The Water Margin

by David Weir

Genres: Fantasy

301 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

David^^^^^^^Weir

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so pleased I picked this up from the staff room swap box at work. It's a battered old bird, pages falling out from its cracked spine, but the story is just fantastic. I think it's a cut above the usual TV tie ins; Weir clearly loved the source material.
It's a story of heroism, justice, fighting against oppression and injustice, politics, corruption, fidelity, honour, ethics and philosophy. And it's rather witty, too. 5🌟
Disclaimer: I loved the TV show when I was a young teen, so I'm probably nostalgically prejudiced in its favour 😊

[Brian Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute classic tale of heroic heroes and villainous villains in ancient China.
Various nobles vie for power, exiling good men and women, causing terror to further their own ends.
The heroes follow the Way, helping others as they can, bringing more people to their side.

Brilliant characters, loads of action, some quite big battle scenes. Some humour throughout helps lighten it up.

I know this used to be a TV series (in the 70s?), reading it again now makes me think of Lord of the Rings in a more condensed form. Would make a good film, as long as Peter Jackson wasn't involved.

[Eve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant story expertly retold by David Weir. The language is accessible but does not seem anachronistic to ancient China. I only did not give it five stars because it is so hard to keep track of the characters and their nicknames that it can trip the reader up at times.