Ranger Princess
Tentacle God
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Re: Books
This post isn't so much a review but to help people looking for a good translations of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. We were talking about it on the shoutbox a little. And the biggest thing is that almost everyone suggests getting the full version NOT the abridged version. It's more effort but the story is much better with all the details and context. That means buying multiple volumes or a box set of books.
The most respected versions are from Moss Roberts and Charles Brewitt-Taylor. The Roberts one is newer and people think it has a more modern feel to it. Easier to read, less big words, et cetera. It also uses the pinyin system so the names are Cao Cao, Liu Bei, etc as opposed to the older Tsao Tsao and Liu Pei. Roberts also includes a lot more notes, maps, and illustrations in the text.
The Brewitt-Taylor one is the first complete English translation of the story, and it's older so it uses the Wade-Giles romanization system. But a lot of people say it's more poetic and flowery than Roberts' more modern translation. So if your into reading old literature that maybe has a little bit more flair, then that one could be for you. A disadvantage is it doesn't have as many maps I think.
Also, apparently there is a full text translation of Brewitt-Taylor's version that also uses the pinyin system uploaded on
Hope that helps anyone who's interested in the story. ^_^
This post isn't so much a review but to help people looking for a good translations of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. We were talking about it on the shoutbox a little. And the biggest thing is that almost everyone suggests getting the full version NOT the abridged version. It's more effort but the story is much better with all the details and context. That means buying multiple volumes or a box set of books.
The most respected versions are from Moss Roberts and Charles Brewitt-Taylor. The Roberts one is newer and people think it has a more modern feel to it. Easier to read, less big words, et cetera. It also uses the pinyin system so the names are Cao Cao, Liu Bei, etc as opposed to the older Tsao Tsao and Liu Pei. Roberts also includes a lot more notes, maps, and illustrations in the text.
The Brewitt-Taylor one is the first complete English translation of the story, and it's older so it uses the Wade-Giles romanization system. But a lot of people say it's more poetic and flowery than Roberts' more modern translation. So if your into reading old literature that maybe has a little bit more flair, then that one could be for you. A disadvantage is it doesn't have as many maps I think.
Also, apparently there is a full text translation of Brewitt-Taylor's version that also uses the pinyin system uploaded on
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. So that might even be the best option if you want the older style but don't want to get confused with how the names appear in the video games.Hope that helps anyone who's interested in the story. ^_^
