Tawfek’s Reviews > The Journey to the West, Volume 1 > Status Update

I forgot how slow it is to read this, it's actually much slower than even the 1300 novel I am reading.
But no complaints, I am satisfied with today so far even though I didn't read as much as the last few days.

YES! I finally finished the bloody introduction.
I don't know why I do it, if I don't read a book from start to finish I feel like I didn't read it.
The introduction was pretty much 20% of book 1
And I only read 9% of the actual novel so far.
But it's a novel packed with so many events that even 9% feel like a lot.
And of course the introduction spoiled so much for me but I don't mind, I'll forget before I reach lol

I went back to continue reading the introduction, I read the part of Sun Wukong's story that I needed to know posthaste.
I am 15 packed pages away from finishing the introduction.
It seems that this entire book will be fire, unlike what I predicted.
Things will not turn stale because of the religious pilgrimage as the companions of Tripitaka will fights demons and ogres in their pilgrimage.
That's reassuring!

Fascinating stuff, the religious pilgrimage will probably spoil this novel because based on the first 50 pages or so that I read so far: this is the greatest fantasy novel of all time!

Okay Patriarch Subodhi pretty much told Sun Wukong that the secret to eternal life is not to cum!
😂😂😂😂
Okay it was among other things but I swear it was one of three things he told Sun.
Keep in breath, semen, spirit.
I think I was so distracted by the No Nut for life aspect that I didn't understand how he is supposed to keep in breath 😂😭

I am finally reading the actual novel, nothing new, I know this stuff because I am also reading a big graphic novel about the monkey king 😂
The poetry is gorgeous though.
The poetry just gets cut whenever there is an abridged version or an adaptation sadly.
This is beautiful though, the original cultivation novel, and probably the highest level of them all.
If you love old literature you'll love this!

Okay, I'll stop in the introduction (Yeah all of this is just an introduction and there is still 25% more of the pages I already read, yoy do the same)
The fiction if religious allegory, I'll stop here for now, read a few chapters from the actual novel, then retract back and finish the introduction at a more relaxed pace.

AAAAH, reading this takes so long and I want to start the book already, all this is just the introduction and I just can't skip introductions or I'd never read them after I finish the book, I think they are super useful, and provoke thought, and I am already deep enough that I already have different opinions than the guy who wrote the introduction even though he is an expert and I am just a reader lol

That Wu author they are talking about is actually a reader after my own heart.
Being attracted to the strange and the fantastical, it's very rare these days to find novels that actually impress you with stuff like this.
And to this day reading One thousand and one nights, or similar works will impress me.
Still in the limbo land of introduction, but one day I'll be out and I'll finally read this regularly.

Still in the limbo land of the introduction, the journey to the west has as mich controversy surrounding it as the one thousand and one nights.
Thing is, is it worth it, will this story prove to be on the same level?
I would love to know.
I'll try to read a few pages of the introduction daily until I reach the actual novel, and finally dedicate my time to finishing it.