It feels unfair to compare other writers to Jin Yong. His books fueled my reading catalog for my teenage years and I have yet to find such consistent amazing work of art across 30 different books. Perhaps he is the reason I'm so picky about language and structure in writing. The unmatched elegance and delicate details in scene setting and dialogs to the breadth and grandness of the world building, Yong does not ever disappoint. It is so fun to learn the intricacy of every character and care about how each single one develops over whole series or even across different series. Mind you, some series can have hundreds of characters traveling across all of China.
I started reading Jin Yong from Grade 6, and finished all 14 books in Grade 8. I believe all children's memories were filled with TV shows adapted from Jin Yong's novels back in the late 90's. But it was a totally different experience to read the plots and fighting scenes and romance poetries from books.
Jin Yong tried to convey his perspectives of traditional Chinese chivalric spirits through his writing. For example, 天龙八部 was the first novel I read, and my favorite character was 段誉,a naive debonair prince with extremely good luck, and I couldn't understand why 萧峰 was considered as the leading role, a man who was bearing a lot of burdens and suffering from rebukes because of his nomadic origin. When I grew older, I realized that a true man should be able to prioritize what is important for him and dare to fight for his belief, rather than indulging in hedonism like 段誉.
I tried to read the novels again recently, but they are not attractive to me anymore. However, Jin Yong accompanied me throughout my teenage life, when my vision for the world was rapidly changing and built.