View Poll Results: which first?

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  • SWORD STAINED BY ROYAL BLOOD

    1 1.82%
  • ODE TO GALLANTRY

    3 5.45%
  • DEMI GODS & SEMI DEVILS

    2 3.64%
  • HEAVENLY SWORD AND DRAGON SABRE

    6 10.91%
  • SMILING PROUD WANDERER

    9 16.36%
  • DUKE OF MOUNT DEER

    2 3.64%
  • BOOK & SWORD

    2 3.64%
  • EAGLE SHOOTING HEROES (LOCH)

    10 18.18%
  • CONDOR HERO AND HIS PARTNER (ROCH)

    14 25.45%
  • other

    6 10.91%
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Thread: Your first wuxia novel read

  1. #1
    Senior Member PJ's Avatar
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    Default Your first wuxia novel read

    Which of the following is the first novel you read by Jin Yong, in its entirety?
    忽见柳荫下两个小孩子在哀哀痛哭,瞧模样正是武敦儒、武修文兄弟。郭芙大声叫道:「喂,你们在干甚麽?」武 修文回头见是郭芙,哭道:「我们在哭,你不见麽?」

  2. #2
    Senior Member PJ's Avatar
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    And perhaps we can reveal why your choice became the novel you read first.

    For me, at the time I was already a wuxia fanatic, and was extremely curious about Jin Yong's writing style. My thinking was to read a novel that was relatively short, contained decent martial arts, and was not one of the most popular choices. The last point was that I wanted to generate more discussion to a rather neglected work. Well, I narrowed down my choices to 2 or 3. Ultimately I picked Ode to Gallantry because the martial arts was still decent in that era.

    How about you?
    忽见柳荫下两个小孩子在哀哀痛哭,瞧模样正是武敦儒、武修文兄弟。郭芙大声叫道:「喂,你们在干甚麽?」武 修文回头见是郭芙,哭道:「我们在哭,你不见麽?」

  3. #3
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    while loving wuxia shows love stories, i have never read any wuxia novel. the farthest i went for chinese literature are journey to the west and water margin.

  4. #4
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    So far I have read 12 JY novels (I think I miss ODE TO GALLANTRY and SWORD OF MAIDEN YUEH). I'm not sure what is really my 1st novel between LOCH and XAJH. I think the 1st novel I start reading is LOCH but the 1st novel I have really finished the entire story is XAJH. If I remember correctly, this is because XAJH is shorter and the entire LOCH tranlated version that I read (I read Thai translation) is done after XAJH.

    All JY novels I read, I like all of them. Only novel I cannot stand for the main hero is the DUKE OF MOUNT DEER. I don't like WXB at all. I think he is just lucky that there is no hero like in other JY novels in this story (and this could be the point JY want to make from this story). Also, among all I read, I like LOCH the most. This might be because of the translation is really well done by the translator. But I just "feel" LOCH is "beautiful" and "well around" though all poems, all description, and the depth of the story/characters. Unlike GL, JY philosophy is not obvious + shallow from my "personal opinion" (the depth could be bottomless)...luckily the year I start reading is the same year I'm so crazy about Eastern Philosopy like Buddhism and Taoism. I really like GJ and I don't think he is dumb at all. It just like he is kinda slow, probably, because of the way he was raised by his mom and his 6 teachers. However, this can be improved through experience and, as I remember, I think he did improve through the story (especially in ROCH).

    I really love XAJH too and I like LHC very much (I like GJ just a bit more but not much). About ROCH, I have a bit hard time to read. In one case, it is hard for me to stand XLN's rape incident. On the other hands, it is hard to stand young YG's behaviour (sorry for hardcore YG fans) but I really like the mature YG after 16 year separation from XLN. I reread the famous GX's birthday party almost 20 times but never want to read most part of young YG adventure more than once.

    Different from many people, I think the BOOK & SWORD and the SWORD STAINED BY ROYAL BLOOD are entertaining. I also like HSDS and DGSD very much. I like ZWJ as much as GJ. I like to reread all ZWJ's big fights. They are just grand (through JY description and a number of fights from both ZWJ and others) and they end nicely (opposite from XF when he fight with a bunch of people, I forget the name of the place, which is pretty bloody). Honestly, I like ZWJ take all girls as his wife same time. I'm a guy afterall. Out of 4 girls, I like ZZR the most. I know she is quite (or very) devil but I cannot stop liking her somehow. I think ZWJ might think the same way as me...he just cannot stop liking her. This might be because the way JY describe ZZR in his book. About DGSD, I like DY the most, then XZ and finally XF. I feel that I can relate to DY since I also have some obsessive personality as DY when I'm interested in something. Therefore, I can feel what DY feel and how can I hate him since it means I have to hate myself.

