A Snake Lies Waiting

The Legend of the Condor Heroes #3

by Jin Yong, Anna Holmwood (Translator), Gigi Chang (Translator)

China: 1200 A.D.

Guo Jing has confronted Apothecary Huang, his sweetheart Lotus' father, on Peach Blossom Island, and bested the villainous Gallant Ouyang in three trials to win her hand in marriage.

But now, along with his sworn brother, Zhou Botong of the Quanzhen Sect, and his shifu, Count Seven Hong, Chief of the Beggar Clan, he has walked into a trap. Tricked by Huang into boarding a unseaworthy barge, they will surely drown unless Lotus - who has overheard her father's plans - can find a way to save them.

Yet even if they are to survive the voyage, great dangers lie in wait on the mainland. The Jin Prince Wanyan Honglie has gathered a band of unscrupulous warriors to aid him in his search for the lost writings of the Great Song patriot General Yue Fei. If he is successful, the Jin armies will gain the key to total victory over the Song Empire, condemning Guo Jing's countrymen to centuries of servitude.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Classics, China, Historical, Martial Arts

442 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Louis Cha, GBM, OBE (born 6 February 1924), better known by his pen name Jin Yong (金庸, sometimes read and/or written as "Chin Yung"), is a modern Chinese-language novelist. Having co-founded the Hong Kong daily Ming Pao in 1959, he was the paper's first editor-in-chief.

Cha's fiction, which is of the wuxia ("martial arts and chivalry") genre, has a widespread following in Chinese-speaking areas, including mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and the United States. His 15 works written between 1955 and 1972 earned him a reputation as one of the finest wuxia writers ever. He is currently the best-selling Chinese author alive; over 100 million copies of his works have been sold worldwide (not including unknown number of bootleg copies).

Cha's works have been translated into English, French, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Burmese, Malay and Indonesian. He has many fans abroad as well, owing to the numerous adaptations of his works into films, television series, comics and video games.


金庸，大紫荊勳賢，OBE（英語：Louis Cha Leung-yung，1924年3月10日－2018年10月30日），本名查良鏞，浙江海寧人，祖籍江西婺源，1948年移居香港。自1950年代起，以筆名「金庸」創作多部膾炙人口的武俠小說，包括《射鵰英雄傳》、《神鵰俠侶》、《鹿鼎記》等，歷年來金庸筆下的著作屢次改編為電視劇、電影等，對華人影視文化可謂貢獻重大，亦奠定其成為華人知名作家的基礎。金庸早年於香港創辦《明報》系列報刊，他亦被稱為「香港四大才子」之一。


Source: https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/%E9%87...

Reviews

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars
I enjoyed this sequel, although not quite as much as the first two volumes. The stakes in this volume just felt less serious and I found myself fatigued by the amount of time spent on the kung foo fighting. Nevertheless, I am still very invested in this series and am eagerly awaiting the next book.

[Joshua Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't find this third book nearly as compelling as the first two. Part of it may be fatigue with the elements of the story that don't click for me, like the constant plot conveniences and shallow characterization. And I also wonder where the story is going, as this installment seemed to just meander from place to place. I still like how different this feels from most things in this genre, and some of the action sequences are of the most unique things I've read. Overall a pretty uneven book.

[Sahitya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t take too long this time to start the third book after finishing the second because A Heart Divided ended on quite a tense note and I wanted to know what was gonna happen next.

I think I enjoyed this book more in first 30-40% on the ships and the remote island. The confrontations between Count Seven Hong, Guo Jing and the Ouyangs was fun to read about and it was interesting to see how the tides kept changing in each of their favor quite frequently. But some of the middle part felt boring because of the whole eavesdropping from a secret room in the inn setting, especially because drastic things kept happening outside and I just couldn’t grapple with Lotus’s reactions. I agree she is playful and doesn’t care about anyone, but she just came across as cavalier of other people’s lives sometimes. I also hated that the good guys kept being good and even helping the bad guys, despite only getting treachery in return every single time - it just felt so pointless if the bad guys were always gonna get the upper hand because the good guys couldn’t comprehend their evil. Yang Kang is ofcourse devious as hell and I pity Mercy for always falling for his charms.

I know there’s only one book left now and I’m very excited to get to the final portion of this story, but I hope the good guys get more smart and don’t fall for the evil ones all the time. I have a basic idea of how the story ends but I am eager to see how we reach there.

[SlowRain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty much everything I said about the first two books in the series applies to this one: Charles Dickens lite...with kung fu fighting, excellent introduction to Chinese culture and geography, insightful look at Chinese values and norms, wonderful world-building around the different martial-arts schools and fighting techniques.

