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Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain
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Wuxia
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Feb 21, 2011 11:21PM

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This is probably the first novel I read that ends in a literal cliffhanger. The multiple POVs confused me at first, but I got used it gradually.
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First thoughts after reading the first chapter:
The translation isn't very good.The archaic language and, sometimes syntax, doesn't work at all. The translator uses "trunk" to refer to a person's torso, for example.
Too many characters introduced at the beginning, and it was difficult to keep track of who was who. There is Radiant, Peace, Fortune, Valour, Sign, Prime, Century, Curio, the monk, Wisdom, Third, Hawk, mention of Pasoral Tian... It's just too much in the first chapter. It would have been easier to keep track of if the original names had been used. Using English translations or equivalents makes it more confusing, I think, because the character's names are mundane words, such as Peace and Fortune. I can tell they are names, but they don't feel like names to me.
Still, the action, though chaotic, was entertaining.
The translation isn't very good.The archaic language and, sometimes syntax, doesn't work at all. The translator uses "trunk" to refer to a person's torso, for example.
Too many characters introduced at the beginning, and it was difficult to keep track of who was who. There is Radiant, Peace, Fortune, Valour, Sign, Prime, Century, Curio, the monk, Wisdom, Third, Hawk, mention of Pasoral Tian... It's just too much in the first chapter. It would have been easier to keep track of if the original names had been used. Using English translations or equivalents makes it more confusing, I think, because the character's names are mundane words, such as Peace and Fortune. I can tell they are names, but they don't feel like names to me.
Still, the action, though chaotic, was entertaining.

Jin Yong likes to dump a large number of characters right off the bat, including here. It's just something readers have to get used to, I guess.
Yeah, the first names are English, the last names are romanized Chinese, but the last names are rarely referred to. For example, Miao Renfeng (苗人鳳) is called Phoenix Miao. I haven't encountered him yet, but it it's like the other characters, he would only be referred to as Phoenix.I would much prefer "Renfeng", or better yet, "Miao Renfeng". The names would be easier to keep track of that way.
I'm more than a third of the way through now and it has gotten better. Once Tree (yeah, that's what the monk is called in this translation) starts his story, it's almost like reading a different book. The story has settled on a couple characters (Phoenix and Gully at the moment) and has given me reason to care about them. Hopefully the rest of the book will be as good as that last chapter.
I finished reading Fox Volant today. Not bad. It really picks up after the first couple chapters, once the characters start telling their stories. Still not a fan of the ultra-detailed fight scenes, which slow the action down to an unrealistic degree. The amount of things people see and say during these brief instants is just too much: it was difficult to suspend disbelief at that, but some of the fighting was exciting.
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Books mentioned in this topic
The Pillow Book (other topics)Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain (other topics)