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.

What a treat this story was! A must-read for action-epic-saga historical fiction lovers, with gorgeous writing/translation that held me in suspense throughout. A great start to an action and adventure series that I will continue reading. Wonderful.

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

I haven't ever read a Kung Fu novel before. I've seen a bunch of Kung Fu movies, but I would hardly refer to myself as an aficionado of the genre. Regardless, A Hero Born was just cool. Super fun story, a lot of cool action sequences, that beg to made into a film (and probably already have), and an engrossing character list of the most creative, vivid and unique characters. I highly encourage any fan of Kung Fu to take part in this story. It does not disappoint.

If you enjoy martial arts and Kung Fu, you will love this book. When I started reading I found the style of writing or translation not to my taste, this might be a cultural thing or it loses something in the translation. I found it a little simplistic. However, I warmed to the style as the story developed and I moved my rating from a 3 to a 4. The characters are well drawn, a little stereotypical and the story is predictable but this is part of its charm. It does not, in my view, compare with Lord of the Rings. I do not think that I would want to continue to read the whole of this series but did enjoy this one enough to try the next.

This book really resonated with me as a chinese american, it was comforting and familiar like the stories I grew up hearing from my parents. . The list of characters in the very beginning of the book was a little overwhelming but necessary. The translator did an amazing job of remaining true to the story. I get distracted and bored easily but this kept me engaged the whole time!

2.5 stars. I like the story, but there are certainly many weaknesses. Echoing many reviewers have said here, I found the translation a little bit wonky. I would have preferred the names not translated to English -- an appendix for the English translation of the names might have been better. There are way too many characters that it was a little hard to keep up.

I received a paperback copy from the publisher, and an e-arc from NetGalley in return for a review. I requested it because it was touted as similar to Lord of the Rings. You can completely forget that comparison, but this was a very fun, rollicking little tale once I got settled in to the story. I did skim through the descriptions of many of the kung fu and fight moves, but I thoroughly enjoyed the story. It's very simply written, so very easy to read, even with the many varied characters. Good guys, bad guys, a boy who grows to be a hero, fictional characters and real characters (Ghengis Khan), fantastical kung fu moves (think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), many and varied plot twists, and a very surprising cliffhanger ending, this book has it all. Suspend your disbelief and give it a try. Just don't expect Lord of the Rings! Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the review copies. A solid 4 stars.

I love kung fu and have heard about the Condor Heroes in relation to kung fu films, so I was very excited to see it translated into english and available on netgalley. It took me a bit to remember all the characters at the beginning, but once I found my groove I really really loved this. Will definitely be recommending to patrons at my library.

This book was weird. I haven't read many books that have been translated from other languages but I have to say that this one was very weird. It seemed like certain words and names were translated in a very odd way which made the story a little out there. But even with that this book was worth the read. It's not one that I think I would reread again but it was an interesting adventure. I think this would make a very good movie though.

This book really does fit the definition of "show don't tell" the world building is subtle. The translator is great. Martial arts are described with accurate detail.I recommend this book to those who to who love martial arts movies. The story definitely feels eastern as there is much talk of family loyalty. One can easilly visualize all the fight moves

I kept seeing this recommended for me, intrigued by the cover and reviews I went for it. Very rarely have I ever simply stopped after the first few pages. Slightly turned off by it starting off calling itself a English translation of history (my interpretation).