Three Kingdoms (Chinese Classics, Classic Novel in 4-Volumes)
by Luo Guanzhong

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Book Reviews of Three Kingdoms (Chinese Classics, Classic Novel in 4-Volumes)

Book Review: Finally a well translated unabridged version!
Summary: 5 Stars

"The Three Kingdoms" is based on the era known as The Three Kingdoms period, or San Guo Yan Yi. This period chronicles the decline of the Han to the rise of the Jin dynasty (circa AD 170-260). The story tells the tale of protagonist Zhuge Liang (referred to as Kongming throughout the story) and his efforts to help his lord Liu Bei (referred to as Xuande throughout the story) unite the land and restore the crumbling Han. You see, Liu Bei is a distant cousin of the child emperor, Liu Xian, who is manipulated by the malicious despot, Cao Cao. Bei, a poor mat weaver, steps up to the plate and helps to put down the Yellow Scarf rebellion under Zhang Jue and the story takes off from there. Zhuge Liang does not actually come into the story until much later and dies in the middle of the fourth volume, but his importance is immeasurable.

This story is a must-read for history fans as well as fans of any of the video game series about the time period (Dynasty Warriors, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Dynasty Tactics, etc.). Fans of the video game series will love to hear tales of their favorite characters, such as Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and many more.

An important thing to keep in mind when reading Luo Guanzhong's novel is that it is a biased account of the events. Luo Guanzhong is what I call a pro-Shuist, or someone who supports Shu (the kingdom ruled by Liu Bei), so Shu feats may be embellished and fans of the other kingdoms (Wei, Wu) might be frustrated as many of their favorite characters will not be viewed as positively as they may deserve to be.

With this in mind, "The Three Kingdoms" is a fun, if not lengthy, read and will keep you turning the pages. The story isn't terribly difficult to follow but some may have trouble keeping track of the cast of characters (some 600 plus characters in all) and all of their names. What I mean by 'all of their names' is that the chinese had the surname (Zhuge), the given name (Liang) and a style (Kongming). Some officers are called by all three names and it can be difficult to follow. Zhuge Liang is called many things over the course of the novel, in addition to his surname, given name and style, but it shouldn't be to hard to follow. Probably easier then following my explanation of it, at any rate.

My major complaint with this edition (and it is minor) is the poor proofreading and the poor quality of the paper and binding. This book was published to Beijing standards and would not meet American standards. You will have to be a little careful with the book while reading it, but that's not too big of a problem. Also, the typos (two or three a chapter) can get annoying and make you wonder who was proofreading the book and make you think that you could do a better job (and you probably could).

That aside, this is a very enjoyable story and you will not be disappointed in buying the four-volume unabridged set translated by Moss Roberts.

Summary of Three Kingdoms (Chinese Classics, Classic Novel in 4-Volumes)

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