It's a book whose story is about a part of the history of China and the separation of families.. The writer's ability to put you right into the landscape, character's lives and political climate of the time. It is a wonderful book where martial arts, loyalty and betrayal are artfully woven. I didn't find this book to be fantasy so much.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with the ARC. I thought the plot, translation/overall writing, characters, and mystical scenes were well done. I only wish in these cases I could read in every language and understand them. So I could see what underlying tones or hidden elements may be accidentally (or intentionally) left out.

I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected! I was worried that I was going to DNF it actually since I read a few reviews from people I follow in Goodreads that the translation style wasn't that great. But the more I read, the more I enjoyed.

Let me separate my opinion in two ways, the translation and the original.

For the translation, it was simple and easy to breeze through it. However, because of that, I felt like it didn't have that much mystical feel to it that's part of the classic Chinese fantasy. Another thing I wasn't a big fan of was how the translator also translated some of the characters names. I would have preferred it if she just mentioned what they meant and stuck with the original names. Besides these complains, the translation was good.

As for the original, it is your typical classic Chinese fantasy story, which means martial arts and the exagerated need to protect honor (super exaggerated in my opinion at least). I didn't enjoy the beginning of the story much. I started enjoying it a lot midway until the end though. The one thing that bothered me in the beginning was how it felt like the author momentarily forgot that the women were pregnant? It's barely mentioned and moreover the women were thrown here and there and barely had enough food to eat to support the babies (but then again this is fiction but it still bothered me though). Besides that I liked where the story is heading.

Overall I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected and I'm definitely reading the sequels. I can't believe this ended in a cliffhanger too 😩


Digital copy provided by Netgalley for an honest review.

A very fun read, though parts of it quite slow. Definitely not anything like Lord of the Rings, except that it's a modern classic apparently? Really appreciate the translation work that went into this one. Beautifully written.

As a lover of Asian culture, this book really surprised me!
I loved the whole premise and the writing style was on point!
Highly recommend!

The Legends of the Condor Heroes took over sixty years to find its way to western shores, but the impacts of Louis Cha's (Jin Yong is his pen name) sweeping historical wuxia series have been trickling into American culture since the Shaw Brothers began making martial arts movies in the seventies. Everything from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to The Matrix has been influenced by the dynamic characters, intricate fight sequences and mythical abilities of Cha's, Legends of the Condor Heroes trilogy.

The first book in the series, A Hero Born, begins during the Jin-Song wars of the 12th century, when the Jurchen were invading the southern Song and a young Temüjin (Ghengis Khan) was preparing to unite the tribes of Mongolia. The story follows Guo Jing, the son of a murdered Song patriot, who is raised with Temüjin's army. Guo's fate becomes twisted from growing up as a second generation of sworn brothers when his father and best friend were murdered and their pregnant wives separated. An unfortunate run-in between a Taoist—sworn to train the two sons—and The Seven Heroes of the South, split the destinies of the unborn sons only to force them to face each other in combat when they become grown men.

The english publisher describes the Legends of the Condor Heroes as the Chinese Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, but doing so creates expectations in the western reader that can not be fulfilled by Cha's work. I think it would be more accurate to describe the seminal series as a Marvel Universe rooted in the history of one of the oldest civilizations. The characters and their powers of strength and wisdom feel more like western superheroes than a fantasy-world made up of imaginary kingdoms and races. Cha's China is real, filled with men and women of exceptional skills and abilities, fighting for honor—or greed and revenge—as classic heroes and villains.

The task of translating this work into english must have been as dizzying for Anna Holmwood as the fast-moving action of the plot itself. The book unfolds at breakneck speed across two decades, filling your mind with ballet-like choreography and historical context as effectively as any action movie. Holmwood's notes following the story provide context in her choices in translation as well as more context on the communities of wuxia (martial artists) as wulin (a collection of heroes bound by a code of martial arts) and jianghu (more like a society of gangsters). I have rarely had more fun reading a novel and look forward to the rest of the dynasty-spanning epic, as well as revisiting the stories often.

3.8

This novel follows two sworn brothers from the Song kingdom - Guo Jing (main character), who was taken in by the Mongolians and Yang Kang, who was raised by the Jin. Fate brought them together one day under very unexpected circumstances. What's to become to these brothers who serve opposing parties? Will they stay brothers or nemesis? Will Guo Jing regain his motherland from the Jin Empire?

