Synopsis:
Welcome to Lee Young-do’s epic classic series, The Bird That Drinks Tears. The master of Korean fantasy—often cited as the J.R.R. Tolkien of South Korea—Lee Young-do has created a tale of castles built on the backs of flying mantas, giant birdmen, heartless immortals, and a quest that will change the very nature of the world and its gods, available for the first time in English by award-winning translator Anton Hur.
Three handles one.
The world is divided by the Line of Limit. To the north are the Tokkebi—fire people able to manipulate flames as both weapons and illusions; Rekon—giant birdmen with immense strength and warrior acumen; and the humans—as divided as the other races are unified. To the south are the Nhaga—a reptilian people who relinquish their hearts for immortality. For centuries, the races didn’t cross that line, but change is in the air. A Nhaga is being sent North…and a trio is being dispatched to make sure this agent from the South makes it out alive—one from each race.
But the illusion of a simple journey is quickly dispelled by the fact that the Tokkebi is merely a scholar, not an adventurer; the Rekon is deathly afraid of water; and the human hunts and eats Nhaga. And when the Nhaga they’re supposed to be escorting out of the Kiboren forest is murdered, the one sent in his place turns out to very much have a heart—meaning he’s quite vulnerable to the dangerous exodus.
The four must quickly forge an alliance and shed the distrust and prejudice that plagues them if they are to survive. And just as crucial, they must figure out what this mission is actually about, because unbeknownst to them, the very fate of the world might rest on this one Nhaga making it to the North intact.
A classic not to be missed, The Heart of the Nhaga is epic fantasy at its best, translated into English for the first time ever by award-winning translator Anton Hur.
Review:
Every once in a while, you stumble upon something expected. Last year it was I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, a French-language post-apocalyptic book from a Belgian author that took off 30 years after its initial publication. This year, it’s The Heart of the Nhaga, an epic fantasy from South Korean author Young-Do Lee, originally published in the author’s native language over 20 years ago and translated into English for the first time. Both books provided perspectives I don’t think I’ve seen before and with The Heart of the Nhaga, in particular, I found it refreshing and riveting.
So, a little backstory on The Heart of the Nhaga, and the author Young-Do Lee. Originally published in South Korea in 2003 (after first being serialized on a text-only online service of all places), it became a smash hit in his home country. He has said that he actually doesn’t consider himself to be a writer, but instead a “typer,” as he composes the book as he types it. I’d say a number of Americans can relate to that, and instead of typer, we usually use the term “pantser,” for writing by the seat of our pants. Either way, there are definite aspects of Korean culture and mythology embedded in the story, but I was surprised at the lack of “real-world” allegories in the book.
Lee has commented before that fantasy is better when read as fantasy, and that excessive allegory in the reading could take away from a work’s imaginative value. After reading The Heart of the Nhaga, I think I understand what he means. Obviously we’re all influenced by something in our writing, but if everything we write is simply “x = facism in 20th century world geopolitics or y = women’s liberation,” then what do we do with pure creativity? There are characters and creatures in this book that I can’t find a comparison for in our world, which shows off some pure imagination, in my opinion.
A couple last heads up – in The Heart of the Nhaga, there are no chapters. The book is separated into five parts, but other than that, there are no true section separations. But ultimately that didn’t bother me much, but some can be put off by that. One other thing — to me, it seemed to be written almost as a folk tale. Maybe some of that is the translation (I didn’t read it in the original Korean, sorry!), but I doubt it. There is a gentle cadence to the story, presenting it in manageable pieces as if telling a story to a group of children. But, in true folk story nature, it doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities that sometimes come along as those stories are told.
In the first section, most of the time is taken by setting up our main characters, the main Nhaga himself, Ryun; as well as his rescue party, the human Kagan Draca, a Tokkebi named Byong, and a Rekon called Teenahan. Each race is distinct in their attributes and are fascinating in their own ways. One of my favorite moments in the book was the introduction of Teenahan and the Rekon as a race in their attempts to get to the ancient ruins of a city on the back of a massive skyray that constantly floats and flies through the skies.
Kagan Draca is a fascinating character who has an intricate backstory that we don’t fully explore in this book and I’m absolutely looking forward to the next book in the series when it’s translated and published.
One of the aspects of The Heart of the Nhaga that I stumbled into as the book unfolded is the wry sense of humor. There are some scenes in the final half of the book that you could easily place in a Douglas Adams’ sci-fi comedy or a Terry Pratchett novel. When Draca gets momentarily separated from the party while hunting, we are presented with an absurd scene between Teenahan and a group attempting to crown a new king that gave me a completely new appreciation for Young-do Lee’s writing. While there is action and drama as our group works its way towards safety, there are a few misadventures and turns in the process that add unexpected levity to the sometimes very serious book.
Ultimately, I didn’t know what to expect with The Heart of the Nhaga, and I’m kind of glad I didn’t. Some of the races are so foreign in concept to our own that if you’d told me about them and how they handle aspects of their lives and culture, I might’ve been a little turned off. But, I was allowed to discover them on my own, which let me see the context that Lee put them in without tying them into modern political discourse. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with our group of rescuers and Ryun (who really becomes a part of the group by the end of the story). I am absolutely looking forward to more from Young-do Lee in the future.
Thank you to Harper Voyager for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Leave a Reply