Weidong Chen

Received from publishers Myrick Marketing and Media via NetGalley this is a graphic novel in ebook format, read using Adobe Digital Editions. The book does translate well onto a Kobo, but with this style of ereader only showing black and white, all colouring and related impact is lost

At the start of the book, and each significant chapter there is a brief summary, putting the story into context about who the significant players are etc. The volume covers some historical stories in China from approx 200AD - westerners of a certain age group will remember earlier tellings of "Monkey" (Japanese program of an older Chinese tale) and similar straight Chinese programs.


This is book 7 in the legends cycle, Bei Liu and his brothers are reunited in their fight against Cao Cao, and they muster forces to fight him. However, despite overwhelming advantages in terms of number of troops, the group is only as strong as their weakest link, and the brothers and their commanders fall into a trap that sees their plans fail - despite having nearly 1 million soldiers, only a few hundred return alive.

The panels are light and generally uncluttered, with blues and greys the primary colour scheme. This marks a difference with Western graphic novels that are often dark and cluttered. However, there is still a level of death and violence in the stories that would make this inappropriate for younger children.
… (més)

Received from publishers Myrick Marketing and Media via NetGalley this is a graphic novel in ebook format, read using Adobe Digital Editions. The book does translate well onto a Kobo, but with this style of ereader only showing black and white, all colouring and related impact is lost

At the start of the book, and each significant chapter there is a brief summary, putting the story into context about who the significant players are etc. The volume covers some historical stories in China from approx 200AD - westerners of a certain age group will remember earlier tellings of "Monkey" (Japanese program of an older Chinese tale) and similar straight Chinese programs.


This is book 7 in the legends cycle, Bei Liu and his brothers are reunited in their fight against Cao Cao, and they muster forces to fight him. However, despite overwhelming advantages in terms of number of troops, the group is only as strong as their weakest link, and the brothers and their commanders fall into a trap that sees their plans fail - despite having nearly 1 million soldiers, only a few hundred return alive.

The panels are light and generally uncluttered, with blues and greys the primary colour scheme. This marks a difference with Western graphic novels that are often dark and cluttered. However, there is still a level of death and violence in the stories that would make this inappropriate for younger children.
… (més)

This Chinese story is quite interesting but the artwork is a little disappointing, some of it reminiscent of 1960s English comics. It concerns various characters on the run from the authorities in medieval China for various reasons and moves from one character to another, concentrating on their tale.

The writing style is simple and the English is stilted and awkward, probably from the translation

Enjoyable enough as a simplified version of the book, a little like the old Classics Illustrated of my youth.
… (més)