Search
Search results
J Cole recommended The Artist's Way: A Course in Discovering and Recovering Your Creative Self in Books (curated)
Maggie Nelson recommended Collected Works in Books (curated)
Veronica Pena (690 KP) rated V for Vendetta (2005) in Movies
May 29, 2020
While I wasn't in love with this film, I didn't hate it. I did feel like it was a bit unnecessarily long so that was a little frustrating but Natalie Portman's performance makes up for it entirely. I can't say too much about what I didn't like about this film without giving it away and I personally hate writing reviews that contain spoilers. This film was just not my cup of tea. Maybe it'll be yours!
Ross (3284 KP) rated Here, My Dear by Marvin Gaye in Music
May 5, 2020 (Updated Apr 7, 2021)
Rolling Stone's 456th greatest album of all time (493rd in the 2020 list)
A nice but unusual collection of soul songs by Marvin Gaye. Anna's Song is a great typical soul song, but the likes of Funky Space Reincarnation are as odd as the name suggests. I think to get the most out of this album you need to ingest similar things to what Gaye must have done in writing and recording it! No classics but good listening.
Murder She Typed
9.0
Rate It
Book
Izzy Greene, a widow of a certain age, joins a writing group in an attempt to actually finish one of...
cozy mystery mystery cozy food chiclit
Possessing The Secret Of Joy
Book
When Alice Walker finished writing The Color Purple she realised that she needed to tell the story...
Chinese Writer by trainchinese
Games and Education
App
Learn how to write thousands of Chinese characters - it's educational, entertaining and addictive! ...
Sensitivemuse (246 KP) rated A Hero Born in Books
Sep 25, 2019
Great plot but translation isn't so good
Despite what you read on the covers (e.g. “It’s like Lord of the Rings”) ignore all of that. It’s nothing like it. There is no epic adventure to fight evil (at least not yet - this is the first book in the series). So before you get all disappointed in what the outside quotes say, completely disregard them.
Translation will always be an issue with these kinds of books. It’s hard to keep it true and coherent. Sometimes you get a good one that is completely comprehensible and makes the reading a journey well worth it. Then you get one like A Hero Born and it’s not the greatest translation. The writing style is dry and hard to get into. Sometimes it gets too descriptive, but other times it’s not descriptive enough. It can be a little long winded at times and it drags - I’m not too sure if that’s because of the run on writing style or the plot itself. Either way by the last third of the book it was getting to be tiresome.
Speaking of the plot, it was good! There’s plenty of action, a bit of intrigue here and there. If you don’t mind something akin to Chinese historical fiction movies with classic martial arts fighting then perhaps this is for you. There are small elements of political intrigue which keeps the story interesting, however keep in mind there are a lot of characters to keep track of, but luckily there is a cast of characters in the beginning of the novel so that should not be a problem. This isn’t a book to put down and turn back to later, this needs to be consistently read you will easily lose your place.
There’s also several plot arcs that happen throughout the novel so it’s best to keep track of them carefully. They are all intertwined at some point. It’s a great plot and if it wasn’t for the horrible writing/translation.
I don’t know if I could recommend this one to anyone. I would under normal circumstances but the writing just do the plot justice. It’s too bad, it would have been such a great series.
Translation will always be an issue with these kinds of books. It’s hard to keep it true and coherent. Sometimes you get a good one that is completely comprehensible and makes the reading a journey well worth it. Then you get one like A Hero Born and it’s not the greatest translation. The writing style is dry and hard to get into. Sometimes it gets too descriptive, but other times it’s not descriptive enough. It can be a little long winded at times and it drags - I’m not too sure if that’s because of the run on writing style or the plot itself. Either way by the last third of the book it was getting to be tiresome.
Speaking of the plot, it was good! There’s plenty of action, a bit of intrigue here and there. If you don’t mind something akin to Chinese historical fiction movies with classic martial arts fighting then perhaps this is for you. There are small elements of political intrigue which keeps the story interesting, however keep in mind there are a lot of characters to keep track of, but luckily there is a cast of characters in the beginning of the novel so that should not be a problem. This isn’t a book to put down and turn back to later, this needs to be consistently read you will easily lose your place.
There’s also several plot arcs that happen throughout the novel so it’s best to keep track of them carefully. They are all intertwined at some point. It’s a great plot and if it wasn’t for the horrible writing/translation.
I don’t know if I could recommend this one to anyone. I would under normal circumstances but the writing just do the plot justice. It’s too bad, it would have been such a great series.
