Guardian Novel Read-along!

[trobadora]

Starting 9 November, sid_guardian is hosting a read-along of the Guardian novel by priest. Each week someone will post a few excerpts to start things off. Feel free to pop in and join the discussion, whether or not you're keeping up with our reading schedule.

Fans of the novel, the drama, or both are very welcome! We expect we'll talk about the adaptation and do a lot of compare-and-contrast.

What: read-along of Guardian by priest, starting with volume 1
When: weekly, starting 9 November
How much: two chapters per week
Where: sid_guardian
Who: all Guardian fans, novel and drama, as well as anyone who just wants to give it a try.

Hands up, who's willing to host a week?

Schedule
9 Nov - prologue, chapters 1 & 2: china_shop
Weekend of 15th Nov - chapters 3 & 4: trobadora
Weekend of 22nd Nov - chapters 5 & 6: cathyw
Weekend of 29th Nov - chapters 7 & 8: jayfire
Weekend of 7th Dec - chapters 9 & 10: circumference_pie
Weekend of 14th Dec - chapters 11 & 12: china_shop
Weekend of 21st Dec - chapters 13 & 14: trobadora
Weekend of 28th Dec - chapters 15 & 16: tehfanglyfish

Comments

[marquisguyun]

This sounds fun! I own the English volumes and started reading the first one but got distracted. Having assigned chapters might get me back on track!

[trobadora]

Yay! Same for me, tbh - I partially read the fan translation years ago, and I've been meaning to properly read it for ages. Now's the time! *g*

[china_shop]

Yayayay! \o/ I'll take 9 November. :D

[trobadora]

Yay! Got you. :)

[circumference_pie]

Can we still join the discussions if we choose to read it in Chinese?

[trobadora]

Of course! Read the original, read any available translation, it's all good. And it would be especially great to have someone here who reads the original and has that perspective!

[yaaurens]

Oh, I hope I have enough brain to join in with this and actually keep up!

[trobadora]

That would be awesome, fingers crossed! :D

[china_shop]

Only minimal brain required! ;-)

*cheers you on*

[yaaurens]

I joined an anniversary re-read of one of my fave books and have managed.... very little, haha. (I suppose I could technically still catch up and end with the group)

Maybe since it's a new translation I'll be a little more motivated to keep up with it!

[china_shop]

Ha, I know exactly what you mean. I'm hardly online at all atm, which doesn't help either. But I'm going to make an effort with this. Hope you manage to find the wherewithal to join in, whether regularly or sporadically. <33333

[jayfire]

This sounds so fun!! I've been thinking about rereading the novel for about week now too, so this is perfect timing :D
This will also be my first time reading the official translation and I'm excited to read a physical book instead of the google doc on my phone haha
Also! I can host the one for November 29th ^_^ (I've never hosted anything on Dreamwidth before so I want to get a couple examples of hosting posts first)

I do have a question though! For the prologue, is that the first chapter, with Guo Changcheng arriving at Bright Avenue? Or is that the prologue on Buzhou Mountain with Shennong and Kunlun? (asking because I didn't think the prologue got included in the official translation, but maybe it did and my copy just doesn't have it?) Sorry if this is a silly question 😅

[china_shop]

Yay, awesome! So happy the timing works so well for you! :D :D :D

And woohoo, November 29th is all yours. \o/

Not a silly question at all. We meant the prologue in the official translation, with Guo Changcheng arriving at Bright Avenue. Shennong doesn't get mentioned until chapter 13. (Now I'm curious about that other prologue, though!)

[jayfire]

Okay okay! Thank you!! I was 98% sure that's what it meant, but a little part of me was like "what if it's the Shennong one though?" so figured I'd check! Thank you :D

[china_shop]

No problem at all! Thanks for asking -- it's good for us to know about the other one. :D :D :D

[trobadora]

Excellent timing indeed, yay! :D

And thanks muchly for the pointer about the prologue! Yeah, like china_shop says, the official translation starts with a prologue that is GCC's arrival; I didn't realise (remember?) there was another one. Very good to know!

[jayfire]

Yeah!! There is another one, but I think most fan translations didn't include it because it was added later. I think priest only added it in when Guardian first went to print? I'm also not sure if it ever got added to jjwxc (which might explain why it's not in the seven seas tl?), but it is included in both of the simplified chinese print versions I have! There was also a fan-translation of it at one point, I could see if it's still kicking around, and then share the link if I do find it?

