Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Black Water Sister

It isn't often a pick up a contemporary fantasy, and it's even less often I find one so truly enjoyable. Cho's prose has a natural unassuming quality that delivered like a blow to the gut- what a delicately executed tale of generational trauma.

Content Warnings

mairielle's review

Go to review page

emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

anaccbram's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

hazeyjane_2's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous inspiring medium-paced

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

3.0

A solid enough journey through the eyes of an ABC Malaysian. Jess is an intelligent heroine, albeit one who fits the model minority stereotype, which I am getting heartily sick of reading about. I did appreciate that she was out of her depth in Malaysia, but she still seemed to accomplish things a bit too easily. I found the titular character and her story much more compelling than either Ah Ma or Jess.

Excellent cultural backdrop, great Manglish I could hear in my head and bonus points for not translating. Also plus points for featuring all characters of colour. I was expecting a somewhat scarier and more adventurous book, similar to The Ghost Bride, but this one was bloated around the middle. It could've been shorter around the middle.

I appreciated that the lesbian romance wasn't made a central point of the book, but was mentioned incidentally.

Content Warnings

gigireadswithkiki's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional medium-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? Yes

4.0

"Black Water Sister" has made me realize how woefully ignorant I am of Malaysia and the Malaysian diaspora!!! I loved all the content about Malaysia from the folklore to the customs to the cuisine, expanding my knowledge of the vibrancy of the country. Jess and her grandmother Ah Ma were super interesting characters to follow along with, and I enjoyed Ah Ma's constant commentary, which reminded me so vividly of my own grandmother. The messages on intergenerational trauma were done masterfully, evoking feelings of teary-eyed healing and self-righteous justice.

My only gripe is how the conclusion of the gentrification in the story felt way-laid in favor of the family dynamics, even though gentrification plays a very large part in the overall story, to the point where it felt the conclusion was, "gentrification is bad but some gentrification is okay to prevent even bigger gentrification from happening". This facet of the ending didn't sit too well with me, but otherwise I enjoyed the book for it's lively characters and well-paced plot!

Content Warnings

More...