However, there are two glaring deficiencies with this novel when compared to the previous two. Number one, the setting is just too limited. The first 150 pages or so is spent on a ship--and not in the Patrick O'Brian way--and another 100 pages or so is spent in the great room of an inn. Number two, coincidences and contrivances abound, making this what I feel to be the novel with the most overheard conversations in the history of all literature. It's also interesting how, with China being such a vast country and the cast of characters being so large, almost all of them manage to find their way to an inn in a little village over such a short span of time.

The bulk of this installment seems to be mostly fluff. It's filler just to drag the story out. Nothing of consequence actually happens until the last 100 pages or so. That part is interesting and does move the plot forward, but it comes too little and too late to save it. That's not the fault of the publishers, editors, or translators. That fault lies squarely with the author when it was originally serialized in the 1950s.



Here are links to my reviews of the first two books:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Parima · Rating 5 out of 5]

Online translation: Eagle Shooting Hero

[Denar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just wow

[Kenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why must I wait one year for volume 4?
😱😱

[Ivan C · Rating 5 out of 5]

delightful

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, rounding up. I am enjoying this series but didn’t quite enjoy this installment as much as the prior one. I did like how action packed this third book is, and all the discussion of the different kung fu styles. There were some absolutely fantastic scenes, and I liked the inclusion of a few illustrations in the version I read (they turned up well on e-reader too, which doesn’t always happen). Some of the challenge here I think is that a lot of the settings are very constrained – a boat, a deserted island, an inn – so the narrative feels cramped somehow and the pacing is seriously impacted by the fact that characters at times have nowhere to go. There are a lot of coincidences, people turning up just at the right time, overhearing things – a few too many I think – and as other reviewers have mentioned, it is somewhat frustrating to have the ‘good’ characters repeatedly demonstrating how virtuous they are by assisting the ‘bad’ ones, then inevitably suffering consequences as a result. I eagerly look forward to reading the fourth book & hope to watch an adaptation sometime soon as well. I would absolutely recommend this series to someone wanting to read wuxia, but will note that you really do need to start with the first book, not this one.

Content warnings: violence, death, threat of sexual assault, suicidal thoughts, suicide, war, sexism, ableism, classism

[Tien · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this series so much! Mostly because it is one of the most adapted works. I loved watching the tv series in my childhood and it's been remade at least twice more since. It's taken this long before the author agreed for a formal English translation and so it is my first time reading the series. However, as the story is familiar, it's more of a reminiscent of childhood for me. And it has captured my heart completely.

If I step back, however, I must admit that there were some awkward sentences/passages which are probably due more to 'being lost in translation' than anything else. And if you're familiar with the genre, wuxia, all the tropes are there. From the exaggeration of wickedness & nobleness, the cheeky characters, the strong but dumb character, the jokes, the dramas of miscommunication etc, they all can be found in this book. BUT as this author basically was the creator of this genre and therefore, the trendsetter of all these tropes, I really just have to admire his creative genius.

[Wai Zin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Less enjoyable than the first two books.
Unreciprocated gallantry and naïveté of the good guys after at the receiving end of repeated treacheries is very exasperating.
It’s against human nature and very unrealistic.
But hey this is the book about made up martial world.
So It’s still ok for entertainment purpose.

[Isabelle | Nine Tale Vixen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite the action-packed opening, for me it was a slow process to get into this one — probably in large part because it's been quite a while since I read the first two books. But I enjoyed Guo Jing and Lotus's journey, the brawn-and-brain duo (or heart-and-head, if you prefer) and it was fun to see so many returning characters converge on one site, albeit coming and going at different points; the list of characters in the beginning was somewhat helpful for keeping it all straight, though limited since I didn't want to flip back and forth in the middle of a tense scene.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Third installation of Legends of the Condor Heroes translated from Jin Yong. Great read and represents the lofty goal other martial arts books strive to emulate. Again with the brilliant art work on the cover and in the text.

[Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just when I think there won’t be more poor twists, Jin Yong surprises me with more twists and characters I didn’t see coming. I absolutely enjoyed this book. There are so many characters I like, and I’d love to read more about them. Seriously, I don’t know how everything will end in just one book.

[Valentina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Turns out there is such a thing as too much action in a book but makes sense given that it was originally a newspaper serial. I will continue working my way through every Jin Yong book no matter how much whiplash they give me

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Snake Lies Waiting picks up immediately where A Bond Undone leaves off, with Guo Jing, Count Seven Hong, and Zhou Botong on a sinking boat, far from land and surrounded by sharks. What follows is more of the epic feats of kung fu, dramatic reveals, clever trickery, sly villains, and bitter feuds that characterize the Legends of the Condor Heroes series.

This series continues to be a delight. I’ve seen other reviews complaining that this was slower than the other books in the series, but I’m not sure I agree. Plot-wise, yes, Guo Jing has less to do here than in the first two books, but a lot still happened and all of it was suitably epic and gloriously absurd in the details. For instance, in this book we discover that the villainous kung fu master Viper Ouyang has a staff that can launch poison darts and has secret compartments for vipers that he can unleash in combat! A heist at the emperor’s palace gets interrupted by an entirely different heist! Nearly every character to appear over the course of the series happens to show up at one point or another at the same inn in a tiny village over a single week and ends up in a fight with someone else! It’s all joyfully, wonderfully over-the-top.