    About the Fox series (Fox of Snow Mountian and Young Fox, forget the correct name), I like it but the story is not really into my memory that much. Hu Fei is brave and heroic but somehow he is not quite memorable comparing with the heroes above. For the other 2 JY books I read, I like them but probably about the same level (with probably slightly lower) as the Fox series (except the DUKE OF MOUNT DEER).

  5. #5
    Senior Member yittz's Avatar
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    Well it was a race between Lannylin's translated XAJH up to chapter 20, and this forum's ROCH up to 23.

    Until i found out that the chinese version is avail on the net, and that I can read chinese (I did surprise myself). So end up with ROCH first, as it was the exciting part that I await.

  6. #6
    Senior Member bloodstar's Avatar
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    I believe ROCH is by far the most popular JY novel, and a lot of people will get acquainted with it first by choice.

    LOCH happened to be the first set of JY books i bought and till this day it remains my firm fave... as a romantic tale it is heartwarming, as a wuxia novel it is packed with exciting and big fight scenes, and it is also at the same time a rather good sleuth story. I enjoyed tremendously the way in which HR cracked the murder case of GJ's teachers. That girl should be a forensic scientist. Also enjoyed the various ideas she came up with to trap (and release) Ou Yang Ke on the island and later Ou Yang Feng in Mongolia.

  7. #7
    Senior Member Candide's Avatar
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    XAJH was my first, as it's my dad's and uncle's (both are wuxia fanatics) favourite. I really liked LHC at first and thought that he was perfect. Now I think he's full of shit and want to punch him in the nuts, especially in the last quarter of the novel. Then I read LOCH, ROCH, HSDS, DGSD, DOMD and the rest. I think I read Book & Sword last though, which is kind of ironic since it was JY's first novel.
    "Anything you can't say NO to is your MASTER, and you are its SLAVE."

    "I disapprove of what I say, but I will defend to the death my right to say it."

  8. #8
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    I started with HSDS but discarded it halfway into the story, because I couldn't go through with all those Chinese words (traditional Han!).

    Then came DGSD. Book 1 (Chapters 1-10) was relatively flat, albeit amusing at times. The collection looked all set for "retirement" until I reached the middle of Book 2, to the part in which XF sparred with Bao Botong and Feng Bo'er. Thereafter, I was hooked, and even the traditional Han words couldn't put me off. I even acquired another set of the novel (and wrapped it up nicely) so that I would have another copy in reserve should something happen to the one I was reading.

    After I was done with the 3 brothers, I returned to HSDS. But perhaps DGSD was too thought-provoking, or that XF was too awesome. Whatever the reason, I didn't find HSDS as compelling as before. ZWJ, though an extremely nice protagonist and gallant fellow, just didn't give me that heroic feel. I completed it though, primarily because I was intrigued by the ZZR mystery.

    I should also add that I read the above 2 stories without any external influence, be it from TV or forums or whatever. In fact, at that time, I didn't even know that they were adapted into TV serials (not a TV person), or even who Jin Yong was. I only read them because my teacher offered them to me (I was his pet student), and I was too shy to tell him that I didn't care for wuxia novels, or anything written in traditional Han!

    I've been meaning to start LOCH and ROCH, but kept holding it off because I've watched some episodes of the adpatations and, well...somehow, I just don't think it would be the same as reading them with an open and unbiased mind. Perhaps I should go with Xia Ke Xing.

    In retrospect, I should never have started my Jin Yong journey with DGSD, because in comparison, the other stories and protagonists just seem bland. So much so that I simply couldn't muster the interest. LOCH should be good, if only GJ wasn't so slow.

  9. #9
    Senior Member PJ's Avatar
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    I think if one wants to watch adaptions anyway, it's preferrable to watch adaption first, then read the novel. If I read the novel then watch adaption, I will puke at the changes. I am much more willing to accept the original source.
    忽见柳荫下两个小孩子在哀哀痛哭,瞧模样正是武敦儒、武修文兄弟。郭芙大声叫道:「喂,你们在干甚麽?」武 修文回头见是郭芙,哭道:「我们在哭,你不见麽?」

  10. #10
    Senior Member Candide's Avatar
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    I watched the adaptations first, years before I touched a novel. I still puked. Used to think that wuxia is rubbish drama + some silly people flying around.
    "Anything you can't say NO to is your MASTER, and you are its SLAVE."

