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frasersimons 's review for:
This is a tighter story than the first and starts out with a bang. It’s so refreshing reading something with tropes you have no idea about. Again, the action scenes, which are many were fantastic and felt completely different in characterization despite the frequency.
As I see it, one of the most pronounced differences is the difference in how embodiment is handled when coupled with martial prowess. The mind is generally divorced from physical contest; skill is repetition/training and talent. Their philosophy or ideas or morality are divorced, generally. Unless it’s a fable or parable, or something like that. Here people’s prowess and style of defence or offence could be derived from many things, and there is almost always a connection to their approach to life and lived experience. This makes most fights about notions on lived experience themselves embodied in people as a fight, which makes them far more interesting. Also, people aren’t typically out to specifically kill the opponent (though not always).
But because characters are mythologized, often actual historical figures, and they represent ideals they espouse, it becomes transparently a novel of ideas. There is melodrama and “good” versus “evil” you’d expect in classic fantasy, but it feels like a lot more holistic approach and less, say, puritanical. A lot of the time characters are expected to change, rather than be eliminated. Ideas butting heads, retreating, having to be introspective and change who they are and thus their approach to succeed against an opponent they were once defeated by. Then the mental approach is married to the body, where the body has to learn the new approach as well. Sometimes taking years to internalize the change and be able to outwardly manifest the reflection.
The one area that’s disappointing, and I think everyone can expect to see if they know when it was written is how women are characterized. They are numerous and eclectic, which is probably better than most 50s western fantasy. But also embody pretty sexist qualities that is in-line with western lit. They generally have to find ways of getting their way that are different to how men go about it and their lives centre men.
What was really neat about this one is there’s a Manuel that can make the person who studies it well, and internalizes the information well, a powerful, maybe unstoppable warrior. And I’m pretty sure I’ve seen that in a wuxia movie. Maybe Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon… or Hero? I can’t recall. But it’s neat reading this progenitor of the genre and seeing characters and different elements show up as recognizable to me despite only seeing the very popular films brought over for an English audience.
Continues to be really well paced and poetic, with good flow. Still amazed it’s able to make this amount of fights interesting. And the fights themselves very fun as well. Dynamic and tense. I’ll continue, for sure.
As I see it, one of the most pronounced differences is the difference in how embodiment is handled when coupled with martial prowess. The mind is generally divorced from physical contest; skill is repetition/training and talent. Their philosophy or ideas or morality are divorced, generally. Unless it’s a fable or parable, or something like that. Here people’s prowess and style of defence or offence could be derived from many things, and there is almost always a connection to their approach to life and lived experience. This makes most fights about notions on lived experience themselves embodied in people as a fight, which makes them far more interesting. Also, people aren’t typically out to specifically kill the opponent (though not always).
But because characters are mythologized, often actual historical figures, and they represent ideals they espouse, it becomes transparently a novel of ideas. There is melodrama and “good” versus “evil” you’d expect in classic fantasy, but it feels like a lot more holistic approach and less, say, puritanical. A lot of the time characters are expected to change, rather than be eliminated. Ideas butting heads, retreating, having to be introspective and change who they are and thus their approach to succeed against an opponent they were once defeated by. Then the mental approach is married to the body, where the body has to learn the new approach as well. Sometimes taking years to internalize the change and be able to outwardly manifest the reflection.
The one area that’s disappointing, and I think everyone can expect to see if they know when it was written is how women are characterized. They are numerous and eclectic, which is probably better than most 50s western fantasy. But also embody pretty sexist qualities that is in-line with western lit. They generally have to find ways of getting their way that are different to how men go about it and their lives centre men.
What was really neat about this one is there’s a Manuel that can make the person who studies it well, and internalizes the information well, a powerful, maybe unstoppable warrior. And I’m pretty sure I’ve seen that in a wuxia movie. Maybe Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon… or Hero? I can’t recall. But it’s neat reading this progenitor of the genre and seeing characters and different elements show up as recognizable to me despite only seeing the very popular films brought over for an English audience.
Continues to be really well paced and poetic, with good flow. Still amazed it’s able to make this amount of fights interesting. And the fights themselves very fun as well. Dynamic and tense. I’ll continue, for sure.