividly that I can see it in my mind’s eyes. If ever Hollywood decide to make a movie out of this, the action scenes are almost scripted for the director and stunt coordinator.

I enjoyed this book so much that halfway thru the book, it was released on audio and yes… you guessed it, I spent one of my credits in Audible to buy it. It is so totally worth it!

“A Hero Born” is Rated T for Teens. Parental guidance is strongly advised due to violence.

A Hero Born
The Definitive Edition
by Jin Yong
I requested this book from Netgalley and the review is voluntary. I really wanted to like this book. I was excited to start it but I found it frustrating and confusing. There are long stretches of boring chapters that I really wanted to give up. (Especially since I am having to read it on my phone since my tablet died.) There are way to many fight scenes. They all seem to be the same. The names of everyone except for the main characters were impossible for me to even try to keep straight.
I usually think that the book is better than the movie but maybe in this case it might be the other way around.

Thank you so much Anna Holmwood, for bringing this amazing Chinese epic to the English language! And for making it accessible to a whole new generation!

When Hong Kong writer Jin Yong wrote this phenomenal historical martial arts fiction serial in the late 1950’s, it became widely popular with his early readers. My own parents were among them. Years later, I was growing up in Canada dimly aware of the crazy, over the top wuxia television shows that my parents loved watching and the Jin Yong novels that seemed to be never far from my father’s reach. “These are the best! Chinese literary epic!” I was told.

Now, finally! I am able to experience the excitement, the beauty, the adventure, and the romanticized decorum of 12th century China for myself. At first, I found the unfamiliar phrasings and lengthy introduction of characters quite daunting. I was jumping back to the bookmarked “List of Characters” frequently because I had trouble keeping track of who was who. As a result, it took some time to get engaged with the characters. But I’m glad I persisted.

The text utilizes a mix of phoneticized and literal translations to capture the best combination of poetry and meaning while retaining the oriental flavour of the setting. By the second half of the book, things are taking off. Characters have earned my loyalty, action is building, and carefully planted seeds come to fruition. The young protagonist “Hero” Guo Jing comes to maturity, just as his benefactor Temuljin (the future Genghis Khan) is consolidating his power, and the Mongolian Jin and the Chinese Song empires are soon to be at war once again.

A Hero Born is thrilling and addictive. Jin Yong has created a magical world full of honour and brotherhood, loyalty and tradition, humour and fantasy. It’s huge in scope and inspiration! I can’t believe I have to wait for Book 2. I feel so much closer to my roots for being able to enjoy this incredible story with my family. As a bonus, while I’m waiting for the other books to be published, I will be enjoying the 2017 TV series. The cinematography and special effects are amazing!

I was already thinking about requesting this on NetGalley when I received an email from the publisher, so I thought "why not?"* I might've been sucked in by the advertisement that this was the Chinese The Lord of the Rings, but I can neither confirm nor deny that. (It totally was—we all know it.)

I wasn't sure what to expect going in to the book, I honestly kept putting it off because I assumed it would be way too hard to read. When I started the book to find dozens of pages of prologue, character lists, and historical information I started to get worried this was going to be more tome-like (i.e. Dickens; This was also initially published serially in a Hong Kong newspaper) and less like the martial arts movies that made huge splashes in the late-90s/early-00s in the US (think "Hero", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "House of Flying Daggers", etc.).

And I was wrong, thankfully. This read like one of those films and actually made me rewatch "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (great until the final scene) about halfway through reading the book. A Hero Born is fast paced with some slow moments of dialogue/exposition, but overall I really enjoyed it. It had characters and locations to love and be frustrated with, and it had characters to despise and locations that were forgettable.

I can't really rate the translation, but overall the pacing, the conversations, and the descriptions felt natural. Eery now and then there was a passage that stood out to me and at first I would think they were very nicely written, but if I re-read the passage it became more and more basic.

