The show is from a wuxia novel trilogy by Louis Cha. This is a very big deal in the Chinese-speaking countries and so piqued my curiosity. I recognized a lot of the terminology since I used to play a text-based MMO called Kung Fu Knights way back when on the Kongregate site. A lot of the places, people, groups, etc referenced the novels; there were some concepts I recognized from my martial arts training as well, like how incorrect internal training could cause afflictions to descend upon one's mind and body.
There have apparently been previous versions of this TV adaptation. I can't say anything about those, but I have already watched the first nine-and-a-half episodes so far. As far as I can see the world is along similar lines as what you'd find in "Le Morte d'Arthur" - it's an idealized place where martial virtue is paramount and there's always derring-do and intrigues. In "Le Morte d'Arthur" it's chivalry in terms of feudal knighthood while in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" it's chivalry in terms of Eastern Asian martial arts and Confucian values.
I remember reading "Le Morte..." back in high school. For a book about the Arthurian legend it was a remarkably dry read. The really big events can be listed in a page or two; in between each event you get mind-numbing tales of knights fighting mysterious warriors who seem to have been gifted with powers, knights fighting other knights, knights getting it on with supposedly chaste women, ad infinitum. I really cannot imagine the kind of mind that would be able to gain entertainment from such a work.
Louis Cha's novel probably benefits from being a more recent work; plus the above series has been calibrated to appeal to modern audiences. Just please don't come in expecting anything amazing with the fight scenes beyond coordinated posing.
The world-building is really top-notch. So much so that I feel like it's not a place I would ever want to be in. Why? Perhaps it's how the scriptwriters decided to tackle the project, since there seems to be a lot of deconstruction of the concept of jianghu. From what I have seen so far, disciples' lives are completely at the whim of their master; people avenge the slightest insult with duelling; honoring whatever virtue requires someone dying or maiming themselves; antagonists die earlier than the protagonists - but if the mains become Heroes of Another Story expect that they will die a violent death.
I'm debating with myself whether I want to continue watching past the first half of episode 10. A character who started out bad was humbled and seems to have turned a new leaf and even got himself a fiancee, but because of the massive difference between his past and current circumstances he gets tempted to reverse his change. I mean, if it were me I'd have seen from a mile away the difficulties that character will experience adjusting to his new station. And why is it no one in this setting seems to bother trying to find a way to provide for their family? It's always martial virtue this or martial skills that; every hot-blooded male seems to think that this is enough to put food on the table - until they get separated from their non-warrior wives and the latter have to fend for themselves. And even the one who got the coveted title "Best in the World" - as one character puts it - was still mortal; he died.
I guess the me right now, sees the fantasy for what it is.
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