I picked this up several years ago and, after recently re-watching the TV series, finally got around 6to reading it.

It's a lot of fun.

This is the abridged version of the story and it zips along very entertainingly indeed. This novel captures the beginning and end of the tale and, I strongly suspect, that much of the abridgement has happened with regards the journey itself. That said, we do see several highlights -- some of which were quite familiar -- and the characters of Monkey, Tripitaka, Sandy, Pigsy and the Horse come across very effectively.

This version of the story is fun, funny and well worth a read.