Luo Guanzhong
Moss Roberts (unabridged) · 1991
Moss Roberts's unabridged translation is the standard unabridged English Three Kingdoms — it flows, it's accurate, and it comes with the footnotes and appendixes a 14th-century epic of this scale needs. It's a multi-volume commitment, but it's the whole thing done right. This is where I'd start.
Moss Roberts (abridged) · 1999
If the full set is daunting, Roberts also made a one-volume abridgment — the same fine translation, roughly a quarter of the length. The sensible way to meet the novel before committing to all of it.
Yu Sumei · 2014
Yu Sumei's Tuttle translation balances readability and fidelity — a good choice for a casual first read, in modern pinyin spelling.
C. H. Brewitt-Taylor · 1925
C. H. Brewitt-Taylor's 1925 version was the first complete English translation and is now public domain and free. It's dated — old Wade-Giles spellings (Ts'ao Ts'ao, not Cao Cao) and some errors — but complete and free.
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