If you’re looking for an epic fantasy series that’s just plain fun, I highly recommend this one. It’s a classic of the wuxia genre, full of grand adventure and chivalrous heroes (plus a mischievous rogue hero). Some of the translation work feels a little clunky at times and I’m not sure I like how a lot of the names have been translated, but I still enjoy this series so much and I can’t wait to read the final book in the series when it comes out next year.

[Jefferson · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It’s always good to learn something new”

A Snake Lies Waiting (2020), the third entry in Jin Yong’s four-volume martial arts historical fantasy epic Legends of the Condor Heroes (1959), begins in mid-cliffhanger where the second one, A Bond Undone (2019), ended. Young Guo Jing and his martial masters Zhou Botong (AKA the Hoary Urchin) and Count Seven Hong (AKA the Northern Beggar) find themselves bobbing in a shark-infested sea. The trio are “rescued” by the ship of the villainous Western Venom Viper Ouyang and his lecherous nephew Gallant Ouyang. The dastardly duo wants to force Guo Jing to transcribe from memory The Nine Yin Manual, a legendary kung fu holy grail manuscript, the quest for which has caused the deaths of many a martial master. Will Viper Ouyang realize that Guo Jing has sabotaged his transcription? Will Lotus Huang, Guo Jing’s spunky hedgehog chainmail wearing soulmate, be able to rescue her lover yet again? Will Count Seven recover from Viper Ouyang’s underhanded snake and Exploding Toad Fist attacks?

Originally serialized in a Chinese newspaper and then turned into a novel selling hundreds of millions of legal Chinese copies and a billion pirated ones, Legends of the Condor Heroes is set in early 13th-century China, when the declining Song Empire and the rising Jin Empire are wooing the Mongols (being unified by Genghis Khan) to fight for them. In that context, Jin Yong tells a suspenseful and humorous Bildungsroman featuring Guo Jing’s education in martial arts, life, and love. Guo Jing and his still platonic lover Lotus Huang are quite affecting, the boy so simple and good-hearted, the girl so clever and reckless. Who can resist lovers who say things like, “As long as you know it [Dog Beating Cane kung fu], isn’t it the same as me knowing it?” Although their wise teachers and perfidious enemies are larger than life, their martial exploits sometimes straining credulity, Jin Yong’s writing (translated into English by Anna Holmwood and Gigi Chang) is so enthusiastic, unpredictable, and imaginative that the story is an entertaining pleasure.

While the core of the second volume is the Nine Yin Manual, this third one centers on the quest for a different super book: the military strategies of the martyred Song General Yuefei, purportedly buried with him and granting whoever reads it success in war. Guo Jing’s treacherous blood brother Yan Kang (the snake of the title) is developed as a foil for the hero, seizing any chance to betray Guo Jing and to maintain his hopes of gaining wealth and power with the Jin rather than trying to fight against them for his own Song people.

As in the first two volumes, Jin Yong writes creative action scenes, including fights on a burning ship, behind a waterfall, and in a shabby inn with a variety of weapons, from fists, feet, and knives, to a cane, a white python whip, and a boulder. And as ever, many colorful names for kung fu repertoires (e.g., Lightness kung fu, Wayfaring Fist, and Sacred Snake Fist) and moves (e.g., Haughty Dragon Repents, Shin Breaker, Orchid Touch, Cascading Peach Blossom Palm, and Snatch from the Mastiff’s Jaw). Plenty of lines like, “Guo twisted his wrist and slapped Liang’s shoulder with a Dragon in the Field.”

Something I noticed more in this third volume is Jin Yong’s habit of setting a stage and then arranging for a host of characters to enter, interact, and depart, as in a martial arts Midsummer Night’s Dream. In one lengthy tour de force sequence, Guo Jing and Lotus Huang hide in a secret room in a derelict inn, intending to stay undisturbed so Lotus can help heal Guo from serious injuries by sitting with their palms touching and a chi (inner strength) circuit flowing between their bodies for seven days and nights, only to have a series of noisy friends and foes come on stage one after the other to provocatively scheme, threaten, confess, fight, lie, betray, fall in love, get married, etc., all while wanting to aid or kill Guo and Lotus without realizing that the pair is observing them via a hidden peephole. Yes, Jin Yong is a master of dramatic irony.

Another pleasure of the novel comes from the Chinese cultural touches, from the evocative names of characters (e.g., Iron Palm Water Glider) and places (e.g., Temple of Wintry Jade) to the philosophical poems and monochrome paintings that pop up, not to mention similes like “Rain drops as big as soy beans were soon beating down on them.”

