I had never read any wuxia before, and in fact hadn't learned about this genre before starting A Hero Born. I had picked this book with the idea that it would be an epic fantasy (in the veins of LOTR, Kingkiller Chronicles, or even Across the Nightingale Floor). However, this was not that book. I'm not sure if it is a matter of translation or if it is a feature of the genre, but the writing style is very straightforward and almost matter-of-fact, and failed to keep my attention. Ultimately, this is not a book, possibly a genre, for me.

I just couldn't get into this book. I thought the premise would hook me but I never found myself wanting to read the next page. Dull and boring style of writing

Very conflicted with this book; I loved it, I hated it, I was confused, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.

The first in a series of three volumes, translated from the original Chinese, this is a novel of the rich history of kung fu/martial arts and Taoism in ancient China. The characters are fascinating, if you can keep track of them. There were so many different people being introduced I started to have trouble remembering who was who, was that a good guy or a bad guy, was that the husbands name or the Princes name?! However, the more you read, the easier it does become to sort them all out. (And DO be sure and read the introduction, which helps immensely in explaining the who, what, where and why's.)

The kung fu fights are descriptive, but not always in a good way; "he... performed a move known as Wind Disperses Swirling Clouds", "...he attacked with Hands Move Mountain", "he pulled out his whip and performed a move known as Black Dragon Fetches Water...". These are all very cool sounding, but there was no accompanying description so if you are not fluent in kung fu, you have no idea what he is doing! Some you can figure out by the name, but others made no sense and it was hard to imagine what was going on in the fight scenes.

The plot was very engrossing, however, with betrayals, love interests, bravery and more! And the peek you get into the rise of Ghengis Kahn is mesmerizing.

So would I recommend this book? Absolutely, especially if you are a aficionado of kung fu, Taoism, ancient Chinese history, a good action story, etc. Would I recommend it with a caveat? For sure; it wasn't easy to slog thru, you have to do a lot of reading between the lines, and keeping track of everyone was not a walk in the park. But what an entertaining walk it is if you can persevere.

One last thing, although I knew this was the first installment in a series, the ending was so abrupt I almost got whiplash. So be prepared for a very unsatisfying ending. And an eager wait for Volume II..

56 points, 3 stars

Review:
I have to say, it was quite a trip figuring out the ins and outs of this particular book. This originally came out in China in 1957, but this is the first time it has been translated into English. In the US. Probably.

A Hero Born starts off with things going really wrong for the initial main characters. There are two married couples, and the husbands end up under threat and die. And the women are split up. They're both pregnant.

Which is relevant because another person is like "oh shit this is fucked up, that shouldn't have happened to these people. I'm going to avenge these guys!" And ends up fighting these other guys.

Which ends up relevant because they make a bet when they realize they are at an impasse. They will each go after and teach one of the children of the pregnant women the way of kung fu. Whichever child wins, there master was better because they were able to teach the kid better. You're going "that's nuts, who thinks that way?!" right? I was, too. Just accept it, it gets more...more from there.

That's about the first fifteen percent of A Hero Born, followed by about 18 years worth of "this boy is useless in kung fu!". Guo Jing is, of course, not useless in kung fu. But Guo Jing is a kind hearted, kind of slow young boy who grows into a young man. So he appears useless at kung fu. His teachers despair he will ever learn and win the bet. Because that is all that matters.

A Hero Born features a lot of heroic feats and tests of strength and honor. There are a lot of battles between individuals. Which means a lot of mean-spirited side characters, delving on truly awful. But also a lot of not so bad side-characters that showcase just how much of a better person Guo Jing really is than everyone else around him.

The focus of this book isn't the characters, nor the setting. It isn't really the people of China and Mongolia. It isn't the fantasy, since this is Wuxia and even that takes a very long time to show up. Nope, it is about Guo Jing and how he is so kung fu other kung fu people are like "whoa look out for him, he's so kung fu!" Because kung fu isn't just a martial art, it is a way of life.

In other words this was completely and totally the opposite of what I typically want or even like in a book. And not in a good way, which often happens with me. The initial premise of of Ghengis Khan was interesting and all, but it just wasn't enough for me. I won't be continuing with the series, but it was worth the try.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Jin Yong and Anna Holmwood, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for providing the opportunity to review this copy.