[trobadora]

Thank you! That's fascinating, so it was added for the print edition? I wonder if it was ever translated at all, do you know? It doesn't seem to be in the fan translation I have, anyway.

[jayfire]

I knew there was a translation of it somewhere, and I found it! The translation is available here on Google Docs, translated by twitter user @/alyson_trash

[trobadora]

Thank you so much, you're a star! ♥

[trobadora]

I'll take the 15th, then. :)

[china_shop]

\o/!!

[ride_4ever]

Gah. The copies in my library's system start with Zhen Hun 2, not with 1.

[trobadora]

Oh no, that is frustrating as well as strange! Can you talk to them about it?

[ride_4ever]

This is from a search of my state-wide library system, too vast an entity for me to talk to them about it.

Maybe I should just go purchase the whole series. Three volumes?

[trobadora]

Yes, it's three volumes total. (Very pretty too, I have them on my shelf.)

[tehfanglyfish]

Hooray! This looks like so much fun. Thank you for hosting it.

I'm happy to take weekend of 28th December if no one else wants it.

[trobadora]

Yay! Got you, looking forward to it all! :D

[ride_4ever]

I'm confused about there being "two" prologues. Should I be starting with the one provided by jayfire in the Google doc or starting with whatever is at the beginning of volume one of the hard-copy?

[jayfire]

I asked about it in my comment (sorry didn't mean to confuse others too) and china_shop and trobadora both confirmed that it's the prelude chapter at the beginning of volume one of the hard copy!! In the hard copy, the title has "Bright Avenue" in it. The one I shared can be read for fun if you want to as like a fun bonus chapter/an extra, but the prologue mentioned in the reading schedule is the one at the start of the hard copy :)

[jayfire]

Also tbh, the one I shared might even be a bit confusing if you haven't read the novel before because it dives straight into the mythology side of things, and then none of that gets revisited again for a long time 😅 it's definitely an interesting way to start the book, but it might be a bit confusing without some of the context that comes from later chapters

[trobadora]

Yeah, maybe we can add it to the read-along when we get to the extras? If we make it all the way there, LOL.

[ride_4ever]

Thank you kindly for clarifying!

[trobadora]

We're going by the official translation, so we're starting with the prologue where Guo Changcheng arrives. Thanks for asking! ♥

[ride_4ever]

So, I got orders in for all three volumes, but the one that arrived first is volume two. *sigh*

Am I going to be left at the starting gate and remain there while others go through the prologue and chapters 1 and 2 tomorrow? Like, is the read-along in real-time and then it moves on or can I go back to it and "late-participate"?

[china_shop]

Oh no! How unhelpful! :-(

The read-along is in real time, but late participation is absolutely okay and welcome!! (But I'm going to PM you.)

[ride_4ever]

TYK! <3

[china_shop]

♥

[trobadora]

We move forward every week, but a) discussion here isn't in real time, so it won't all happen on the 9th but stretch out over the week, and b) the old posts don't close - discussion there can continue, or be picked up again, at any time. So jump in anywhere when you can! ♥

[ride_4ever]

That it's over the course of the week, not just one day, good to know! The post about the schedule looked like one day for the start and then a series of weekends.

So -- since I'm a newbie here -- I need just a little bit more guidance. Will a post go up here at the start of each new round of discussion so I know when that chapter's discussion has started?

[trobadora]

The days/weekends on the schedule is when the next post goes up - all the discussion on the week's chapters takes place in the comments to that post.

[ride_4ever]

Thank you kindly, trobadora!

Now I got me some Guardian reading to start doing tonight and tomorrow!

[cathyw]

if we don't have a host for next weekend (chapters 5 and 6) yet I can take a crack at it.

[trobadora]

Yay, thank you! You've got it. :D

[cathyw]

it occurred to me as I'm prepping my post for tomorrow that it might be a good idea to have each week's post linked in the schedule above, instead of having each week link back to the previous one(s). That way everyone can just link to this post.

[trobadora]

That's a good idea, I'll add the links!

For all previous readalong posts, you can also link to the !readalong tag.

[circumference_pie]

I want to claim 7th Dec.

[trobadora]

Yay! All yours. :D