Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Black Water Sister

I picked this book up because it was on a LGBTQ+ book list, and I was excited to read about a POC main character. I originally had rated this book as 4 stars, but after some thought I knocked it down to 3.75 because I needed more world building for some of the aspects of the story. The story is very solidly written! I am so happy to have read this book and broadened my horizons! I think I can say this is my first book set in Malaysia and actually explores the culture. There was so many things I got to learn just from reading this book and being inspired to Google more information. However, from a story standpoint, I think there were some points where the author should have given more detail or expanded the characters' stories.

The story really focuses on Jess, her struggles, and obviously the Black Water Sister (the main story plot), but there are a lot of off hand mentions of things that were instrumental to the story, but weren't expanded upon. As well as, ALL the focus was on Jess. Thinking back to the large cast of characters, some of them weren't needed to move the story along or in the story at all, there function could have be carried out by someone else more established in the plot. After reading the story and thinking over a couple of days, I have so many questions to the author about the decisions she made writing this book. I am thinking back to all the plot points and I feel like many were rushed.

However, Zen Cho has a writing style that I really liked and kept me engaged throughout the whole book. It did take a little getting used to (because not everyone speaks English as a first language), but I do think that made the story true to life. It was a necessary and important aspect of the story and I probably would have found it strange if it was not written that way. I liked the way Zen Cho resolved the Black Water Sister, and at the same time I wish there was more meat to the closure of that chapter for Jess. All of the fear and haunting that the Black Water Sister did of Jess and then suddenly gone.

Ultimately, I would recommend this book because it is so different and I don't think many people have read a book with Malaysian and Chinese myth basis. But, I really do wish that there was more world building and a longer timeline to the story.

Content Warnings