due to a conversation about how none of mxtx's novels are actually a great place to start for a western fan with no familiarity with the genre, I'm now curious:
for those of you who have read more widely, what do you think would be the best wuxia or xianxia danmei for a western newbie reader, in terms of a cross section of plot comprehensibility / being engaging / english translation quality, etc?
@soph_sol
As much as I find fault with it, I’d say Jin Yong +1, which strike a good balance between plot comprehensibility and being engaging, imo. The stories are fun, although kinda tropey/cliche by today’s standards. They all have many TV/movie adpations, which may be more accessible to westerners?
Can’t say anything about translation quality, because I’m chinese :)
It’s harder if you want wuxia/xianxia AND danmei as a starting point. Danmei as a genre is much younger. When danmei came about, two generations had already grown up with jin yong/gu long/etc. So I guess, authors and readers kinda of just assume a premise of some sort, if that makes any sense?
@soph_sol actually thinking about this a little more, it might help to watch at least one wuxia movie prior to reading because now the reader has visuals to go with it (might not help with some readers though)
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