Jin Yong even works in some ironic literary criticism. In an inn in the Song capital, Guo Jing and Lotus Huang read a screen poem ending, “drunken we will return.” When a pedantic scholar explains that originally the poem ended “carrying wine we will return,” but that an emperor “improved” it to “drunken,” and that the poet who agreed with the emperor’s coarse alteration received a high court position, the goal of all poets, Lotus and Guo break the screen and demolish the inn.

As in the first two volumes, there is much wisdom like, “The way is found not in deeds or brush. Nature’s music comes not from the flute.” At one point Guo Jing quotes General Yue Fei, “’Be the first to bear the hardships of the world and the last to enjoy its comforts,’” and Lotus replies, “Should a hero never enjoy life, never for a moment? I don’t want to live like that. All I know is if you are not by my side, I will never be happy.” Yet Lotus’ father the Heretic of the East scorns conventional wisdom: “The thing I hate most in this world is hypocritical social conventions, especially the words of false sages. They are mere tools for duping idiots.”

Although the book ends after resolving a literal cliffhanger, the major plot strands are left unresolved, so I will be impatiently waiting for April 2021, when the concluding volume translated into English by Holmwood and Chang is due to be released as an audiobook.

Daniel York Loh reads the audiobook engagingly, and without over-dramatizing he does savory voices for the colorful characters, from the poisonous Viper Ouyang to the child-like Hoary Urchin.

Anyone who likes epic fantasy set in the exotic orient instead of in familiar European medieval or Tolkein-esque settings, should give Jin Yong a try, though, to be sure, you must start with the first volume, A Hero Born.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

So...this third installment into the series undoubtedly loses a bit of steam, but it’s still worth reading so that I can one day complete series.

The books were written like 60 years ago in China but for some reason we can’t get the 4th and final part in America until April 2021.

The reason the story dipped in quality is because 75% of it was the same characters fighting the same villain but in like 6 different settings.

Each time an outcome would be reached a character would make a last second decision to show mercy just to be screwed over by the same bad guy again on an island, or a boat, or a forest, or a cabin, or in a palace.

The story was still very captivating at times, but the awesomeness of the first two books dipped noticeably

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolute revelation. They call him Chinese Tolkien, but this is more like Dickens, but with kung fu. The characters are diverse and fleshy, totally believable and with more than one dimension to all of them, the plot keeps developing with surprise twists, the romance is going strong, the villains are doing their villainy things, etc. This is an absolute joy of a book, and I can't recommend it enough.
The audio version is superb! I cannot wait for the next book to be translated!

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weak entry in the series. A solid 3/5 of the book is the literary version of Goku in the healing tank on Namek, with all the secondary characters being paraded in front of him resolving their storylines in an awkward manner.

[晃 · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot shittens

[Chris Lam · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're like me and read the first two books with eager aplomb, you might initially guess that the Snake in the title A Snake Lies Waiting is Viper Ouyang, the venomous, snake-commanding villain from the previous book, scheming and plotting the downfall of the heroes. But perhaps the biggest twist in this story is that the snake is in fact you, the dear reader, impatiently waiting for the plot to finally move forward through filler after filler. Heretofore Jin Yong has wielded an impressive skill to up the ante of every situation and place the heroes of his story in thrilling peril. But like a wayward disciple of the Beggar of the East, he has failed to put anything in reserve in his moves and drastically overextended the reader’s suspension of disbelief, as the main gimmicks of the first two major story arcs of this book severely jump the shark. In fact, the first of these arcs literally involves leaping sharks, amidst a shipwrecked at sea storyline that drags on for entirely too long. After the fourth sinking ship, it's more than time to move on.


The second arc finally wears thin Jin Yong’s penchant for contrivance and coincidence, leading to a run of chapters so overburdened with both that the reader can scarcely believe such plot twists, and not in a good way. The arc is underpinned by the worst contrivance of all, where the two main characters must hide in an abandoned inn for seven days and seven nights and not come out under any circumstances. And indeed, any and every circumstance then follows, with seemingly the entire cast of the past two books entering and departing this ramshackle abandoned inn over the course of a few days (I say this with full confidence that I won't spoil the effect for you, as even just as you think everyone who could possibly show up to the inn has arrived, yet more people enter stage right). Coincidence piles on top of sheer coincidence as marriages are conducted, fights break out over yet another misunderstanding, rapes are attempted (you no doubt can guess who’s behind that tired trope) and by the time important figures in the Jianghu die near the end of the arc you are simultaneously shocked it’s taken so long and infuriated by the circumstances by which it happened.


For perhaps the most aggravating part of A Snake Lies Waiting is the overwhelming mountain of lies and deception that would make even the current American political climate blush. Storied and honorable heroes are rendered gullible and foolish as they take in one villain’s falsehood after another and act accordingly rash. To top it all off, most of these deceptions or misunderstandings could be easily cleared if the two main characters would only come out of their hiding place in the inn, and yet because of the contrivance, they and the reader are forced to watch in mounting frustration as important characters are humiliated, injured and killed.


