Jin Yong

In the Jin capital of Zhongdu, Guo Jing learns the truth of his father’s death and finds he is now betrothed, against his will, to two women. Neither of them is his sweetheart Lotus Huang. Torn between following his heart and fulfilling his filial duty, Guo Jing journeys through the country of his parents with Lotus, encountering mysterious martial heroes and becoming drawn into the struggle for the supreme martial text, the Nine Yin Manual. But his past is catching up with him. The widow of an evil man he accidentally killed as a child has tracked him down, intent on revenge. Meanwhile, his true parentage at last revealed, Yang Kang, the young prince Guo Jing must face in the Garden of the Eight Drunken Immortals, is forced to choose his destiny. Will he continue to enjoy the life of wealth and privilege afforded to him by the invader of his homeland, or give up all he has known to avenge his parents?

A Bond Undone

JIN. YONG

THE CHINESE "LORD OF THE RINGS" - NOW IN ENGLISH FOR THE FIRST TIME. THE SERIES EVERY CHINESE READER HAS BEEN ENJOYING FOR DECADES - 100 MILLION COPIES SOLD. In the Jin capital of Zhongdu, Guo Jing learns the truth of his father's death and finds he is now betrothed, against his will, to two women. Neither of them is his sweetheart Lotus Huang. Torn between following his heart and fulfilling his filial duty, he journeys through the country of his parents with Lotus, encountering mysterious martial heroes and becoming drawn into the struggle for the supreme martial text, the Nine Yin Manual. But his past is catching up with him. The widow of an evil man he accidentally killed as a child has tracked him down, intent on revenge. Meanwhile, his true parentage at last revealed, Yang Kang, the young prince Guo Jing must face in the Garden of the Eight Drunken Immortals, is forced to choose his destiny. Will he continue to enjoy the life of wealth and privilege afforded to him by the invader of his homeland, or give up all he has known to avenge his parents? Translated from the Chinese by Gigi Chang

Fraser Simons

This is a tighter story than the first and starts out with a bang. It’s so refreshing reading something with tropes you have no idea about. Again, the action scenes, which are many were fantastic and felt completely different in characterization despite the frequency. 

As I see it, one of the most pronounced differences is the difference in how embodiment is handled when coupled with martial prowess. The mind is generally divorced from physical contest; skill is repetition/training and talent. Their philosophy or ideas or morality are divorced, generally. Unless it’s a fable or parable, or something like that. Here people’s prowess and style of defence or offence could be derived from many things, and there is almost always a connection to their approach to life and lived experience. This makes most fights about notions on lived experience themselves embodied in people as a fight, which makes them far more interesting. Also, people aren’t typically out to specifically kill the opponent (though not always). 

But because characters are mythologized, often actual historical figures, and they represent ideals they espouse, it becomes transparently a novel of ideas. There is melodrama and “good” versus “evil” you’d expect in classic fantasy, but it feels like a lot more holistic approach and less, say, puritanical. A lot of the time characters are expected to change, rather than be eliminated. Ideas butting heads, retreating, having to be introspective and change who they are and thus their approach to succeed against an opponent they were once defeated by. Then the mental approach is married to the body, where the body has to learn the new approach as well. Sometimes taking years to internalize the change and be able to outwardly manifest the reflection. 

The one area that’s disappointing, and I think everyone can expect to see if they know when it was written is how women are characterized. They are numerous and eclectic, which is probably better than most 50s western fantasy. But also embody pretty sexist qualities that is in-line with western lit. They generally have to find ways of getting their way that are different to how men go about it and their lives centre men. 

What was really neat about this one is there’s a Manuel that can make the person who studies it well, and internalizes the information well, a powerful, maybe unstoppable warrior. And I’m pretty sure I’ve seen that in a wuxia movie. Maybe Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon… or Hero? I can’t recall. But it’s neat reading this progenitor of the genre and seeing characters and different elements show up as recognizable to me despite only seeing the very popular films brought over for an English audience. 

Continues to be really well paced and poetic, with good flow. Still amazed it’s able to make this amount of fights interesting. And the fights themselves very fun as well. Dynamic and tense. I’ll continue, for sure.

Kelsey Woodfin

Phileas Fogg

THE CHINESE "LORD OF THE RINGS" - NOW IN ENGLISH FOR THE FIRST TIME. THE SERIES EVERY CHINESE READER HAS BEEN ENJOYING FOR DECADES - 100 MILLION COPIES SOLD. "Jin Yong's work, in the Chinese-speaking world, has a cultural currency roughly equal to that of "Harry Potter" and "Star Wars" combined" Nick Frisch, New Yorker "Like every fairy tale you're ever loved, imbued with jokes and epic grandeur. Prepare to be swept along." Jamie Buxton, Daily Mail In the Jin capital of Zhongdu, Guo Jing learns the truth of his father's death and finds he is now betrothed, against his will, to two women. Neither of them is his sweetheart Lotus Huang. Torn between following his heart and fulfilling his filial duty, he journeys through the country of his parents with Lotus, encountering mysterious martial heroes and becoming drawn into the struggle for the supreme martial text, the Nine Yin Manual. But his past is catching up with him. The widow of an evil man he accidentally killed as a child has tracked him down, intent on revenge. Meanwhile, his true parentage at last revealed, Yang Kang, the young prince Guo Jing must face in the Garden of the Eight Drunken Immortals, is forced to choose his destiny. Will he continue to enjoy the life of wealth and privilege afforded to him by the invader of his homeland, or give up all he has known to avenge his parents? Translated from the Chinese by Gigi Chang

A Bond Undone

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