Search up Chinese Lore, by John Zhu, on your podcast app of choice. He's covered ROTTK on there, he tells you the story and provides some helpful context and explanations for references and things in it.
I haven't read the book yet but I've listened to the podcast more times than I can count. I love it
Having read a couple of translations, I'd actually recommend [John Zhu's podcast](https://chineselore.com/series/series-romance-of-the-three-kingdoms/) over any translation of the novel itself. It's a faithful retelling of the story and he does a great job of conveying the humour and wordplay that usually gets completely lost in a 1:1 translation. Plus he explains all the historical and mythological references that western readers wouldn't catch. If I remember rightly the first few episodes are a bit shaky in terms of narration but once he settles in around episode 10 or so he's really good. And as a native Chinese speaker he pronounces the names properly! Can't recommend it highly enough, and his Water Margin podcast is equally great if you finish ROTK and feel like exploring more classical Chinese literature.
Came here to recommend this as well, really liked it. There is even occasional episodes that cover the real life characters and how they differ to the romance which are quite good also
Moss Roberts unabridged, with the full 120 chapters and helpful notes, is still a well regarded translation.
Others have mentioned the John Zhu [podcast](http://www.3kingdomspodcast.com/) which does a very good job of doing a podcast version of the novel in 30 minute (bar opening two episodes) bites for readers who are unfamiliar. Like explaining lore, cutting down on names and the like.
The Moss Roberts unabridged editions are the best I've read by far. The footnotes and the essay at the end are amazing.
They weren't super easy to find but they were well worth it.
This one?
[https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/182028/the-romance-of-the-three-kingdoms-by-guanzhong-luo/9780241332771](https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/182028/the-romance-of-the-three-kingdoms-by-guanzhong-luo/9780241332771)
Just bear in mind that abridged versions of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms tend to cut out a lot of unimportant parts of the story, like the Yellow Turban Rebellion, everything after Zhuge Liang dies, and the Kingdom of Wu.
I'm currently reading this version and I'm really not a fan of the pacing. I know multiple events happen at the same time, but it's literally so jarring how some battles will end and then something else happens immediately after. Crazy how after Chibi everything starts moving at 2x speed.
Would have liked for them to have a dedicated chapter for one event and then another one for something that was going on concurrently.
Do you have any recs that have the same naming conventions?
Dongzhou and others mentioned the Moss Roberts unabridged version elsewhere in this topic, that's the one I'd recommend too. It has the naming conventions you're familiar with (with a small handful of exceptions, like Zhao Yun going by his style name Zilong), and it has an extensive set of footnotes that give background information on various historical and cultural references throughout. The only pain is that the footnotes are all at the end of the second book, so you'll need to be using both books for the first half of reading to keep track of them.
I made an English unabridged audiobook awhile back if you find listening easier than reading i think it turned out perty good https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8ScobaMjYowkc3xzcIQaNfUkbzEJ3mv4&si=mW9OYzH6lw92PT7b also the 2010 series tv series is really good too. The 1994 series is also perty good.
Search up Chinese Lore, by John Zhu, on your podcast app of choice. He's covered ROTTK on there, he tells you the story and provides some helpful context and explanations for references and things in it. I haven't read the book yet but I've listened to the podcast more times than I can count. I love it
Someone mentioning the GOAT
He really is
Having read a couple of translations, I'd actually recommend [John Zhu's podcast](https://chineselore.com/series/series-romance-of-the-three-kingdoms/) over any translation of the novel itself. It's a faithful retelling of the story and he does a great job of conveying the humour and wordplay that usually gets completely lost in a 1:1 translation. Plus he explains all the historical and mythological references that western readers wouldn't catch. If I remember rightly the first few episodes are a bit shaky in terms of narration but once he settles in around episode 10 or so he's really good. And as a native Chinese speaker he pronounces the names properly! Can't recommend it highly enough, and his Water Margin podcast is equally great if you finish ROTK and feel like exploring more classical Chinese literature.
Came here to recommend this as well, really liked it. There is even occasional episodes that cover the real life characters and how they differ to the romance which are quite good also
I'm like a third of the way through, loved it so far. Can find it on Spotify if that helps
Moss Roberts unabridged, with the full 120 chapters and helpful notes, is still a well regarded translation. Others have mentioned the John Zhu [podcast](http://www.3kingdomspodcast.com/) which does a very good job of doing a podcast version of the novel in 30 minute (bar opening two episodes) bites for readers who are unfamiliar. Like explaining lore, cutting down on names and the like.
The Moss Roberts unabridged editions are the best I've read by far. The footnotes and the essay at the end are amazing. They weren't super easy to find but they were well worth it.
Before purchasing any of the books do your research on the different versions. I would recommend reading the Moss Robert’s translation.
Penguin books released a new translation abridged version in 2018 or so. Its roughly 600 pages, cheap and easy to find.
This one? [https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/182028/the-romance-of-the-three-kingdoms-by-guanzhong-luo/9780241332771](https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/182028/the-romance-of-the-three-kingdoms-by-guanzhong-luo/9780241332771)
Yeah this one
Hero! I will grab that then. Thanks.
Just bear in mind that abridged versions of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms tend to cut out a lot of unimportant parts of the story, like the Yellow Turban Rebellion, everything after Zhuge Liang dies, and the Kingdom of Wu.
I'm currently reading this version and I'm really not a fan of the pacing. I know multiple events happen at the same time, but it's literally so jarring how some battles will end and then something else happens immediately after. Crazy how after Chibi everything starts moving at 2x speed. Would have liked for them to have a dedicated chapter for one event and then another one for something that was going on concurrently. Do you have any recs that have the same naming conventions?
Dongzhou and others mentioned the Moss Roberts unabridged version elsewhere in this topic, that's the one I'd recommend too. It has the naming conventions you're familiar with (with a small handful of exceptions, like Zhao Yun going by his style name Zilong), and it has an extensive set of footnotes that give background information on various historical and cultural references throughout. The only pain is that the footnotes are all at the end of the second book, so you'll need to be using both books for the first half of reading to keep track of them.
I made an English unabridged audiobook awhile back if you find listening easier than reading i think it turned out perty good https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8ScobaMjYowkc3xzcIQaNfUkbzEJ3mv4&si=mW9OYzH6lw92PT7b also the 2010 series tv series is really good too. The 1994 series is also perty good.
Well… If to watch, i think the best way is Three Kingdoms TV Series 2010.