    "I disapprove of what I say, but I will defend to the death my right to say it."

  11. #11
    Senior Member AresInvincible's Avatar
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    First read ROCH when I was ten...good old times...

  12. #12
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    Lol. I have yet to read my first wuxia novel, and I'm 13! It's mostly because I'm not very fluent at reading Chinese.
    Here's a llama
    There's a llama
    And another little llama
    Fuzzy llama
    Funny llama
    Llama llama duck

    Llama llama
    Cheesecake llama
    Tablet brick potato llama...

  13. #13
    Senior Member bloodstar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Snowflower
    Lol. I have yet to read my first wuxia novel, and I'm 13! It's mostly because I'm not very fluent at reading Chinese.
    not very fluent... meaning you can still read chinese right? It doesn't matter because you will find yourself getting addicted and without you realising it your ability to read chinese will improve. That was what happened to me.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by PJ
    I think if one wants to watch adaptions anyway, it's preferrable to watch adaption first, then read the novel. If I read the novel then watch adaption, I will puke at the changes. I am much more willing to accept the original source.
    One of the reasons I prefer to read, then watch, is the influence of the celebrities in TV adaptations. For example, one of my friends read HSDS after watching the China's version. Due to his dislike for Alec Su (ZWJ), my friend simply couldn't get past the actor to appreciate the character as intended and depicted by Jin Yong.

    But I do see your point. It can be very exasperating to see those changes in the adaptations after one has read the novel. A prominent one that comes to mind is XF's eyes in the recent CCTV's version. Unlike what was described in the book, the actor kept his eyes open after his suicide, and Ah Zi was bawling away: "Brother-in-law, open your eyes and look at me ah!" The man's eyes were wide open! I was thinking that since the director preferred XF not to close his eyes, he should have had the sense to modify the script to let everything tie in together. Leaving it thus was just weird and plain silly, in my opinion.

  15. #15
    Senior Member Candide's Avatar
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    Yeah XF should've had his eyes closed then. He had achieved greatness and fulfilled his destiny as the greatest wuxia hero. He could close his eyes and rest in peace. Having his eyes open takes away that meaning.
    "Anything you can't say NO to is your MASTER, and you are its SLAVE."

    "I disapprove of what I say, but I will defend to the death my right to say it."

  16. #16
    Senior Member Ian Liew's Avatar
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    TLBB 2003 had horrible editing which completely took the polish off the series, a real shame that while they did so well in areas which were hard to do, they negleted the basic flow of the story and simple common sense and quality control.

    My first novel was Xia Ke Xing. I chose it because it was fairly short, and up to then it was the only story which I hadn't a clue about the story, as until then I thought that Shi Zhongyu was a good twin brother of Shi Potian thanks to TVB's 80s 'creativity'. I then found out from the JY Online game and the forums here that he wasn't a nice chap at all, which meant that the 80s adaptation was way off, and I needed to know the story. I could have gone for Lian Chengjue (only 1 book) but I remember it being a bit sad, while Flying Fox really needed to be read in its 3-book entirety. Book and Sword I had just read in English on some website which has since been taken down, while I had just watched TVB's Crimson Sabre, so Xia Ke Xing kind of felt right.

    Oh ya, this refers to reading a book in my hands. I did read Book and Sword online in English, but I'm not sure that counts.

  17. #17
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    My first novel was ROCH. Actually i read the comic ROCH and DGSD first but then it would take a few years for the whole sereis to be finished so i read the novel... finished reading most of them... except for the shorter ones like Yue Nu Jian... Now reading Huang Yi's novel online... his Xun Qin Ji and Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan novel is much much better than the TVB adaptations... Huang Yi's novels are really great!!

  18. #18
    Member Snowflower's Avatar
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    Yeah I have Chinese School each week but I don't think my Chinese is getting much better from it.
    Here's a llama
    There's a llama
    And another little llama
    Fuzzy llama
    Funny llama
    Llama llama duck

    Llama llama
    Cheesecake llama
    Tablet brick potato llama...

  19. #19
    Senior Member patricia n's Avatar
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    ssrb - my vn is terrible and my time limited, so i chose ssrb because the novel is short and the font is big.

  20. #20
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    my first novel was LOCH, i picked up the book after watching the 2003 china version of LOCH. My second book was XAJH and now, i'm reading DGSD.

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