A Bond Undone

Starred review from February 1, 2020
This second installment in the translation of Yong's Condor Heroes series picks up where A Hero Born (2019) left off, following Guo Ji and his new friend and love Lotus as they escape the palace of Wanyan Honglie, the sixth prince of Jin. Meanwhile, the prince's son and heir learns that he is actually the son of Guo Ji's martial arts master uncle, Ironheart Yang, and becomes torn between the tragic fate of his birth parents and the wealth and privilege of his adoptive father. The novel follows Guo Ji and Lotus primarily as they travel throughout the martial world or jianghu, encountering various masters, such as the beggar king Count Seven Hong and a now-blinded but still deadly Cyclone Mei. Guo Ji pursues not only his quest for vengeance for his father and others killed by the Jin but also seeks to win the approval?or at least avoid the wrath?of Lotus' father, the powerful lord of Peach Blossom Island. While the huge cast of characters with ever-shifting relationships remains a little dizzying, this classic and influential novel is an essential read for anyone interested in the wuxia genre or in the countless works across various media derived from its action-packed martial universe.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)