Firstly, don't let the translation turn you off. Don't let it deter you from reading it. Although sometimes it felt like I was reading subtitles from a Kung fu show (not a bad thing, really) , I thoroughly enjoyed the journey! (I love kung-fu movies by the way)

The story was amazing! It felt as though I was watching a Kung-fu movie! Despite their funny-sounding kung-fu names (like Browbeater Hou, Gallant Ouyang, Lama Supreme Wisdom) and moves such as Weight Steps to Catch the Toad, Orchid Touch, Branch Bears the White Chimpanzee (it's understandable since it was translated from Chinese, which I'm aware isn't an easy feat) I loved how the moves played out in my mind. I also fell in love with the characters - from Guo Jing to all the shifus and enemies they met and made along the way! Enjoyed the funny parts too!

What's bothering me now is that I got to wait for the next volume! Guo Jing and Lotus kind of grew on me and I want to know what happens to them, and the contest between Guo Jing and his sworn brother, Yang Kang! Who's going to win? Will they stay brothers as sworn or nemesis? And I want to know more about Eternal Spring Qiu Chuji and the Seven Freaks! And what's to become of the Song and Jin Empire?

Thank you Netgalley and St Martin's Press for a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I haven't had the best luck with translated books, and unfortunately had the same struggle with A Hero Born. I was extremely excited to dive into this world, because I love books about martial arts- and this happens to be a series that my dad (from Hong Kong) absolutely loves. This was an opportunity for me to share something with him, and learn something about his interests and the pop culture that he grew up with.

It was difficult to get through A Hero Born. It reads very comical, and so you have to go into it understanding that this story was originally serialized and gained popularity through its media portrayals, movies and television shows. It's really wacky, and that's just how a lot of "pop culture" Chinese martial arts literature and media is.

The pacing does not help. We jump from generation to generation and there's no clear sense of who the protagonists are that we should be focusing on. However, when we finally do meet Guo Jing and follow him on his adventures, I had a moment of clarity. He's an underdog that we can get behind, because he's not naturally gifted like all of the practitioners we meet.

A Hero Born ends on a pretty devastating cliffhanger, so even though I only felt so-so about this first book, I will probably continue reading the series just to find out what happens next!

English translation of the first volume of “Legend of the Condor Heroes,” an epic Chinese martial arts series /historical fantasy set in the 1200s (warring Jin and Song kingdoms and the rise of the Mongols under Genghis Khan). The novel addresses interesting questions about loyalty and patriotism by following the deeply different but parallel narratives of two protagonists from the Song kingdom born at the same time to families broken by war: Guo Jing (main hero), who is taken by his mother to Mongolia and Yang Kang, who is raised by the Jin. As they grow up and become young men, will they be loyal to the community they are raised in or to the ones of their birth? Competition for mastery of the martial arts also play a major role. The series is so popular in China and Taiwan I believe it has been turned into TV series at least 4-5 times over the last 30 years.

I read this out of curiosity about the source material. I found the direct translation of people’s names a bit jarring (eg., names like Lotus, Jade Han, The Freaks) and there were so many characters it was difficult to track at first. Although there are a few strong female characters, for the most part historical gender stereotypes apply.

I found the beginning a bit slow going because it focuses first on what happens to the protagonists’ parents before they are born and how they end up where they are. However once the protagonists become young men out in the world (and particularly once Guo Jing meets Lotus!) the story picked up. and I look forward to reading the next volume.

A Hero Born by Jin Yong – 2 Stars
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
ISBN: 9781250220608

I suppose my expectation was to read a saga similar to Shogan by James Clavell where history flowed out of the story while the plot covered centuries and several volumes. Was I surprised when my mind became saturated with silly Kung Fu movements, names, and skirmish after skirmish that contributed to the advertised saga. Grammatically it is well written, a reflection of the translator I presume. The underlying plot of two children born to Song parents who were killed by Jin terrorists, manipulators and controllers of the governments for years, who reunite as sworn brothers under the Mongolian leader Genghis Khan was inviting. The continuous Kung Fu was a bit Beyond the Tallest Elephant Head and as interesting as the Boring Boar Trips on Chestnuts movement. Sorry, I just had to create my own nonsensical phrases to illustrate what is, I guess, the image of Chinese fantasy distributed throughout. I love Sci Fi and Fantasies; but, this was far too consuming for the enjoyment obtained -- 11 more volumes of this? No thanks. I’ll be generous and rate it a 2.

Reviewer: Rich

2.5/5stars

Rounded up to 3 star cause I DO NOT WANT THAT RATING TO DETER PEOPLE!!

This book... was fine. I think it would work much better in its original language (obviously) but, IN MY OPINION, similarly to Game of Thrones, it would work better as a TV show or a movie. I'm pretty sure it is a chinese drama and I'm interested in watching this.

