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Empire Of Dragons (2006)

Empire of Dragons (2006)

Book Info

Genre
Rating
3.71 of 5 Votes: 2
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ISBN
0330438263 (ISBN13: 9780330438261)
Language
English
Publisher
pan books (uk)

About book Empire Of Dragons (2006)

2009/8/26看到一半我才醒悟,本書原名《Empire of Dragons(龍的帝國)》,主角根本不是封面封底內頁所提的那支羅馬前三頭同盟時期的失蹤軍團,作者Manfred發揮狂想,故事從故事的兩百年後開始講起,原本尚稱有趣,但是自從第160頁所謂的「中國王子」現身後,調性開始荒腔走板,擔綱主演的「中國」,竟是最不入戲的黑心花瓶。「有個傳說是這樣的,如果漢朝到了存亡之際,這些『魔鬼傭兵』會從他們的墳墓復甦,為漢朝打出最後一場戰役。(頁250)」也許你會覺得《功夫熊貓》很好看、很有趣,但是當一本「歷史小說」對古中國的認識仍停留在卡通電影般的刻板程度,我實在笑不出來,我不由得猜想,身兼考古學者的Manfred恐怕是考古考到六七零年代的成龍電影去啦(或者有邊寫邊玩電動《翡翠帝國》的可能),書裡所描寫的「架空中國」,跟《功夫之王》的可笑程度相差無幾。Manfred哩嘛幫幫忙!不是藉虛構角色唸唸歷史教條,就叫作「歷史小說」啊!2009/8/27最後百頁不禁越讀越怒,霹靂叭啦啟動快速翻頁模式,果不其然,後頭是好萊塢娛樂片的那一套,本書惡搞中國的程度不比《七龍珠:全新進化》差。在洋鬼子眼裡,東亞病夫是病則病矣,然個個有功練,王室貴族更是不世出的奇才(奇也怪哉,王子比奴才還能打,那要御林軍幹嘛)。洋鬼子混入功夫帝國之後,三兩下就能打趴當初驚訝不已的武林高手,成功救援身負絕技的「中國王子(或公主)」,然後武功蓋世的大惡人出場,把好人幫統統一網打盡,Manfred東拼西湊,先抄一點《臥虎藏龍》,再把羅馬競技場給搬到洛陽(可笑的是,鼓勵人民以競技為榮的風氣,封建專制的中國是絕不贊成,打著打著打到官府頭上怎麼辦),最後連網路遊戲才會出現的「吸收隊友傷害」技能都躍然紙上,不禁三嘆,這就是義大利考古學者的水準嗎?

The book was enjoyable at the beginning, where the author is in his element. The Roman characters are believeable and you feel like you're part of the story. It's when they arrive in China that things start to go down hill.Others have already mentioned the use of 'Eastern mysticism'. It is cliched and doesn't give the characters any depth. In fact, it does the opposite, turning them into stereotypical 'kung fu warriors'.Clearly the author has no idea of the history of the Three Kingdoms. China was not a united 'Middle Kingdom' during this period; the name 'Three Kingdoms' should've tipped the author off, so I don't know why he would throw 'Middle Kingdom' into the book. Hell, there's even a map of the different kingdoms at the beginning of the book!Dan Qing is not a historical Chinese prince. The Three Kingdoms were Shu, Wu, and Wei. They were ruled by the Liu, Sun, and Cao families respectively. The dynasty preceding this period was the Han Dynasty, ruled by the Liu family. The name 'Dan' does not even appear in historical records.I'm well aware that this is fiction, but if it's going to be historical fiction, the author should've at least tried to research the era he chose to set his book in, not ignore it completely. It's almost false advertising - I pick up a book purportedly set in the Three Kingdoms, get all excited about it, and end up disappointed when the author used it just because he needed some random Chinese setting.And a tiny little nitpick: The Chinese name for the Roman Empire has a mixed spelling of pinyin and Wade-Giles. It should either be Tachin or Daqin, and since the rest of the book uses pinyin, Daqin is correct. I do not know where the 'Guo' comes from, but maybe someone else can enlighten me.Edit: Guo in fact means 'state' e.g. Zhongguo (literally Middle State). While Daqin is more commonly used, I have seen one example of Daqinguo being used on an ancient world map. So there you have it!

Do You like book Empire Of Dragons (2006)?

Hmm what do i say, the story is about a group of Roman soldiers who are taken captive to someplace in Persia and enslaved and then they escape from there meet an Indian merchant and then travel all the way to the Indus and from there to China to help a prince reclaim his throne from a eunuch usurper (since when did eunuch’s become emperors). Awful lot of mumbo jumbo about Chinese meditation and stuff, so finally the hero kills the eunuch falls in love with the prince’s sister and then they retur
—Sam

Directo de mi blog:Hace una semana terminé el libro de El Imperio de los Dragones, de Manfredi, que trata sobre unos soldados romanos que por defender a su emperador, Valeriano, terminan presos trabajando en una mina, pero logran escapar y terminan en un viaje no planeado hacia China, con la promesa de poder regresar si protegen al emperador.Los romanos pasan por muchas penurias y ataques inesperados sobreviviendo gracias a su entrenamiento romano, hasta que encuentran la forma de superarlos, y el único sobreviviente termina por encontrar los vestigios de la Legión Fantasma que años atrás había desaparecido de los anales romanos y se presumía que habían sobrevivido. El comandante romano determina la defensa del emperador chino e inicia un romance con la hermana de este.La novela está muy bien narrada, con un excelente manejo de los idiomas, especificando si se está hablando en latín, persa o chino y sobre todo, deja cabos sueltos para la secuela. El regreso del romano y la promesa al emperador dan pie a que siga vivo durante esta novela y pone la mesa lista para la siguiente.El autor del libro, escribió otro (que no recuerdo como se llama) pero de la cual se basó la película de La Última Legión. Me gustó el enlace de los acontecimientos y personajes históricos (reales) con la trama y personajes creados por el autor. El contraste de las culturas china, persa y romana conviviendo en todo momento te deja una percepción empática hacia lo que siente el protagonista y hasta dan ganas de haber vivido en aquella época.Por todas las razones anteriores, le doy una calificación de 9, ya que el único punto que creo que estuvo exagerado fue la gran habilidad de los chinos voladores... en pelicula estará bien, pero para el libro como que no tanto y la forma en que se salva el protagonista en una batalla no se entiende muy bien. Pero está buena
—Superiu

I enjoyed this more than the 'The Lost Army' by Manfredi but I think it's the subject matter that brings these books down for me. I'm just not that interested in that period in history. I'm much more of a medieval/european royal families kinda gal. Still I did not stuggle with this one like I did with the book mentioned above but I didn't fly though it either. The plot is quiet good even if I was a bit confused towards the end. I didn't understand why it was okay for a roman solider to be in love with the princes sister but it wasn't okay for the other guy? But the whole journey and the escape form the mines were pretty good. I liked the main character and was sad when the other Romans died. They came so far only to be caught up in another countries mess. The battle with the clay soliders at the end was pretty impressive also. Overall for me, this was just okay but you'll get more enjoyment out of this is you have an interest in the Romans.
—Redfox5

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