When the inn arc finally ends and the plot at last moves forward towards the end of the book, not all of the falsehoods have been resolved and one is forced to watch the consequences of the remaining one continue to play out. Yet again, the main characters are hamstrung from clearing the air through honor or sheer stupidity. One struggles to grasp why the Beggar of the East, who inconsistently alternates between the brink of death and mostly good spirits, has failed to resolve this last deception by sending out some sort of messenger in the time between the shipwreck arc and the culmination of this third plot point. Though Guo Jing has mostly been forgiven for his lapses in intelligence, there is a part towards the end where he literally gets so lost in thought that he does not even notice two people are killed right in front of him without so much as a reaction from him.


I was quite taken by the first two books and was excited to read the third installment. But A Snake Lies Waiting seems to have snapped the reader out of the magical trance of the first two books by exacerbating every one of their weakpoints and making them the main driver of the third book’s plots. The charming flaws of the main characters have been drawn out to their exhausting conclusion and you are left with no patience for Guo Jing’s stupidity or even Lotus’s playfulness. Jin Yong has also unintentionally juxtaposed this book as a critique of the xia, or honor system of the Jianghu, as heroes time and again spare villains over pride or honor only to let those villains continue on to backstab, kill or spread further lies that lead to more death. Not once do heroes stop to reflect on the shortsightedness of such decisions, leading the reader to treat xia as yet another plot contrivance to let sniveling villains that should have been logically killed long ago continue to push this infuriating plot forward. My appetite has been sapped for this series and I am unsure of if I will continue onto the final book.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although weirder than the former two parts (especially the extended section stranded at sea), this third volume really shows Jin Yong's creativity within the genre. A problem with wuxia and similar genres, especially superheroes in the US and shonen manga in Japan, is that the focus on capacity for violence really limits the kinds of stories that can be told. The author here really shows how to create problems for his characters that are not just a comparison of power levels between the good guy and the bad guy.

In most of the many conflicts of this novel, the protagonists are outmatched maritally by their opponents or encounter problems that cannot be solved through violence. This, along with the masterful use of balanced power scaling, allows Jin Yong to create all sorts of new dramas and conflicts without resorting to the same formula again and again. In contrast, many other stories have only two methods of producing tension and turning points: "we just have to hold off the bad guy until the powerful good guy arrives" or "hero is losing until they [get mad/remember their training/remember the power of friendship/use their deus ex machina ultimate form] and then win."

Jin Yong's balanced and varied conflicts allow for Huang Rong to seem equally as much the protagonist as Guo Jing, even without them being at the same power level. Whether apart or together, her intelligence allows her different ways of solving problems then her boyfriend. This allows for greater dramatic possibilities and also works well to deepen their relationship. They genuinely are much more powerful together than apart and you can see how their mutual affection is really built on the feeling they complete each other. A lot of books, even much more modern books with much more overtly feminist authors, really fail to make the central romance to seem not only real but necessary to the plot. Huang Rong and Guo Jing's relationship feels real, not just something declared by the author, and every scene they are in - whether together or apart - reinforces how good they are as a couple and how they need each other. Guo Jing is strong, naively honest, and dim, while Huang Rong is smart, morally flexible, and (while still very strong) not as tough as Guo Jing. These differences shape the action of each fight, the drama of each plot point, and the love they have for one another - all while feeling fairly natural and realistic.

This is perhaps the core of what makes wuxia in general and Jin Yong in particular so great that many of its imitators fail to capture: human relationships are a core element of drama. Although some of the misunderstanding and conflicts are a bit contrived, overall Jin Yong does a great job of bringing all of the characters into conflict through the bonds of loyalty that connect them. Even when people are acting reasonably with good motivations (and there are plenty who are not), it is easy to get ensnared in these bonds of obligation and brought into a conflict that both parties would rather avoid. At the same time, Jin Yong is not arguing against these bonds, but rather showing how complex it is to be a person and how we are shaped by our connections to other people. Even the eternally selfish Yang Kang is in part driven by his loyalty to his adoptive father, Wangyan Honglie, not just his own personal gain. At the same time, the characters are also their own people, with distinct personalities, hopes, and ambitions. Huang Rong is not just a prize for Guo Jing, a jobber to make his foes look tough, or a damsel to be repeatedly saved. She is a person with her own desires, skills, and flaws who Guo Jing needs as much as she needs him, someone capable of holding up a plot arc by entirely by herself. This multi-dimensional tension between not only self/other but also multiple bonds of loyalty is what creates the drama of this series, the primary force that allows for not just spectacular martial battles but also the tension that makes them not feel like empty spectacle. So many of Jin Yong's imitators do not really understand this, and you can also feel this absence of tension in much of contemporary superhero media or shonen anime.

