Reddit reviews Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel, Part 1

The legends derived mostly from one of the 4 great classical novels of China; the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. All of the four novels had massive impact on Eastern Asian culture (for instance Songoku of Dragon Ball is a derived story of Sun Wukong of the Journey to the West.)

Focusing on the Three Kingdoms:

It is a romance written by Luo Guanzhong during the Ming dynasty, a thousand year after the historical events. This is why the actual historical value of the novel is somewhat fishy, but why did it have such a great impact on Eastern Asian culture? It's because this novel paint the events as not only the struggle between kingdoms, but the adventure of several charismatic characters (the three brothers, Caocao, Zhu Geliang/PangTong, The Sun Family etc.)

More than a simple adventure it is a total immersion in classical Chinese culture tainted with confucianist morals; such as friends' loyalty (where Guan Yu would never betray his brother), the filial piety (where one of the general said that one who cannot protect his mother can hardly protect his country). And of course the Art of War from Sun Tzu is omnipresent (the strategic details of battles are just amazing).

If you are really interested in reading the novel, there is a good translation of it done by Moss Roberts, it is one the foundation of a continent history and this is why you can still find nowadays many mention of it in Korean, Vietnamese or Japanese cultural goods.

If you enjoyed Journey to the West, I'd also expect it to recommend Water Margin (a.k.a. Outlaws of the Marsh), Three Kingdoms (a.k.a. Romance of the Three Kingdoms), The Tower of Myriad Mirrors (a.k.a. A Supplement to Journey to the West), Quelling the Demons' Revolt (a.k.a. The Three Sui Quash the Demons' Revolt, a.k.a. The Sorcerer's Revolt), or (if you enjoy short stories), Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.

For each of these, I've generally linked to the translation that I understand to be best, though I'm not an expert. But regarding Quelling the Demons' Revolt, I've linked to an upcoming translation by someone well-known for their translations of 17th C. Chinese literature. Its previous translations are very different, because they're based on different texts--a shorter "original" and a later version doubled in length by a similarly famous writer--and I'm not sure which of those the new translation will be based on.

Anyway, Dream of the Red Chamber is one of the Four Great Classical Novels along with several of those listed here, but if you enjoyed the wild adventure elements of Journey to the West, I think you'd want to know about these others too. On the other hand, if Dream of the Red Chamber's plot appeals to you, then you should know about The Plum in the Golden Vase--I'm nearing the end of volume four (out of five) at the moment, and it has been an amazing read.

For English, you can't do better than Moss Roberts' unabridged version. There is an abridged one. Don't get that.

Here are the Amazon links for the correct edition:

Vol. 1

Vol. 2

I don't know about Kindle, but the paperback version you want is the green and blue edition that says "Complete and Unabridged" at the top. It comes in two volumes. Amazon links: Vol 1, Vol 2

Unfortunately, my knowledge of these periods is all over the place, and they're mostly Chinese and Japanese language books.

For a very semi-fictionalized and romanticized version of the Three Kingdoms, there's the epic novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong, English translation on Amazon here by Moss Roberts, great way for Three Kingdom beginners to get a feel for the period before delving into further study. (Not unlike how ancient Greek buffs are introduced to the Illiad and Odyssey)

For the Sengoku period, there's War in Japan 1467-1615 by Stephen Turnbull.

For the Meiji resotration, there's The Making of Modern Japan by Marius B Jensen. Sort of overlaps with the end of the Sengoku era.