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odunayo_y's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
3.75
Short and sweet. An entertaining Wuxia inspired adventure story. I appreciated the casual queer representation. Major kudos for the transmasc-spectrum character to be older and stocky.
The conflict resolution was strange. It was a bit convenient how everything wrapped up but i would not say it was convoluted.
The little bits of worldbuilding were delightful. The Goddess’s Five Fingers was such a cool magic system a shame it only made an appearance towards the end of the book.
One major issue I had was the dialogue. One moment the characters will speak in a period appropriate manner the next it was joss whedon like millennial humor. Not only do I despise millennial cringe speak the tone was just off.
The conflict resolution was strange. It was a bit convenient how everything wrapped up but i would not say it was convoluted.
The little bits of worldbuilding were delightful. The Goddess’s Five Fingers was such a cool magic system a shame it only made an appearance towards the end of the book.
One major issue I had was the dialogue. One moment the characters will speak in a period appropriate manner the next it was joss whedon like millennial humor. Not only do I despise millennial cringe speak the tone was just off.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Cursing, Deadnaming, and Death
Moderate: Colonisation, Gun violence, and Misogyny
Minor: War and Xenophobia
blacksphinx's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Violence, Deadnaming, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Transphobia, War, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Racism
You know that thing that happens sometimes as a woman where you make it very clear to a man that you will not have sex with him, and he says that's fine and he understands? And then later reveals he's been seething with resentment this entire time about it, and accuses you of sleeping around with other men, and shows that your friendship means nothing to him because you won't have sex with him? Yeah. "Found family" book my ass.chalkletters's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
In addition to being a book club book, The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water was recommended on a list of queer heist novels. I’m glad I read it for book club, and not as a fan of heists, because it’s really notwhat I want from that description. There are bandits, yes, and (debatably) stolen treasure and negotiations, but little of this is the result of forethought or organisation.
Putting aside heist-y expectations, Zen Cho’s world-building is lovely. The religious Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water has a great name, and the details about the goddess and her followers are spread through the story, building up a background which feels significant and convincing. Without giving anything away, the religion-specific compliments and treasures were a really nice touch.
Zen Cho’s pacing worked well, until the very end, which felt a little abrupt. While there had been hints about the relationships between different characters, these didn’t really have enough time to build before they were suddenly impacting the plot in surprisingly big ways. To a reader used to enjoying novellas, this might not be a problem, but in comparison to a full-length novel it felt somewhat light. While the prose of The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water didn’t stand out, it was pleasant enough, and a longer novel would be enjoyable.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder and Gun violence
Minor: War, Abortion, and Death
emily_mh's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
The shining star of this book is definitely the MC, Tet Sang. His narrative voice and internal world were great to follow as a reader. I also thought that the world-building was fantastic, especially considering that this is a novella. However, something about this read fell short for me overall. I think it either needed more plot tension, or more character development.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Deadnaming, and Transphobia
Minor: War, Drug use, Gun violence, Body shaming, Animal cruelty, Ableism, Violence, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor warnings for gambling, theft, loss of a loved one, menstruation, deportation, capital punishment, bestiality. Moderate warning for mass death.literaryliaisons's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, War, and Violence
Minor: Deadnaming
thereaderfriend's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Wish that there were some more explanations of things and explorations or characters. Plot was consistent, I liked that. Enjoyed that Guet Imm was a guide to one of the bandits (arguably should be called rebels). Discussed many topics well. I enjoyed it. Liked the spiritual and fantastical elements and how it was a side of the story, not the focal one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Deadnaming, and Death
Moderate: Sexism, Misogyny, and Gun violence
Minor: War and Genocide
aardwyrm's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Skillfully sketched, immersive world in a slim volume, which is always nice, drawing on both real-world parallels and genre staples to do the lifting and really focus on the delightful characters. When you have a band of guys (soldiers, actors, office employees, whatever) it's very easy for all but the main ones to become a morass, but all the goofy secondary bandit guys have character of their own and help the leads really sparkle. Asks hard questions and doesn't really answer them. Cool martial arts action. Excellent time all around.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Violence, War, Colonisation, Sexual harassment, Deadnaming, and Gun violence
lacee's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Deadnaming
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Genocide, Sexual content, Blood, and War
bluejayreads's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This is a confusing little book. Not so much in the story, but in the details and context that aren’t actually in the story and that I only found while researching for this review. So there’s two parts to this review: What I thought of what’s contained between the covers, and the context that somehow didn’t end up in the book itself.
