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St. Martin's Griffin

A Hero Born: The Definitive Edition (Legends of the Condor Heroes, 1)

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Description

Now in English for the first time! Set in ancient China, in a world where kung fu is magic, kingdoms vie for power and the battle to become the ultimate kung fu master unfolds, an unlikely hero is born… in the first book in the epic Legends of the Condor Heroes by the critically acclaimed master of the genre, Jin Yong. After his father―a devoted Song patriot―is murdered by the Jin empire, Guo Jing and his mother flee to the plains of Ghengis Khan and his people for refuge. For one day he must face his mortal enemy in battle in the Garden of the Drunken Immortals. Under the tutelage of Genghis Khan and The Seven Heroes of the South, Guo Jing hones his kung fu skills. Humble, loyal and perhaps not always wise, Guo Jing faces a destiny both great and terrible. However, in a land divided―and a future largely unknown―Guo Jing must navigate love and war, honor and betrayal before he can face his own fate and become the hero he’s meant to be. Legends of the Condor Heroes A Hero Born A Bond Undone A Snake Lies Waiting A Heart Divided Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Martin's Griffin


Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 10, 2020


Edition ‏ : ‎ Reprint


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Print length ‏ : ‎ 432 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250220629


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 22


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.9 ounces


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.15 x 1 x 9.2 inches


Book 1 of 4 ‏ : ‎ Legends of the Condor Heroes


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • Reads like magic on your soul
The first of four books that comprise Jin Ying’s masterpiece, this feels like Lord of the Rings in the complexity of the lore, but reads like a thriller. Steeped in Chinese history, this is historical fiction at its finest, combined with the action of a Western, fleshed out in the intricacies and details of the superhero genre, with the quiet grace of language that is readable despite age or intellectual capacity. Like Charles Dickens, Jin Yong (also known as Louis Cha) wrote these as serials. He imitates the best of the Chinese classics while throttling the story like a 90s era Hong Kong martial arts movie. True entertainment. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 26, 2023 by Peter Fabell
    • I got this book for a friend.
This trilogy stores is one of my favorite to watch on Chinese television shows. That is why I purchase this book for my best friend, for his birthday. He is an America. He most likely would never cross path with this book or any others in the trilogy.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 6, 2023 by Drew Kuo
    • Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting…
A enjoyable adventure. The story moves through locales and sets up the struggle of good and evil. The translation is sometimes awkward in context for some passages but that is normal for translated texts. It is still very fluid and consumable. The fight scenes are littered with elaborate moves, all given elaborate names (as they are the fighting style for a specific family), and are descriptive and imaginative. As a lover of old Kung-fu movies from the 70s and 80s, this book felt familiar. Some of the scenes of characters gliding through the air or performing acrobatic moves with grace and ease as they engage, chase or meet clearly reflect that “Kung-Fu” movie style I am used to seeing. The encounters follow, what I could imagine in my mind visually in the kung-fu movie style, and the events all lead to the epic showdown. Since this is the first of a series, I am curious to see how this epic moves on. I was attracted to it because it was described as the “Chinese Lord of the Rings”. Indeed it is epic in nature and the host of characters is grand. The supernatural aspects are there and you really want to root for the hero. This is a great beach read or afternoon trek for those who need a little classic kung-fu and high spirited adventure. I saw there is a subtitled series that is available. I may have to check it out to see how they presented this story in an episodic format. Cheers! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 13, 2022 by Eduardo R.
    • Too late, but not too little
When I first heard about the publication of the English translation of this book and such translation is the first of its kind, I was shocked. I never bothered to check if there were English versions out there because I used to read them in Chinese for at least a dozen times. How could this happen? I am glad this classic can finally reach the western readers. The original book was written more than fifty years ago. So the English version is too late, but not too little. Disregarding Chairman Mao's Little Red Book that every Chinese had to own several copies for obvious reasons and thus was published a trillion times in China, it is no doubt that Jin Yong's fifteen martial arts novels are the number one selling books for the last half century in China. It is a rarity to find a Chinese who has never read Jin Yong or watched a movie/TV series adapted from his books. I personally grew up with it, and Jin Yong's martial arts literature has become a common part of the Chinese consciousness and psyche. The Condor Heroes are the first installment of the fifteen stories penned by Jin Yong, and is probably the most widely circulated among the fifteen. That's why I call it the foundational piece of the modern martial arts literature. Without it, there would be no Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan, no Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, or no Kung Fu Panda. Without it, several generations of Chinese would suffer a huge deficit of literary imagination. Jin Yong, like J R Tolkien or J K Rowling, are grand masters of building otherworldly worlds filled with mesmerizing plots and characters. I still remember the days when I begged my classmates in elementary school to borrow and have the Condor Heroes just for one night, and I burned the midnight oil literally because there was no electricity in the early 1980s. Those nights were the happiest reading days of my life. When I started working and received my first paycheck, one of the things in my priority list was to buy and own Jin Yong's full-set books. I took one star off because of the translation. I have great sympathy for the translator because many concepts in Jin Yong's world is so Chinese. For instance, "nine yin skeleton claw" just does not sound terrorizing as the Chinese original. Still the translator did a admirable and quality job. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 1, 2018 by P Kimel
    • Great Fun
I was introduced Jin Rong and Hero Born as a Chinese language class in Beijing and then was offered a review copy by St Martins. Fate brought the book to me. Early in the introduction is is said that the whole series extends over some 12 books, which was almost enough to make me put the volume down. But, I did not. Set in China at the end of the Sung Dynasty, about 1300 CE, we enter a chaotic political period with nomadic tribes pressing the Sung and the Sung fighting for its life. But, even the defenders of the Sung are not united as we learn in A Hero Born, broken down into different schools of martial arts. All of which seem easy to take offense and fight for perceived honor. In short, scarcely a page goes by without some display of martial arts. A Hero Born is adventure on a grand scale. While the fight scenes seem to come on every page, Cha's canvas is wider than a simple fight. The action spans most of China and into the nomadic lands. Comparison to The Three Musketeers or Cooper's Leatherstocking series seem a better match for scale and breadth. Louis Cha (Jin Rong) is a foremost writer of martial arts novels. It is wonderful to have access to his work in English. As for me, I am ready for the next 11 books in the series. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 18, 2019 by S. Maire

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