Cause unfortunately, I couldn't bring myself to care about this because of the writing/translation. It was just SO simply written it was impossible to care about the characters or what was happening. There was no voice to this book - all the characters seemed basically the same. And i was constantly at an arms length away from everything because of the writing.

So, unfortunately I think the translation really ruined this story because the premise was super interesting and gripping, but the writing was just TOO simple and stilted.

This is a coming of age novel for two boys, born of martial arts masters and destined to grow up as brothers but separated by circumstances.

Overall this novel was good but I didn't find myself dragged into it. I was reading it but wasn't engulfed like you get with truly amazing stories. I think this is due to my inability to truly connect with the characters.

The plot was good with plenty of action. However the constant underlying theme of loyalty and honour was too much. I never understood why honour was so important, even if it costs you your life.

The characters were strange, especially the Seven Freaks. I wasn't sure if the author was trying to make them comical as they constantly bickered and fought among themselves. Some comical characters are okay, if they're consistent. But then the author had them concerned with honour through an agreement they made 18 years ago with the Taoist which didn't mix with their laid back and comical side.

Also no deaths had any emotional impacts. It was just like "oh, so and so died. Oh well, time to move on."

In summary this was a good fantasy novel. I think something was lost in translation as I didn't feel as big of an emotional impact as I would have liked.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC.

I received a copy through Netgalley to review.

I had just finished a couple other books of a similar setting and was itching for something more. I've always been a fan of stories like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Ip Man", "Red Cliff", etc so this seemed right up my alley.

The book begins without too much in the way of introduction, we briefly meet Skyfury Guo and Ironheart Yang. Things happen and then we are into the rest of the bulk of the book about Guo Jing and his adolescence growing up with the family of Temujin a.k.a. Genghis Khan. The story is definitely building towards something but we don't quite get there by the end of the book.

The action sequences are smooth and exciting, the overall story is compelling, and the plot is coherent. My biggest grievance is with some of the naming conventions that make it difficult to keep track of who is who, followed by the rapid perspective changes that sometimes required looking back over what I had just read to see who's eyes I was "seeing" out of.

Overall, I was pleased with the book and will be looking to pick up the 2nd and continue on.

It is a difficult thing to find Chinese fiction translated into English. A great deal of the classics (Zhuangzi, Confucius, Laozi), the ‘four novels of the Chinese canon’, and a fair amount of poetry have all made their way in translation, but modern and post-modern (and I assume now meta-modern) novels are few and far between. It is thus perhaps something of a significant moment that The Legend of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong (aka Louis Cha) has made its way across the lingual divide in an official translation from St. Martin’s Press, the first volume of which is A Hero Born.

A Hero Born doesn’t stop from the word go. Telling the story of the sworn brothers Yang Tiexin and Guo Xiaotian, it is set against a backdrop of the Song-Jin dynasties (in what is roughly China today) and the rise of the Mongolian tribes to the north. In action-packed style, it tells the story of farmers Yang and Guo whose lives, caught at an unfortunate crossroads, take a fateful turn when a renegade Taoist monk who has recently killed a corrupt government official finds his way to their village. The army tracking him there, the fight turns ugly, and spins the lives of Yang and Guo’s families in different directions. A Hero Born is the story of those lives—or at least Act I.


Exotic in the context of modern Western fantasy series, A Hero Born is a breath of fresh air—or Ginseng Wind Caresses the Soul if the novel would have its way. Where most multi-volume fantasies in English these days readily and willingly bog themselves down in the boring minutiae of ‘worldbuilding’, Jin readily eschews spurious detail to focus on plot, action, and to some degree, character. Major events, fighting, and story transitions core to the novel, the scenes move very quickly as action shifts the narrative space perpetually forward, rarely if ever pausing to detail court attire, expound on the qualities of a lady’s hair brush, or navel gaze into the flow of wind through the heather. It is the day to Robert Jordan’s night.

And the transitions are anything but predictable. Jin Yong’s mind a wonderfully imaginative place, the scenes play out beyond what is often a black & white, good vs evil setup. Kung fu the mode rigeur, fanciful styles and moves, incredible leaps and feats of strength splash colorfully across the page, even as the imaginary hierarchy of kung fu masters that reveals itself is tested in combat. Nothing says martial arts like a duel between Master Eternal Spring and his Lightning Ignites the Sky thrust versus the mercenary Three-Horned Dragon and his parry, Nine Ying Skeleton Claw. One can almost see the hidden wires of Hong Kong’s action movie scene bouncing the characters and their outlandish stylings across the book’s screen. These scenes, often resolved in unexpected ways though standard in set up, flow into and feed the overarching narrative arc in highly entertaining ways.

