Reviews

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

Only show reviews with written explanations

lilymouse's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

Gorgeous

rebeccazh's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

3.5 stars. This novel felt so familiar. The vernacular English, the beliefs around gods and ghosts, the family culture, even the apps are things I experience in my daily life and it is novel and fun to see it in prose form. Jess deals with ghosts and gods as the stakes escalate and secret after secret about her family unravels, and in the backdrop is her worries about coming out. The book started out strong but the middle dragged a bit. The cast of characters is colorful and Ah Ma turned out to be my favorite for her sheer force of personality. The ending is satisfying as Jess figures out how to stop Black Water Sister.

crimsoncor's review against another edition

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4.0

Fun fantasy novel set in modern day Malaysia. Interesting to see that world through the eyes of a chinese-malaysian author, writing about the religious beliefs of the region. There wasn't anything particularly memorable about the story but it was enjoyable to read and definitely took a couple of unexpected swerves as it went.

book_keeper3's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5

evieburrows's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 stars

theglossreview's review against another edition

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4.0

The writing is stunning and the audio book narration is fascinating. I cannot go up to five stars because the book didn’t have a life changing impact on me, but this is a matter of personal significance. The only objective fault is that the book is too graphic. It needs many content warnings. Apart from that, the story and writing is flawless.