The Book
This book is very short – just under 4 hours in audiobook form, 176 pages according to The StoryGraph. It reads a lot more like a long fairy tale or folktale than a novel or novella. There is no urgency to the plot, the story is straightforward with only two minor events that could even be possibly considered twists (only one of which actually affects anything), and the characters are brief sketches more than fully realized people.
I think part of the problem was trying to pack so much into so little. This book is so short that there isn’t a lot of space for developing anything, and yet there is some kind of East Asian vaguely-fantasy setting, Guet Imm the nun and 4-6 bandit characters (I can’t remember how many exactly), and a journey plot that takes the group from where they met Guet Imm to a town to sell some goods and then to a third town to meet with a person. None of it gets fleshed out because there just isn’t time.
That said, I did actually enjoy this book. I’ve read a fair number of folktales, and reading it like a folktale – without the modern novel expectations of worldbuilding and character development and such – it was fairly enjoyable. It deals with a lot of heavy topics but doesn’t have enough development to get too serious, and the characters are fine to follow around without getting invested enough to feel too upset when they get hurt. It’s not the kind of book that becomes a favorite, but it was a perfectly acceptable reading experience.
Things I Learned While Researching For This Review
When doing my usual preliminary research for this review, I discovered Zen Cho’s website, where I learned there is some depth and context to the story that somehow didn’t make it into the book itself.
To start with, the back cover describes it as a “wuxia fantasy.” Wuxia is a Chinese fiction genre, so I assumed that the story was set in China, despite Gwet Imm not being a Chinese name. However, according to the author, the book is actually set in Malaysia – specifically during the Malaysian Emergency, a guerrilla war between the British and Malaysian independence fighters between 1948 and 1960. Which explains several things:
- The jungles that they keep walking through, as there are a lot more jungles in Malaysia than China.
- The “secret war” (obviously guerrilla warfare now that I have the context) that is mentioned but never encountered.
- The soldiers who are a different ethnicity from the native people and do things like destroy temples and genocide people.
- The “bandits” who are native people and part of the secret war by hiding in the jungles and attacking the soldiers.
I wish this book had been longer. With this context, there is so much that could have been done with the story that just didn’t happen. I didn’t even put together that there was a guerilla war going on in the background, let alone that this was a people fighting for their independence from a colonial power. Heck, I didn’t even work out that this was set in Southeast Asia and not some fantasy version of China. The limited length of this story did it a disservice, and there could have been so much more depth and interest to this story if it had been allowed to expand beyond sketches of characters on a simple delivery quest. I liked the story for itself, but now that I have the context and see what it could have been, I find myself disappointed by the lost potential.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Blood and Deadnaming
Minor: War, Genocide, and Sexual harassment
madarauchiha's review
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜 my about / byf / CW info carrd: uchiha-madara 💜 💙 💚 💛 🧡 ❤️
What fun witty banter excellent plot and characters!! I enjoyed this slice of life adventure in this universe a lot. I only wish it was longer or that there were more in this universe / series. It's so fun!! I'd love more asian sci fi and actually familiar culture!!
The way it touched on war and colonization, and how to save one's own culture and selfhood felt authentic in ways only actual authors of color can write it. I hate traumaporn about wars but this isn't that. This felt like knowing horrors are unfolding day to day and not knowing what to do about it, even if you wanted to. It's complex and I'm trying not to spoil it too much. There is compassion in how this story conveys daily life during civil unrest.
Content warnings:
minor whorephobic language,
medium castration jokes, demolition, arson, menstruation, beastiality jokes,
major guns, religious persecution, wars, misgendering [but not malicious?], transphobia,
What fun witty banter excellent plot and characters!! I enjoyed this slice of life adventure in this universe a lot. I only wish it was longer or that there were more in this universe / series. It's so fun!! I'd love more asian sci fi and actually familiar culture!!
The way it touched on war and colonization, and how to save one's own culture and selfhood felt authentic in ways only actual authors of color can write it. I hate traumaporn about wars but this isn't that. This felt like knowing horrors are unfolding day to day and not knowing what to do about it, even if you wanted to. It's complex and I'm trying not to spoil it too much. There is compassion in how this story conveys daily life during civil unrest.
Content warnings:
minor whorephobic language,
medium castration jokes, demolition, arson, menstruation, beastiality jokes,
major guns, religious persecution, wars, misgendering [but not malicious?], transphobia,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, and Transphobia