"He winced, and for the first time looked up at her. There, before him, was a face as delicate as a flower, two cheeks flushed pink like rose petals, and a pair of kind eyes sparkling like the stars reflected in a river." (Chapter 1)

There's nothing wrong with the above passage, it's nicely written, but the more I read it, the less beautiful it became. I don't know if it's because it's full of similes and not metaphors or three packed in together.

Where the author, and the translator, really excelled were describing the fight scenes (of which there are plenty). The scenes range from training montages to scenes with as many as 10-15 people fighting. I think the translator touched on this well in the appendices of how religion and martial arts tied together.

"The association between the ancient Chinese philosophies and the martial arts is all the more pronounced in fiction and film, where history and legend, fact and make-believe intertwine in a cocktail of breathtaking set pieces performed by strange and wonderful men and women in robes, fighting for righteousness and the moral code of the jianghu. This code reinforces the idea that fighting, inthe furtherance of good and noble ends, could coexist with the core Buddhist teaching of pacficism and Taoism's "non-doing", wu wei." (Appendix)

The hardest part by far was differentiating the characters by name, I knew the main characters because we spend so much time with them, but those that flit in and out of the story are a little harder to remember. I wonder if Chinese (or anyone really with such different naming conventions) people have the exact same difficulties when it comes to remembering western names? Thankfully, the author had most of the characters appear as super distinct (i.e. really small in stature, carries a fan for a weapon, blind with a stick) that I was able to keep them apart mostly. And then there were the Mongolian characters whose names were differently hard to remember, mostly because I don't think they were referred to by name as frequently.

I think the biggest critique I have of the book is the passage of time. I'm glad the author didn't write 18 years worth of story, because that's the time this book covers, but at the same time I felt the shift in time happened very abruptly and awkwardly. It wasn't a chapter break or even a section break, it just sort of happens over three paragraphs with an anecdote in each explaining that time has moved forward.

Recommendation: I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. It really is like one of the late-90s/early-00s martial arts films in book form. The characters were unique enough that even though I couldn't keep all their names organized I knew who they were. The author has clearly weaved a lot of historical people, places, and fighting styles into the book and I'm looking forward to the rest of the trilogy (series?) being released in this new English translation.

*I received a digital copy of A Hero Born from the publisher via NetGalley in return for my honest opinion. No money or goods were exchanged.

This book has been advertised as the “Chinese Lord of the Rings.” When I first got the email when this book was being translated I knew I had to read it. A Hero Born by Jin Yong, Translated by Anna Holmwood is the first book in the Legends of the Condor Heroes Book 1. This epic begins with brothers in arms, Skyfury Guo and Ironheart Yang and Song patriots. The novel takes place in China 1200 A.D. during the Jin-Song Wars. When Guo and Yang are murdered, their wives give birth to sons but are separated. Guo Jing grows up under Genghis Khan and is trained in martial arts. The rest of the book discusses his return to China to fulfill his destiny.

Right off the bat, I am going to tell you that I am rating this book 3 out of 5 stars. I don’t want anyone to think that this detracts from the book. The story is a Chinese classic. When I heard it was being translated, I knew it would be a huge undertaking. Many had said it couldn’t be done. I love the basics of the story, I just feel indifferent because I couldn’t connect with it. The characters are very dry and the fight scenes are not as epic as I anticipated. I cannot blame the translator, but it does feel like a lot of the substance of the story got lost in translation.

Now, I must say I am so glad I read the story and would encourage all those who enjoy Chinese history and legends to do the same. This story is a classic and there is no doubt in my mind that this is an incredible story. The female characters are fantastic and I can’t wait to see more of them. I did love the detail in training and the concept of strength in honor. This is an epic that deserves so much praise, it is just unfortunate that we lose the spark in the translation.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book when I started reading it. It took me a while to get going on it, but it soon started to flow nicely. I really enjoyed the world building. I will look into more from this author.

