Marek reviewed A Past Unearthed by Jin Yong
The first part of a story; personal relationships entangled in combat, history, and politics
4 stars
I am very much a beginner when it comes to wuxia literature, and in particular to the work of its extraordinary master in Jin Yong/Louis Cha.
Over the past few years the first books of the great wuxia epic described as stories of the Condor Heroes have seen new official translations. The Legends of the Condor Heroes has been published as a quartet, and now this is the first book in a new series, Return of the Condor Heroes.
We're in a new generation, and off to an inauspicious start as the son of Yang Kang, a boy called Penance, has a difficult and messy induction into the martial world of the wulin and the jianghu. I won't say much about the plot - it meanders in the way that you might expect from what was serialised fiction in its initial publication - but the ways in which everything that …
I am very much a beginner when it comes to wuxia literature, and in particular to the work of its extraordinary master in Jin Yong/Louis Cha.
Over the past few years the first books of the great wuxia epic described as stories of the Condor Heroes have seen new official translations. The Legends of the Condor Heroes has been published as a quartet, and now this is the first book in a new series, Return of the Condor Heroes.
We're in a new generation, and off to an inauspicious start as the son of Yang Kang, a boy called Penance, has a difficult and messy induction into the martial world of the wulin and the jianghu. I won't say much about the plot - it meanders in the way that you might expect from what was serialised fiction in its initial publication - but the ways in which everything that matters is wound through with magical kung fu, superhuman feats of martial prowesse, and the still-unfolding historical river of loyalties, grievances, and challenges, is impressive.
It's a very easy read, jam packed with mystical kung fu. Looks like we're going to be waiting a good while for the official translation of the next volume, so might have to get stuck into some of the fan translations that are out there to follow up on the cliff-hanger ending!