Which person's novels have you actually read?

[AresInvincible]

Currently, the most famous Wuxia fiction author is, obviously, Louis Cha (Jin Yong), and I believe that most of you here have read his novels (or at least heard of them). However, there are also four other great Wuxia fiction writers and people often put their names together with Jin Yong:

"Jin Gu Liang Weng Huang."

Jin is of course Jin Yong, Gu is Gu Long, Liang is Liang Yu Sheng, Weng is Weng Rui An, and Huang is Huang Yi. So, which of these people's novels have you actually read?

I've read all of Jin Yong's novels, most of Gu Long's novels (the ones that I haven't touched are his earlier ones and Lu Xiao Feng series), four of Liang Yu Sheng's novels (currently reading my 5th), one really short Wuxia story of Weng Rui An (called Pig Face's Time), and Huang Yi's Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan (Twin of Brothers), Search for Qin (A Step to the Past), Po Sui Xu Kong, and currently reading his Wasteland Legend and Space Vagrant.

Among all these authors, Jin Yong is the best. Others each have their own strengths and weaknesses, but they are still a notch below Jin Yong.

[Dennis Chen]

Who wrote Tian Chan Bian? Or was that only a TV series?

[AresInvincible]

Tian Can Bian is written by HuangYing (not HuangYi)

[Siven]

I've read most of Jin Yongs except for one or two of the short novellas. Most of Gu Long's except the really bad beginning ones and some that were mostly written by his disciples. I find that his characters are often more likable than Jin Yong's traditional hard-*** heroes. He's also better at portraying emotions and setting the mood, though not so good when it comes to fights n'such.

I've only started to read a couple of Liang's, though did not finish, finding his stuff a bit stale, since he was such a pioneer I guess. Maybe if I knew which of his novels are considered his best I'll try again.

Weng's novels has a very literary feel, and he has great command of the language and writes poeticly, but the plotting and characters are kinda lacking.

I've read most of Huang Yi's wuxia novels. I find him to be very inventive, and his characters memorable, especially the women, clearly written for a mostly male audience. He puts a lot of pseudo-philosophical stuff into his novels. The ultimate accomplishment of a martial artist in his books is to "transcend" physical bounds and become divine. This is a great excuse to explain away a lot of otherwise illogical things.

Now I'm mostly reading amateur wuxia from the net. Some are surprisingly good.

[Cornsloth]

I have read very little wuxia. I do read alot of books and I watch alot of MA movies but I never really thought about putting the two together until very recently. I had learned a long time ago that the Jet Li movie Kung Fu Cult Master was based on a novel. So finally I've tried hunting it down, but to little success, I found th etranslation by Athena, but it's only the first three chapters. I want more, it's very intriguing, I wish I knew Chinese or at least that a real author would translate it in full.
I deffinitly enjoy the wuxia genre though, I'm trying my best to write my own novel, and at the same time trying to make a Role-playing game that accuratly portrays the genre.
I think after I read some Jin Yong I'd like to try Gu Long and his Lu Xiao Fung books, I've seen "The Master Swordsman" series, well the butchered version they released in america anyway, and intrigued to know the rest of the story.

[andrea7974]

I've read :
1. Jin Yong
2. Gu Long
3. Liang Yu Sheng,
4. Huang Ying.

[dan J]

Let's see. Here's some that I've read and some of my opinions.

Most of the JY novels. For a self-proclaimed wuxia fan, I still have yet to finish all of the works of the great master.

A good amount of GL. some are good, some are not even close to being decent. but a great story teller nontheless.

A few Liang Yu Sheng. Miles away from what the other two can do in my opinion. He has good concepts and great settings much like JY's works. but in the end, the story just comes out too bland. I find myself struggling to finish the few that I've read even though they are not very long.

The first book of Wen Rui An's 4 Detectives series. Very reminiscent of GL in story and concept. In fact, one of the story in that book seemed to be a direct clone of a scene in Wu Lin Wai Shi. Would like to read a few more of his work.

2 and a quarter books by Huang Yi, which has the same length as 20 books of other authors. absolutely horrible writer. Xun Qi Ji is probably the most original story concept ever, but ultimately ruined. Da Tang is a long and agonizing struggle. And Fu Yu Fan Yun is just trash, which I will never finish it.

Other major works I've read include Xian He Shen Zhen by Wo Long Sheng and Liu Zhi Qing Mo by Ni Kuang. Both of which could have been better.

The worst "book" (if you can call it that) I've read is probably Niu Ying Niu Yang, a direct ripoff of Jing Yong (and the only reason why I even looked at it). Funny that it reminds me very much of Huang Yi.

[divinefish]

I have yet to read JY's less popular novels, bi xue jian, jian cheng jue, etc, but since most people here say that these novels are average stuff and cannot compare to his other works, i don't think i even want to give them a chance.

I've only started reading GL's novels recently, starting with the most popular ones like Lu xiao feng, chu liu xiang, jue dai shuang jiao, wu lin wai shi. I liked these alot so I went on to read some less well known ones, and i gotta agree with you guys, some of his novels are really really bad and dont make much sense. Alot of his later work makes me wonder if he's the same person who wrote great stories like LXF 1-3.