[Mr SSingh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meandering goofy first half, where is the plot?, then sort of redeems itself near the end

Sigh. I don't know about this third novel. It's...a disappointment. I don't understand, the first one was so masterful, the right balance of action, drama, humor intrigue, everything. Then the second was really good. It feels like it's just sort of gone downhill from there. Where to begin?



This first part, god it was annoying. We were left with all the characters voyaging off Peach Blossom Island from the last novel. There's a battle happens on the ship I don't remember why, and they get stranded on another island. Then the villains are like...Spare us! Don't spare us! We're going to trick you and steal the manual. No were going to be good. Haha just kidding we're bad. I want the Nin Yin Manual, nah never mind I don't care about it, nope now I want it again. That's what reading this seemed like.

I don't know why were on the island or these ships or whatever, but all the time I read I just wanted everyone to sail back to the mainland so the plot can continue. I mean this all just seemed like a huge waste of time.

I don't remember how Lotus does it but I think she uses kung fu to loosen the base of the raft that Viper and his nephew escape the island on. Then later when she and Guo come across their wrecked raft, and them drowning in the sea, she CHOOSES to save them. WTF? They're basically the most dangerous enemies in the novel, why not just let them drown? It makes no sense.

Gallant Ouyang tries to rape both Lotus, and then Mercy later on in the novel, but here gets his legs broken and is submerged underwater at one point with only a straw for air, whilst the others try to save him from drowning with this rope pully system (I did like the creativity of that) but again, if he's this awful, why save him to begin with?

Piss and shit jokes. Now I don't mind piss and shit jokes in a story but it's how they're done here that bothers me. Viper Ouyang I assume, is the main villain of not only this chapter but for the series. At this point he's made out to be anyway. It takes all the menace out of him when he's the butt of this kind of humor. At one point he eats meat that's been pissed on after Lotus pulls a prank on him.

I understand it works with Qui Quiran, the iron palm dude, because he comes across as a scam artist type character, but why Viper Ouyang? Am I supposed to be afraid of him now and his Exploding Toad kung fu, when he's constantly made a mockery of? It's like if you introduced Darth Vader in the original (the only good) Star Wars movies, then later make all these piss and shit jokes with him.

Lotus. I despise this character now. She goes from "can do anything" basically superwoman now she's a homicidal maniac who wants characters dead. She wants this seemingly retarded girl who might be faking it dead. That girl is the daughter of a kung fu master that Apothecary Huang taught whose now dead and his skeleton remains in a storeroom.

I don't' know this story seems a mess now. It gets back on track when everyone is looking for General Yue Feis secret texts because it's the key to winning the battle for the Jin empire and those on the Song's side want to keep it safe. Some scenes are cool, attacking through the waterfall in the cave. I did like the last act with the Beggar Clan and learning about the Washed vs the Unwashed and the politics of that situation, that's an interesting bit of lore.

Overall, I don't know. This novel has some good fights, but it just seems like the story meanders, it's confusing, characters just 'show up' basically out of nowhere 'plot convenience'. Apothecary Huang wants to kill the Six Freaks because he thinks there responsible for his daughter's death. The Mongolian clan comes back and Guo is caught in a triangle on which girl to marry. I dunno, it's fun to read as an adventure.

I just expected more given how the first book was so excellent. I'm going to see how it ends but, yeah disappointing.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now both of the middling translators of the previous two volumes are collaborating: it's hard to know whose feet to lay the blame at. There do seem to be more pages between the irritating over-modern phrases, I only found one irritating enough to note: someone explains the tireless lot of the Beggar Clan, I think it was, by saying "it is what it is." I did start to note how inconsistent a lot of the martial arts jargon is: I'm not sure if neigong is the same thing as internal strength which is not the same thing, I think, as inner strength; on the other hand, they use 'lightness kung fu' with absolute rigidity rather than leaving it as qinggong, even though 'internal strength' at least parses in English and 'lightness kung fu' is a plague on the eyes.

Starting with translation gripes because this is a volume in which quite little of consequence happens, or at least happens on-screen; we're really relying on i. multiple characters who like trolling others ii. multiple characters who are easily trolled and will spend hundreds of pages seeking revenge as the result of a misunderstanding. There's also a surfeit of poopoo peepee jokes for some reason, and a scene where someone punches a shark. The narrative spends much of the time treading water, literally treading water, as our translators would probably put it, with Guo Jing and Zhou Botong and Count Seven Hong's ship sinking, and then they're rescued at sea by Viper Ouyang, and then they get thrown in the sea, and then Lotus Huang shows up, and then her ship gets sunk, and then we run through all of the permutations of these people on a desert island, and then on a raft, and then Wanyan Honglie and his retinue show up--that's the first third of the book. We learn in a paragraph or two that meanwhile the Mongols have overrun the Jin empire. This seems a baffling decision.