I neither loved nor hated this book, it simply was. I'm not sure if my lack of enthusiasm is a result of the writing style or the story itself, but while I think I would enjoy the story in a film, I wasn't pulled in by the book.
One thing that threw me a fair bit was the sudden perspective changes within a chapter. One paragraph you're reading Jebe's point of view, the next it's his enemy, the next its Guo. It was a little confusing and unexpected. I'm not familiar with the original work, but my familiarity with "epics" comes from early English verse forms. There's a lot of different character POV in epic poetry, and the main story frequently diverges to give a new character's backstory, so that aspect of this work, though unexpected, wasn't as annoying as it could be. I can see how awesome this story would be in verse, but as prose it just didn't do it for me.
That said, I enjoyed the kung fu move names, and the fight scenes were well written which is not necessarily common in action books. So: interesting story, slightly boring format.

I don’t normally read fantastical martial arts novels, but once I started this one I couldn’t put it down.

This story takes place in 1200 AD in the Song Empire and follows Guo Jing and his mother as they flee after his father is murdered. There they join Ghengis Khan and his people.

This story if full of wondrous characters and amazing battles. I don’t think I can do the book justice with a review other than to say, if you enjoyed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, you will enjoy this.

I can’t wait to read the next book and see where it takes me.

I voluntarily read an advanced copy of this book.

Great Book! I'll be reading more from this author! I believe I already have another one by Yong ready to download. Now that summer is over, I'll have more time to devote to one of my favorite past-times (reading!).

While I was very happy to see a modern translation of this 1950s classic, I have to also admit it might not have held up as well when viewed through a modern lens. It does have a lot of very fun Wuxia fighting that is described in great detail, but the characters are many, it goes off on endless small character tangents, moves around constantly and randomly between characters, and the main characters just aren't sympathetic - they were lost somehow in the cultural aspects of the translation. Everything does sort of come together by the end, but then you are left with a cliffhanger.

If you grew up with Chinese comics and Kung Fu movies, then you will be familiar with the rotes and style here. Dialogues are cringe worthy - but when you grow up with it as a kid, it all sounds so epic and amazing. And much like e.g., Japanese and Korean anime, everything is overexplained to the point that you wonder if the book is 50% description and 50% redundancy. But as a rule, it's important to remember that this is for a younger audience and is not meant to be challenging. It isn't a Lord of the Rings or Miyamato Musashi type of epic. It isn't a cultural tale in the veins of Finland's Kalevala or Beowulf that will give you an insight into the Song period of China. And so in adjusting your expectations a bit better, you can appreciate the fun of this martial arts tale just as you'd watch one of those poorly subtitled Kung Fu movies of the 1970s and 1980s. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

Hey Ya’ll!

This is my spoiler free review of A Hero Born by Jin Yong. Released on September 17th in America, this story was translated from the original Chinese and was actually published back in 1957. Jin Yong is known as the Chinese Tolkein, and I’ve never read Lord of the Rings but I was taken completely by surprise by how much I loved this book. I gave it four stars. Let’s get into the review.

A big thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

Synopsis and My Thoughts

This was so unexpected for me. I hate to say it, but I was expecting to not like this based on reviews I had read before picking it up. When I first started it I thought that my pre-conceived opinions would be correct as the way the story was written as well as the plot just was not grabbing my attention. But somewhere around the halfway point – I don’t know how it happened – I was SO into this story and completely unable to put it down. For the first time in a hot minute, I decided I’d rather read than sleep (not super late, I went to bed at 11 instead of 9 lmao) and I’m very mad at myself for not finishing this before release day.

But let me tell you what A Hero Born is about. The story focuses on two families, the heads of which are patriots and sworn blood brothers and best friends. The story begins in Southern China, on a night of celebration – both of the families found out they are expecting their first children. At this time, China is being invaded by it’s Jin neighbors. The entire north of China has been conquered and the remaining Song Empire has moved to the South to make a stand. For years, Lin’an has been the location of the Song officials – meant to protect the empire, at the time the story begins they have been paying the Jin for quite some time to not invade, and have turned corrupt.

