It took me a long while to finish this, but not because of a lack of interest. It's remarkable how this 500 year old Chinese classic manages to be so many things at once. It's a fictionalized account of the pilgrimage of the historical monk Xuangzang, an argument for the superiority of Buddhism over Daoism and Confucianism, an allegory of enlightenment, and a fantastical tale filled with monsters, magic, and amazing characters that reads like an unhinged DnD campaign.

While I appreciated the lengthy introduction and the many helpful footnotes, a lot of the information went way over my head and was difficult for me to get through. This translation is clearly aimed at the serious student of Chinese literature and religion, not the average reader like me. Still, as it's the only unabridged English translation available, it's the best option if you want to get the full story. And once I resigned myself to missing much of the context and stopped googling everything I didn't understand, I could appreciate the story for what it was.

The structure of the story took some getting used to, as it started with a lot of long backstory about Monkey and Tripitaka before turning into a monster-of-the-week episodic adventure once the actual journey began. Now that the gang's all assembled though and the journey is in full sway, I'm looking forward to more banter, ridiculous fights and monkey business (pun intended) in the other volumes.