Rating: 
Summary: Not for casual reading
Review: I'll admit, I purchased this novel because of the addictive Playstation 2 games put out by Koei that are based on the Three Kingdoms story and characters. Even being relatively familiar with the characters and plot, I found the novel to be very difficult to digest, if only because hundreds of characters are introduced (and often killed or left behind) every few pages. The storyline is vivid and interesting, and this is an excellent novel. This version is very helpful due to extensive endnotes and a preface and afterword that fleshes out the background and meaning of the novel. I would recommend it to anyone who's interested in political and military adventures, but you should be prepared to invest substantial amounts of time in reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary Epic Novel!
Review: If you have ever played any of KOEI Dynasty Series games, then you are familiar with the Han Dynasty and some of the Chinese History. If you were interested in knowing more than what you did in the video games, then this book is for you. This is an awesome epic novel, sweeping the history of Chinese history. All of the characters that are in the Dynasty Series game are here for our further knowledge. Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Lu Bu, Cao Cao, Cao Song, Dio Chan, Sun Ce, Sun Quan, Sun Shiang San..... the list goes on and on. This story written over a thousand years ago, accurately portrays the lives and feelings of these "heroes". The author is a little swayed by the Shu family, and he seems to favor them, portraying Guan Yu, Liu Bei and Zhang Fei as the most loyal and honorable sworn brothers, with Cao Cao a sort of evil madman. But that is okay, since I never liked Cao Cao in the game anyway. All in all, this is a long and worthwhile read. I would recommend the unabridged version as it is more complete and thorough. You will not be disapointed to see these wonderful characters come to life.
Rating:
Summary: A good book must read
Review: This is definitely good book for people who want to learn history of china and from this book, you can also find some very helpful information and methods in your daily life. You should not only read this book but also you should keep a copy of it on you desk.
Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: I think 3 kingdoms is a different type of novel from the Western traditional style .It doesn't focus much on the personal of characters:their feeling ,thoughts... because it has to deal with hundreds of them.The book itself is a page turner , there are many things which are repeated many times but you nerver feel boring.
In chinese we called 3 kingdoms as 70% facts, 30% myths.The main character is considered Kongming:
--Kongming , a brilliant military leader and politican ,but his talent was exaggerated in the book, in formal history ,his main credit was to save the kingdom of Shu from the Wei's menace.
--Sima Yi :this man is a master schemer,a superb politican and military leader. Sima did not want a total war with the Shu because as long as Kongming ramained a menace to
Wei kingdom , he is still useful with the Cao's family.And by distinguised himself by battles with Kongming , he gradulally gained control of the Wei ,and finally it was the Sima's family who unitied China and declared themself emperor.
--Cao Cao: the Chinese love this man ,his brilliant as well as his ruthless.He was never a king , but one of the most emperor in China's history changed his nickname to Cao Cao , and Mao ZeDong writes poems to praise him. Cao Cao was extremely suspicious :" I would rather betrayed the world than have the world betrayed me". A good comapre to Cao is Stalin.
Rating: 
Summary: Lost in Translation, I hope
Review: First off, I'd like to say I do enjoy this book and the history behind it. I am a history major and plan on being a novelist someday, writing ancient historical-like novels. Thus this, and several other books, are prime for my reading list... but as a general novel I found this book lacking. This is probably because it is translated but I found this book to be choppy as well as lacking in descriptive writing. Sword fights between two major figures last for one or two sentences max. There aren't any vivid descriptions of anything. I'm not someone who needs two pages describing a flower (the worst case of long unnecessary description I've come across), but I would like to know what a character looks like more than just his height, or what a building or city looks like. Surely major battles involving thousands shouldn't start and finish in one or two pages. I suppose that this story could have been twice as long had he allowed descriptions, but I would have enjoyed it a bit more.
Rating:
Summary: 3 kingdoms
Review: probably the most popular novel in china , vietnam , japan,korean...... this is a wonderful book , maybe the greatest book i have ever known.
Seeing some reviews said that Liu Bei is the main hero of the novel ,in China we disliked and considered him a man who know nothing but cry and a demagogue . the most fascinating character must be Cao Cao , the translation missed some quotes of him , and even the famous seven battle of Kong Ming with the barbarian ,of which he captured the rebel's leader ,realesed him ,and then recaptured.....
Even with the best translator there are still some poems, words.... that seem impossible to translate into
english , if you know chinese try to buy this book in chinese.
Rating: 
Summary: Abridged Suggested If You Don't Want To Read Unabridged
Review: I strongly recomend the unabridged version, but if you are overwelmed by how many pages the book has, read the abridged. The only downfall to the unabridged is that many chapters are deleted and the summarys for them aren't that detailed.
Rating:
Summary: Um...Yeah
Review: Excellent Book!- hard to understand if you have never read anything about the three kingdoms before I've played the video games about it so i understood it better Definite buy for a Chinese history fan!
Rating:
Summary: Bilingual? Where?
Review: I ordered this set, and unlike a previous reader, it was not bilingual, but all in English. One great thing about this set is the notes in the back of the book. It explains mysterious quotes, historical figures, and also symbolistic characters that contribute to the development of the Three Kingdoms. One question, for you all: In the notes section, it usually comments on "TS." For example, "In TS (pg 71), Zhao ZiLong said, ...." What does the TS stand for? I understand it is a book that they are reffering to, but what is the official title and who wrote it?
Rating:
Summary: From Playstation to Chinese Literature
Review: Imagine my surprise when my eleven year old son placed a few names from a video game (Dynasty Warriors) into Google and came up with biographies of real Chinese warlords. Investigating I found that the game was based on Chinese Literature, a historical book written in the 1200s about 3rd Century China by Luo Guanzhong. My son promised he would read the book if I ordered it. The book as ordered is printed in China and is broken into four 600 page sections. I did buy it and with his background from the game he sailed through all 4 sections in record time with nothing but high praise. I have read it myself and highly recommend it to anyone. We have also purchased the TV serialized DVD collection, in Chinese with English Subtitles, which is absolutely facinating viewing for those who have read the original books. The DVDs require staying power there are 58 of them put out by Chinese government TV studios. The recording quality and the subtitle errors are a bit of a deterent to all but real Three Kingdom Fans. If you are expecting a slick Hollywood film don't buy the DVDs.
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