Skyfury Guo and Ironheart Yang are descended from true Chinese patriots, who were famous for making great strides in defending the Song Empire from the Jin – they are the two heads of the families this story initially focuses on. While having dinner together with their wives, they see a warrior walking past their homes in basically the middle of a blizzard and decide to invite him inside. They become good friends with the man, who is a very well respected wulin master and Taoist monk. Guo and Yang vow to each other that their children will either be blood brothers or they will marry, depending on the genders of their children. As they’re celebrating this agreement, Government officials appear outside their house demanding that the Taoist monk come out.

Because of this, and what happens afterward, the women are left alone to raise their children. The Taoist monk swears to protect their children – the only catch being that the women are now missing – and after some time looking for the women the Taoist runs into a group of wulin fighters who want to test their skill against his own. The Taoist wins, and after some sour grapes the Seven Freaks demand they be allowed a rematch in the future. The Taoist responds by telling them about the women, who are carrying the line of legendary patriots, and tells them that a better way to determine skill would be for the two children, once born, to fight after each child was taught the ways of the Wulin. Yang’s child would be taught by the Taoist and Guo’s child by the Seven Freaks. The Taoist effectively recruited some of the most well known wulin fighters to help him protect the children, whether they knew it or not.

When the Seven Freaks find Guo Jing, the son of Skyfury Guo, they find him and his mother in the Mongolian steppes. Guo has become close with the son of Genghis Khan and has been living a relatively simple life. Most of the book follows Guo Jing as he learns from the Seven Freaks the ways of the wulin, and the intrigue surrounding his time with Genghis Khan’s clan. However, Guo is a very slow learner and over the 18 years he is taught by his masters they fear he will not match up to Ironheart Yang’s son.

The writing in this book definitely took some getting used to. I think in Chinese it probably flowed a bit better, but after reading for a bit I realized that if you just imagine you’re being told the story by word of mouth it makes the way the story is told make a lot more sense. Because of this, I could see how this might bother some people but I particularly enjoyed the way this story was told and the omniscient perspective was very interesting to me.

There were little subplots wrapped up in Guo Jing’s story. Growing up around Genghis Khan’s clan – his sworn brotherhood with the Khan’s son and his friendship and eventual possible relationship with the Khan’s daughter. Twice Foul Dark Wind – there is a couple known as Twice Foul Dark Wind who was responsible for killing the brother of one of the Seven Freaks and the pair makes an appearance and stirs up trouble with the Seven Freaks. Guo’s training was interesting to read about as well, and I appreciate that his character didn’t just come to it naturally: learning the fighting arts actually took quite a bit of effort for him. All these little subplots added up to make Guo Jing’s story very interesting to me, especially since for most of his life while he is being trained he has no knowledge of the bet the Seven Freaks made with the Taoist monk.

I will say that the different kung fu moves were kind of hard to imagine and at times the moves described seemed impossible. I’ll say when it comes to the kung fu in this story I learned to suspend my disbelief and if I didn’t think about the fighting scenes too hard I didn’t notice it.

I loved that the story was set in such an interesting location and time period. It gets really boring reading about the same type of setting all the time and the fact that I was able to learn about real historical events while following the story was awesome. I love to learn about cultures other than my own and I got a history lesson on the conflict between the Chinese and the Jin which was something I previously had no knowledge of.

The book definitely ends with a twist and I have so many questions and theories about what will happen in the next book – I can’t wait until it’s translated.

as for the questions I have and comments that I want to make that are more spoiler-y:

*How the hell did Ironheart Yang live and the Taoist monk never find out?

*I'm kind of confused on the thing with Ironheart Yang's kid. Before the plot twist where we find out that the consort is actually Ironheart's wife and her firstborn son, now known as a Prince and the first son of Wanyan Honglie, is actually Ironheart's child I really thought that the child she had was a daughter i.e. Lotus. Now that we know that isn't the case: who IS Lotus? Did she actually train with Twice Foul Dark Wind?

*Well Guo Jing and Yang's son technically already fought then so do I care about the bet anymore? We already know Guo will win unless someone comes to Yang's help again.

*I am SO interested in the conflict with Genghis Khan's daughter and Lotus and what Guo Jing will choose.