If there is any downside to the book, it’s that its end is a pause—not a cliffhanger, not a natural break in the action, a pause. The reality seems that instead of publishing one massive volume, St. Martin’s Press chose to break the book into four volumes. When considering two things 1) Yong’s style, i.e. his perpetual avalanche of story that leaves no room for cliffhangers or natural breaks, and 2) the Chinese language fits in significantly tighter spaces than does the English, means what is probably a good sized volume in Chinese doesn’t naturally fit into a single volume in English, and publishers likely chose to pause at a proportional place rather than plot break. So be it.

In the end, A Hero Born feels like a kung fu re-visioning of Outlaw of the Marsh (aka The Water Margin) with a bit of the wild stylings of the Monkey King’s Journey to the West to ginseng matters up. The emphasis is on martial prowess, but behind it are a strong set of morals focusing on the value of virtue, honesty, family, allegiance, perseverance, and a dash of Chinese filial piety thrown in for good measure. In content, the book is wholly non-Western—a refreshing thing. Fantasies featuring princesses, knights, and dragons a worn, muddy road in the West, having things mixed up with the exotic nature of kung fu, Chinese history, and Oriental custom, not to mention a pace that excludes the minutiae of worldbuilding, is a Nine Dragons of the East blast of clean air.

I have read the book in its original language, and struggle to review this book in an objective way. The original author wrote this book with a lot of good prose, he had a great writing style. But the translation of that book is not the best. I understand that it is hard, but a lot of the hidden meaning was lost in the book.
A Hero Born is not some boring book about kung fu and martial arts, and the elegance is lost during translation. Perhaps this is in need of another edit.

This is certainly something completely different from the usual scifi/fantasy books I read. I gave it a shot since I figured, I've read A Song of Ice and Fire and Legend of the Galactic Heroes, I could get into this. The narrative is certainly action-packed; so much so that the introduction has to give us an overview of how the story unfolds, an explanation of the significant characters (more than a few), and some spoilers that will give significance to the characters. Yes, spoilers, right in the introduction and character descriptions. I guess I should have skipped that one. I really wish this book had a map, because they certainly cover a lot of ground throughout the course of the story. I'm sure this wasn't easy to translate. It would be a shame if they got rid of the poetic attack names like "Deadly Dragon Flies the Cave" and "Rainbow Crosses the Sky" but it takes some getting used to. Western novels and shows usually just have literal names like "pincer move" or "rear naked choke". Other translation quirks that took some getting used to is how a husband can be referred to as "Brother" or people can be referred to by titles such as "Fifth Brother" or "Third Uncle." I wanted to like this, I really did, but finishing the book felt like an action-packed out-of-breath struggle.

I haven't read very many chinese centered stories but it's always something that has peaked my interest over time. This in particular is a very classic story but serves up a much-too-bountiful buffet of tropes. A Hero Born is the first in the Condor trilogy, following two boys in 13th century China. The thing is, there was more padding stuffed into it than a feather pillow. But hey, I was kept entertained, at least! This book reminded me of shounen anime and manga like Inuyasha in good and bad ways. The good - that it was filled with action scenes and snappy character dynamics. The bad - the feeling that much of the plot was filler and it's heavy on history and info dumping.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with extra scenes for character development here and there, but this novel truly felt episodic in a way I don’t think I’ve ever experienced in a novel before. It read like a compilation volume of a manga with separate, individually-published stories contained within it. Not a bad thing, necessarily, but it wasn’t my cup of tea.

In conclusion, this book is strongest in its critique of corruption and unfettered power, and the importance of the Confucian values.

DNF at 43%. The translation is weak, and I had to force myself to read it. Finally, I gave up. I'm not able to finih it.

Desperate to fulfil a promise to protect and train the children of the sworn brothers Ironheart Yang and Skyfury Guo, Qui Chuji, issues a challenge to The Seven Freaks of the South, to meet up again at their eighteenth birthday and prove which martial family taught the children best.
With a few detours and with war sweeping across the plains, we embark on a journey to train and get the kids to the meeting point on time but before they can do any of that they will have to find them first.

