Q1 (Chap 1 - 32) - Question 2

[John]

Three Kingdoms is noted for its vast array of characters - how are you keeping them straight, or are you? Have you adopted any particular strategy?

[Diane]

My edition starts out with a list of characters and their descriptions in the front of the book. I keep finding myself flipping back to this reference in order to keep them all straight. I would be lost without this list.

[John]

I am keeping notes. The challenge is trying to figure out which characters are important enough to keep track of and which you can treat as "another Chinese warlord." Some that seem really significant die in the next chapter, but then others who don't seem so significant turn up again and again. my edition doesn't have the list that Diane's does - that would be like gold. I have three lists I am maintaining: First a list of characters who seem like they may be important, this consists of their name and one or two lines that indicates something about them (who they're related to and what significant action they've done). This list runs about 4 pages so far, Second, for the characters that turn out to be really significant, I have a separate page, with a summary of their significant actions. Of course, in some cases, right after I do that they die. Finally, I have a list of major battles, with a summary of who is involved on each side and the result.

[Diane]

John wrote: "I am keeping notes. The challenge is trying to figure out which characters are important enough to keep track of and which you can treat as "another Chinese warlord." Some that seem really signific..."

I like your idea of listing the battles and who is involved and the result. I suspect there will be many more battles to keep track of in the ensuing books.

[John]

Diane wrote: "John wrote: "I am keeping notes. The challenge is trying to figure out which characters are important enough to keep track of and which you can treat as "another Chinese warlord." Some that seem re..."

Yes, but figuring out which ones are important is tough. Sometimes it seems like a general has suffered a devastating loss and is on the ropes, but within a few months the tables have turned and that earlier battle wasn't so significant. Then there's the riding back and forth across China by the Oath Bothers towards the end of the book - one battle after another, not one of which seems all that significant, but at the end they have a significant army, which is then promptly defeated, and they take refuge with Liu Biao.

[Patrick]

I am just amazed at times to see how easy it was to assemble an army of, say, 50000 soldiers to attack the neighboring chieftain; I suspect that the figures suffered from the same Trump-esque inflation in his estimates of demonstration crowd size. I gave up on trying to keep detailed track of who's siding with who and against who; I'm just focusing on the main belligerents, at least until they die...

[[deleted user]]

I am with Patrick on this one I have given up keeping track of anyone except the peach tree oath brothers and Cao Cao as their stories appear to be the thread that connects everything else.

[John]

Book wrote: "I am with Patrick on this one I have given up keeping track of anyone except the peach tree oath brothers and Cao Cao as their stories appear to be the thread that connects everything else."

And Kungming