A Past Unearthed

Legends of the Condor Heroes: Return of the Condor Heroes, Vol. 1

By: Jin Yong, Gigi Chang - translator

Narrated by: Daniel York Loh

The Chinese Lord of the Rings.

The most popular series by the most successful Chinese author - a cultural monument translated into English for the first time.

China: 1200 A.D.

In the fourth and final volume of Legends of the Condor Heroes, the first novel in the Condor Trilogy, Guo Jing is at last forced to make a choice between loyalty to the land of his birth and keeping faith with Genghis Khan, who has been like a father to him. As the Mongol armies descend on China, Jin Yong brings this most beloved of his books to a thrilling conclusion, complete with vast battles, stirring heroism, heartbreak, triumph and loss.

This volume will be followed by the first volume in the second novel of the Condor Trilogy, Return of the Condor Heroes.

The series every Chinese reader has been enjoying for decades.

©2023 Jin Yong and Gigi Chang (P)2023 Quercus Editions Limited

Critic reviews

"Jin Yong's work, in the Chinese-speaking world, has a cultural currency roughly equal to that of Harry Potter and Star Wars combined." (Nick Frisch, New Yorker)

"Like every fairy tale you're ever loved, imbued with jokes and epic grandeur. Prepare to be swept along." (Jamie Buxton, Daily Mail)

Great continue of the story.

Amazing, the story just keep going without stopping. No fillers at all. Amazing story telling. Love it, can't wait for the next book. Wish I can preorder it.

I already can’t wait for the next volume!

I can’t even put into words how grateful I am that Jin Yong’s works are finally getting some long-overdue attention in the Anglophone world. I have already come to cherish this man’s works as dearly as many of my favourite English novels.

At this rate, it will take several more years for the translation of the whole Condor Trilogy to be completed, but the fact that we’re already partway through the second book now is more than I’d ever hoped to see in my lifetime.

Simply put, if you’ve ever enjoyed wuxia movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, you owe it to yourself to see the genre’s origins in the work of its seminal master. Jin Yong has often been called China’s Tolkien, and the comparison is indeed a fair one—not because the two men produced similar work (in many ways, they did not), but because each occupies a comparable role in the history of his own culture’s fantasy literature.

It’s worth pointing out that this volume is very much a continuation of the four which preceded it—it’s definitely best to start with ‘A Hero Born,’ and move forward from there. Wuxia novels, unlike the movies they’ve inspired, are immense, sprawling affairs, often serialised in newspapers when first written and taking place over generations and involving very large casts of characters. The commitment is definitely considerable, but I can assure you—if you like this sort of thing, Jin Yong will reward you richly for your time.

I enjoyed this book

Audible, this is ridiculous!!! I just wanted to rate this book and not write a review. Having to write reviews in order to rate has prevented me from rating at all. I just want to give props to enjoyable reads . I will just copy and paste this "review" going forward.