As for Liang Yu Sheng, i started reading his novels after some people in this forum recommened them. He's stuff is alright, but no where near as gripping as JY or GL.

I think Huang Yi's books are mostly targeted at young male audiences, was suprised at how much sex(and with so many different women) his novels contained, nothing wrong with that but alot of it didnt really further the plot developement. Xun Qin Ji was a pretty fun read nonetheless.

I tried to read Wen Rui An's si da ming bu series, but fell asleep before i got beyong the forth chapter.

After trying all these novels, its no wonder that JY is the ruler of wuxia, most of his stuff are 100x more detail oriented and better developed than the others.

[andrea7974]

I think Huang Yi's books are mostly targeted at young male audiences, was suprised at how much sex(and with so many different women) his novels contained, nothing wrong with that but alot of it didnt really further the plot developement.

Really? I only Read Huang Yi's Tian Chan Pien, and I think it's quite nice.

[kidd]

Really? I only Read Huang Yi's Tian Chan Pien, and I think it's quite nice.

I thought Huang Yi and Huang Ying are different person. Tian Chan Pien was written by Huang Ying.

[Trinie]

I have onlyr reads parts of JY and some of GL's novels, but never had the patience and time to finish any. I am such a lazy reader.

TO Divinefish, Actually I really liked BI Xue Jian from what I read. My mom has read it all and told me about it. I actually think it is a good story. I think you should consider giving it a try. Just because it isn't that popular among the majority of fans does not mean that it isn't a good novel since everything is just based on each person's opinion.

About Gu Long, well he wrote nearly 70 novels so you can't expect every single one to be good. Some of his stories are great while some are pretty bad like Fei dao you Jian fei Dao.Gosh, I regret even touching that novel....

[junny]

I've only started reading GL's novels recently, starting with the most popular ones like Lu xiao feng, chu liu xiang, jue dai shuang jiao, wu lin wai shi. I liked these alot so I went on to read some less well known ones, and i gotta agree with you guys, some of his novels are really really bad and dont make much sense. Alot of his later work makes me wonder if he's the same person who wrote great stories like LXF 1-3.

Some of his later works were finished by other writers. Yuan Yue Wan Dao (Full Moon Curved Sabre) for example was mostly written by Sima Ziyan.

[AresInvincible]

Really? I only Read Huang Yi's Tian Chan Pien, and I think it's quite nice.

You didn't read my second post. Huang Yi's earlier novels have many sex-related scenes, however they're greatly reduced in the revisions and later novels. They are very good story-wise, except too long and characters are too similiar. People say that he is the father of web novels.

Bi Xue Jian is good, but the main characters are just too...plain. I want to read the 3rd revision of it.

Many of Gulong's novels really...sucked. For example the Knifeman Lee series. Only Duo Qing Jian Ke is good. The others are some of the worst Wuxia fictions I've read. The problem with Gulong is that his stories usually have many plot-holes (because of so many other people writing the stories for him), and his style gets repetitious. I mean come on, every time when he talks about a restaurant servant or some random low-life person, that guy must be a hidden martial artist. It's fun the first time, the second time, but not the one thousanth time.

[dan J]

Really? I only Read Huang Yi's Tian Chan Pien, and I think it's quite nice.

I think it's quite poor (the first book that is). It's written with the monotony of a grade schooler writing about his daily routine. and seems that every dozen lines or so ends in a rhetorical question, that simply gets on your nerve after a chapter or two. I couldn't finish that book half way into it.

The other book by HuangYing that I read, one of the Shen ShengYi series, is miles better writing in comparison. So my guess is that he must have written Tian Chan Bian very early on in his career. It's very evident that Huang Ying tries hard to mimic GL in every way, and quite successfully. His stuff seems to have 70% likeness. Shen ShengYi is his version of the LXF and CLH.

[AresInvincible]

I think it's quite poor (the first book that is). It's written with the monotony of a grade schooler writing about his daily routine. and seems that every dozen lines or so ends in a rhetorical question, that simply gets on your nerve after a chapter or two. I couldn't finish that book half way into it.

The other book by HuangYing that I read, one of the Shen ShengYi series, is miles better writing in comparison. So my guess is that he must have written Tian Chan Bian very early on in his career. It's very evident that Huang Ying tries hard to mimic GL in every way, and quite successfully. His stuff seems to have 70% likeness. Shen ShengYi is his version of the LXF and CLH.

Really? I have never read a book by HuangYing.

[fridaythe13th]

I have read most of Jin Yong's novels, except Liang Cheng Jue and Yue Nu Jian. I have also read some of Gu Long's novels, including any of the novels involving Xiao Li Fei Dao. I have read two books from Wen Rui An, some of Liang Yu Sheng's novels (although not very famous) and a book of Huang Yi called Po Sui Shi Kong. There are also other authors such as Liu Can Sheng and Ni Kuang. I think, however, that Jin Yong has made a breakthrough in wuxia genre and that all the authors have their own style of writing.

[winifred]

i've read most of Louis Cha's novels(except some very old ones), really wonerful
he is the best kongfu novel writer i think!!
n "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" is my fav. ^^
i think anyone who luv wuxia should have a look @ LOCH..the original version is the best choice..if the condition permits^&^