If you love stories translated from foreign cultures - if you enjoy complex stories with weighty themes like war, betrayal, love and friendship - if you are always on the lookout for exquisite writing, classic stories and books that will alter how you view the world - than pick up A Hero Born by Jin Young!

Translated from Chinese, this book seems a little intimidating at first - there are pages and pages of characters and background information to look through before the story even begins - but once you begin reading, you will find yourself hooked!

This isn't your ordinary novel. Set aside the time to immerse yourself in this book. You won't regret it!

Translation are bound to be full of minefields and so it is with A Hero Born by Jin Yong. That was my first thought as I read this book. The cultural flavor is still intact. Also the story flows pretty well in this English version too. However, the description I read said it was a Chinese “Lord of the Rings”. That statement I can’t agree with after reading the book. It is something unique in itself.

The story is quite complex and intricate involving war, displacement, politics, brotherhood, coming of age and fantasy. Quite a lot for any one book. Perhaps because of the ancient and very different cultural aspects, I found it difficult at times to feel connected to the character. There are also many characters that Guo Jing encounters in his journey. Still I can understand why it is considered a Chinese classic.

An ARC of the book was given to me by the publisher through Net Galley which I voluntarily chose to read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

If you like martial arts movies, this is a must-read. However, if you leave that kind of movie saying things like, “cool stunts, but why were they fighting again…and why did that guy let himself die?” you might want to give this a miss.

I found the historical fiction aspects of this quite interesting. My knowledge of Chinese history is negligible, and this was kind of a fun way to get a feel for cultural and political issues in the early 1200’s (Temujin / Genghis Khan is a major secondary character).

The story’s highly episodic plot (this was originally a serial) is driven by a very Eastern code of honor combined with quick tempers and arrogance. It’s probably just my Western mindset, but to me a lot of the interpersonal behavior just seemed incredibly petty and/or driven by passing whims (with little purpose other than setting up a kung fu action set piece).

There is very little plot resolution at the end of the book. We now have most of the major characters in the same place (and they have all managed to kung fu fight amongst themselves in various combinations), but none of the major story arcs have been resolved.

The translation work as a whole seemed to flow fairly smoothly considering how much difference in writing style and sentence structure there must be between the two languages. One slightly odd feature of the translation was the inconsistent handling of names: some were translated with their English meaning and others merely transliterated with the meaning pointed out in an aside.

Overall, I’m glad for the opportunity to experience a book from another culture that is so staggeringly popular (>300 million sold plus bootleg copies probably totalling over 1 billion according to one of the appendices), but apparently martial arts books just aren't my cup of tea.

This book is a bit slow to start but quickly picks up the pace and intensity as things progress. There are a ton of characters to keep up with which makes the story all the more interesting and engaging. Overall, it took a little too long to get into this but I would recommend to those action and fantasy fans.

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.

I received a free ARC of this from NetGalley in return for an honest review. Billed as the Chinese Harry Potter, and I can see why. This is an enjoyable romp of high kung-fu and high coincidence set in ancient China at the time of the rise of Genghis Khan (who features reasonably heavily). It is clearly well written and translated, with the pacing and the characters all pretty solid, but there is something shallow about it which doesn't rise it above the 3 star level for me.

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 will begin this review by admitting that A Hero Born was far from my comfortable genre of fiction. I picked up the title thinking that it would be a science fiction and fantasy saga, as it is listed, but I would definitely put it under classic novel or myth as a more accurate category. In my opinion, listing this title as science fiction is also a disservice to the passionate work of Anna Holmwood, who's exuberant introduction kept me reading long after I would have put the book down due to disinterest. The tropes of dialogue style, very extended (as many as 20 pages in my digital copy) action scenes, and the veritable cornucopia of characters (requiring charting on my part in a separate notebook) all required adjustment on my part, even as I enjoyed them as clear pillars of the style. I was most intrigued to read a book touted as "much beloved" in it's original language and being presented in the US for the first time, and I think the hype around this title does an excellent job of playing to that interest. The translation is cinematic and accessible, without catering to any style of Hero's Journey adventure writing that I am most familiar with. I will reiterate that Holmwood's clear adoration of and care for the original text and structure propelled this narrative along, even for a reluctant reader.

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.