Then--after a brief interlude in Li'an in which something of consequence almost happens (Ouyang, now in Wanyan Honglie's employ, finds the secret martial plan that's one of the two active plot coupons) but then doesn't (the chest is empty)--an injured Guo Jing spends seven days and another hundred pages locked in a secret room while Lotus Huang heals him with her qi. I had thought the reliance on people coincidentally happening on each other at sea was pushing it but here it becomes absurd: while the protagaonists are in the room pretty much the entire roster of secondary and tertiary characters happen to run into each other directly outside and have a series of martial conflicts, many of which could have been passed by if Jing or Lotus had the sense to say, for example, 'don't come in and interrupt this healing ritual, but I'm not dead actually'. Also this secret room is in Jing's parents' village, which seemed like a real place in the first chapters of the first volume, but now feels like a very minimal backcloth. Also it happens to be where Apothecary Huang's last unaccounted-for disciple settled and died.

In the last third our protagonists are finally back on the road, and finally we get to conflicts that seem meaningful in the terms of the novel's themes: Lotus Huang is the designated successor of the Beggar Clan, but Yang Kang wants to stop her as it will aid the Jin; where did Yue Fei's manuscript go, and will it save the Song; Guo Jing was betrothed to Khojin against his will, but still finds himself honour-bound. I feel like there's some version of this novel in which Lotus Huang learns Guo is foresworn and vows eternal revenge and there's several violent chapters of kung fu misunderstanding, but thankfully for the first time in 1,200 pages someone hears something doubtful about someone else's character and waits for the second sentence of explanation. Well, only another 600 pages left. I'm not sure to what extent I'm expecting Yong to bring any of this home; I have read the first quarter or so of the next volume and he's still putting pieces on the board.

[Sometimes IRead · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was all ready to lambast this book for its glorifying of bullying and over reliance on coincidence to move the plot along, then the second half came along and was so much better. I’m really sensing a pattern in this series, where the first half of each book is just spinning of wheels and the second half is where the action truly is. Could this four book series have been shortened to three or maybe even two? Perhaps. That would certainly make completing the series less of a drag.

The third book of the 射雕英雄传 series by 金庸 picks up right where the second book left off, with 洪七公 battling 欧阳峰 on board a burning ship. After that exciting start, we get a series of increasingly irritating acts of bullying by people touted to be the leaders of the pugilistic world. The equation of martial art prowess to absolute power as well as their inability to control their emotions long enough to uncover simple misunderstandings honestly illuminated a lot of things about the generation that was brought up on these 武侠 stories. Side eyeing the East Asian boomers over here. I think 金庸 has a lot to answer for in terms of the collective trauma wrought by this generation.

Anyway, personal flashbacks aside, I found the entire dragged out scene at 牛家村 to be a farce. What are the odds of majority of the characters in the series thus far gathering in a little no-name town, and knocking on the exact same dilapidated inn’s door? People were literally killed in this tiny little place in this scene with barely a fizzle and I couldn’t decide if it was peak comedy or plain lazy writing. With 金庸’s track record, it felt more like the latter.

Thankfully, the last act redeemed the book for me. We get public declarations of love, 黄蓉’s coming into her own instead of just relying on the men around her, and a truly exciting plot line of 郭靖 trying to save 黄蓉, with a bonus of a truly self-sacrificial 一灯大师. Why couldn’t we just have had that instead of the ridiculous first part of the book? This is what I’ve signed up for.

Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, will I still be continuing on with the series? I guess. It’s only one more book and I’ve had plenty of sunk cost. Just praying that the pattern of the needless first half doesn’t repeat.

Diversity meter:
Chinese characters
Strong female characters

[Cesare Bartolini · Rating 2 out of 5]

By now, I realize that this is not my genre of book. However, this saga gets worse and worse as it goes on.

In this book, the third part of the saga, we have the same characters meeting over and over and fighting among themselves. By this point, this has become extremely boring. There is a large but limited number of characters, and they always happen to meet among themselves and fight, fight, fight.

The culmination is in the tavern at Ox Village. Every relevant character in the book converges in the same spot at about the same time, apparently by sheer accident. And, for the most part, they fight, in turns. This narration, apart from being extremely childish, ends up breaking the suspension of disbelief into a sense of ridicule.

To be honest, there are two very minor improvements with respect to the previous book. First, there are some advancements in the plot. Book 2 has essentially no plot, apart from the fact that Guo Jing and Lotus Huang are taught a lot of kung fu from different sources. Here, on the other hand, there are some changes on the political level, concerning the position of the Mongols, the behavior of the Jin dynasty and its princes, and so on.

The second improvement is that some occurrences are final. Some characters meet their death or some irrecuperable wound (or so it appears so far), and on this basis they are finally put out of the board, so that the reader may expect that some of the same antics repeated over and over are finally finished.

