Yilin S’s Reviews > The Journey to the West, Volume 3 > Status Update

A significant moment in Journey to the West is the death of the Mirror Lake Maidens. Throughout the series, the traveling group was protected by 7 major deities, 15 minor deities and all the nearby nature forces; with the death of the Maidens, heaven retracts many of the gods from protecting the group and forbids them access to temples. With the main characters being Buddhist, this places them in grave danger.

A significant moment in Journey to the West is the death of the Mirror Lake Maidens. Throughout the series, the traveling group was protected by 7 major deities, 15 minor deities and all the nearby nature forces; with the death of the Maidens, heaven retracts many of the gods from protecting the group and forbids them access to temples. With the main characters being Buddhist, this places them in grave danger.

Journey to the West has an admiring tone, with sections of critical that run throughout. Most of the book is action scenes that detail just how incredible all the characters are; Wukong never looses a fight and Sanzang is the perfect diplomat. On the other hand, it did have views on gods that made them more human, showing that even the most perfect on the surface, such as Sanzang, were stubborn under the surface.

If I could tell Sanzang anything, I would tell him to never trust Pig and only trust Sun Wukong. Repeatedly, a main conflict is Sun Wukong knowing what to do and Pig was there to lead Sanzang astray, for no reason other than pride. Sun tells Sanzang to avoid the Lotus Pond because of the freshwater demons on the bottom, but Pig is a glutton, and wants lotus roots, so Sanzang blindly follows Pig to his capture again.

The book is liner, showing a passage of time from an omniscient point of view. The reader knows the inner monologues of the characters, how Sanzang is opposed to Monkey’s theft of the Moon Chalice, yet Monkey thinks it to be the greatest plan he’s made by far. The story is fairly episodical, with a repeating pattern of Sanzang getting captured, Monkey and Pig argue before Monkey kills somebody to retrieve Sanzang.

The author writes Journey to the West as third person omniscient, knowing the emotions of all characters to all times. “He [Monkey] was very pleased with himself.” (1). “Sanzang was very pleased with the suggestion...” (32). It shows both perspectives and their personal opinion, we understand that Monkey as pleased after killing the Rain Demon of the Mountain and Sanzang was pleased at the idea of boiling his magic.