This genre is pretty new to me outside of film but I loved getting to see some of the inspiration behind many of the movies and dramas, that I have seen. I’m also finding it a lot more difficult than I expected to review this translated classic.
I think this translation does well at capturing the mysticism and it sparks the imagination while still being accessible to the new to wuxia readers.
But there were points in the book that I found frustrating and I don’t know where to fault- if it’s because of the translation- I haven’t read the source, so I can’t say, or is it because the original is fifty years old and I am sure a bit dated now. At times though it was hard for me to keep up with the jumping around from one character to another character’s headspace. There are a lot of characters too so this was even more frustrating.

On the whole though, I loved the style- the silliness of some of the humor, the betrayals, the mythical moves with names like “open the window and push back the moon” and the strong themes of brotherhood and family honor and loyalties that transcend death. All things I enjoy in Chinese film and dramas to a degree are there and the beautiful illustrations were a huge bonus.

The story itself has a fable-like quality with the detours in the plot, as we see and hear about the Seven Freaks and their fight with Cyclone Mei, Qui Chuji and his battle with the Freaks. Charity tending to the wounded soldier- you know is going to go all wrong in the end, and all those little story arcs inside the big one kept me reading and were exciting but I also felt they could have been more cohesive in their presentation.


I can overlook most of that because I did enjoy the story, except for the way it ended. I knew that there was going to be several books to this series but I had hoped that the next story would be after the challenge from Qui Chuji was fulfilled- again hard to say where the fault lies but it was a disappointing place to end this arc.

There is a lot to love in this story though, and I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to read this Chinese classic.

Thank you Netgalley and St Martin’s Press, for granting my wish for this book.


Review will go up on blog, social media etc. closer to pub date (sept).

ARC provided by the publisher—St. Martin’s Press—in exchange for an honest review.

A Hero Born is the start to Jin Yong’s highly praised classic series but a lot of the promising quality of the book seems to get lost in translation.

I’m genuinely sad with my ratings for this one, but I have to be honest that I have mixed feelings towards this novel. When I was around 5 years old, I used to watch The Legends of the Condor Heroes a lot with my parents. When I missed an episode, my parents would tell me the story in detail; teaching me the meaning behind the actions of each character. This series, even though I’ve never read it until now, has a spot of nostalgia for me. That being said, it’s been more than 20 years and I honestly remember extremely little about it. What I do remember is that the story eventually grew significantly larger in scope and complexity than the coming-of-age tale we have in A Hero Born. I’ll divide this review strictly into what worked and what didn’t; let’s start with the parts that worked first.

A Hero Born has an engrossing story, even though the prose and the naming didn’t work (more on this in the next paragraph) for me, I found that my interest to continue reading was always there. The actions were great, the depiction of kung-fu was exciting and refreshing to read. I also enjoyed reading the theme of friendships, loyalty, and love within this book. Remember, this is just the first book of a sub-series that became a much bigger series, and for the beginning installment, I think the storyline in A Hero Born, although understandably quite full of cliché due to it being published more than 50 years ago, the book served its job as a setup for the next installments wonderfully.

As for what didn’t work, it lies mostly in the translations that seem to translate every word and names literally. Now, I haven’t read the original Chinese material and because of that, I can’t precisely compare the quality of the prose itself; I can’t blame every part that didn’t work on the translation. However, as for this edition, the prose feels so unnatural and clunky to read; some doesn’t even make sense. “An arrow hit the back of his head.” And the same character proceeded to sing as if nothing happened, what does that even mean? Which part of the arrow hit him that he was able to walk unscathed? And then there was a character who ran into a pole and literally died after. Think about it, hit in the back of the head by an arrow and ran into a pole, which one would kill a person realistically? As for why I think everything was translated literally, this can easily be analyzed from the character’s names. Instead of sticking with the original Chinese name, the translator translated the names literally. Here are a few examples:

-Duan Tiande became Justice Duan
-Huang Rong became Lotus Huang
-Guo Xiaotian became Skyfury Guo
-Yang Tiexin became Ironheart Yang
-Bao Xiruo became Charity Bao
-Li Ping became Lily Li (Just try saying this translated name repeatedly: Lilililililililililililililililili)

For me who’s used to the original names, this is all so awkward. Plus, it just seems inconsistent because some of the main characters like Guo Jing, Yang Kang, and other Mongolian characters do retain their original names. Add the fact that the narrative used head jumping (which I’m not a fan of) with a dose of omniscient style, there were simply a lot of times where I had severe difficulty in immersing myself to the story.

I’ve heard that the next installment of the series has a different translator so fingers crossed it will be a much better experience if I do move forward. For now, though, I must say that I prefer watching the TV series adaptation (any one of them) more than reading this translated work.

Official release date: September 17th, 2019