On the other hand, a huge drawback of this book seems to be that not only the plot, but the whole world revolves around the two main characters. It appears that everybody is eager to teach Guo Jing or Lotus Huang every possible form of kung fu, whereas the other characters are completely static in their knowledge. In this very unrealistic storyline, it is obvious that the two main characters eventually become superior to everyone else. It seems like every ally or rival of the main characters just waits for them to become stronger, without taking any action other than fighting them (or others) with the same techniques over and over.

In other terms, Guo Jing and Lotus Huang are a perfect incarnation of Gary Stu and Mary Sue. This without taking into account that Lotus Huang is a very annoying know-it-all.

I am also quite gobsmacked at the utter gullibility of most characters, who are quick to believe any lies told them at first instinct without ever doubting them. Everybody in this book appears to be so naive (apart from Lotus, of course, who is so ingenious).

After the effort so far, I will go on with the final volume, but then I'm calling it quits with this author.

[Veronika Cizkova · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was certainly a rollercoaster... Jin Yong definitely knows how to write a nerve wrecking and heart wrenching story,thats for sure.

My biggest issue is... Khojin. Man that was a nightmare.....
Anyway, so I loveee the way Guo Jing and Lotus are improving there martial skills every single day it's sooo amazing to see them perfecting techniques as they overcome problems.

I this book I did feel that certain segments were slightly drawn out, not in a bad way, but that the characters stayed in the same setting for an extremely long time, such as on Rosy Cloud Island and while they were in the hidden chamber in the Inn in Ox village.

Its honestly amazing how Apothecary Huang progresses as a character, but god why did Mei have to die? It hurtssss although her sacrifice makes so much sense it's still extremely painful.

Also whatever actually happened to Count Seven? I miss himmmm
When will Mercy finally end things completely with Wanyan Kang, I really hope he meets his end soon enough he has done so much wrong... While in the Inn I was thinking he had his one final chance at redemption, but not only did he pass it up, he made everything so so much worse!

I noticed also how what happened around Ox village is also all tied to what happened at the very start of book 1, which I by now read years ago, but those details how it all goes full circle is beautiful. The story is all tied together with no loose links. Truly a masterpiece.

I considered rating this one both lower and higher than the other books, but as I was hesitant between the two, I decided to give it the same rating. It was very emotional, but also frustrating but at other times just comical. I have to say, Guo Jing really isn't as dumb as most say, sure he is pretty slow but he still figures a lot of things out.

Ps: I hope that Silly Qu will appear more in the last book. I enjoyed various new characters, such as her, appearing in this volume. It's very fun.

[James Tomasino · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's so frustrating when problems exist only because one character doesn't say something to another character. The amount of misconception based plots in this third chapter of Legends of the Condor Heroes was overwhelming. But perhaps more of interest to me was the cultural differences on display.

Two examples (spoilers):

First is the choice of Guo Jing to not marry Lotus. Despite everyone involved being much happier with that scenario, Guo Jing must keep his word to Ghengis Khan to marry his daughter. She doesn't want it, having a new suitor. Guo Jing doesn't. And Guo Jing didn't even come up with the idea. He was told that choice when he was young and just sorta nodded along. It feels like this decision is presented as the correct one, morally within these cultural confines. It's fascinating coming from a love-conquors-all environment.

Second is the suicide of two of the Beggar clan members. They are lied to about their new leader without much evidence. Not five minutes after this shady appointment the guy starts proclaiming things that obviously go against the tenets of their order. But they are in an honor bind: they cannot disobey their leader and they cannot go against the clan. The solution is therefore suicide on the spot. This is also presented as an honorable righteous action of these members. Not questioning whether the leader is legitimate. Not suggesting that a leader who makes unlawful proclamations against their order cannot be a true leader. No... just suicide. It's so utterly foreign to me as an ethical choice.

[Dan Holland · Rating 4 out of 5]

How many passes does a person get to betray you before you are done with them? Guo Jing is a kind of a nice himbo so folks can trick him with words, so people take advantage of that.

"A Snake Lies Waiting" is book 3 of The Legend of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong. In which the ability to swim is more important than anyone expected. This one goes in some different directions. We have boat fights, shark massacres, island survival, peed on food, and this is just in the first part. But things are coming to a head, Yang Kang, despite all his chances is doubling down on his treachery, the different martial factions are aligning themselves and promising larger conflicts. And the biggest conman of them all, actually had a pretty good racket going there. It's wild and I am excited for the conclusion.

Narrated by Daniel York Loh, I was cackling when Zhou Botong returned with his new friend.

Translated by Gigi Chang and Anna Holmwood. Thank you again for helping bring it to a wider audience.

Reasons to read:
-One of the deadliest people in the world forces 2 young people into a relationship because they were too shy to say anything to each other
-The Beggar Clan is ridiculous
-Some side folks got more page time since the mcs were hiding to heal
-One of the best cons, with an interesting end

Cons:
-Someone really needs to make sure these youths know where babies come from