Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - The Water Outlaws

"I only mean that as yet, our advancement has not come at the expense of men. But it shall. It must. There is not sufficient room for us otherwise. Our true success will mean some of them lose power...and that will not come without anger and fear. "

"Then we should slow its progress. A tidal wave spread over many generations becomes a gentle flow, and either one gets to the end. "

"A flow! You mean a trickle."

"Even a trickle can wash away a mountain eventually. "

The Water Outlaws is a gender spun retelling of the Chinese classic novel Water Margin. And a hefty one at that. The author doesn't once shy away from talking about the hard things in this book. Which can make this book a little jarring in places but it is also important. Because even though this is set in the past, a lot of its topics still has baring on our modern days.

The above quote shows how this book starts. Our main character Lin Chong believes that if she follows the rules and keeps her head down, she will be respected and be kept out of harms way. Unlike younger females she sees who are naive. It isn't right if it happens to them but changing your behaviour is a must to survive. That is until she finds that despite her perfect behaviour and older age, she is sexually assaulted by her superior. The thing that she was trying to protect her friend from by coming with her, now happens to her. And when she does end up fighting, she gets accused of treason.

That whole scene of the sexual assault. All the thoughts that Lin Chong had. It perfectly illustrated why most women won't tell about sexual assault right away. Why they don't just kick back or slap a hand away. Because the power always lays with the men or the position above you. Because if you slap that person away they will slap you. Because if you don't lie down and be silent, they will threaten your family or take away your job. Sexual assault isn't just physical. It is also psychological. A mind game that the assaulter plays on you. And it is society that says, stop complaining, stop whining. It is not that bad.

'How could civilization be rotten to its core and still function?'

It is also a story that champions women, feminism. There are women that are strong, smart and capable of being leaders. It was interesting to see that Lin Chong's friend, who championed feminism the most, was the one that ended up giving out on her principles when put on the spot by someone higher in power. Yet Lin Chong changes to wanting to throw out a tidal wave. Because in the end, when you are forced into a corner, sometimes you have to lash out.

I would have rated this book 5 stars but it took slightly too long to get to the end. And I wasn't particularly happy about that scene of cannibalism and revenge. I understand the revenge, not everyone is pretty in anger. But the cannibalism was a step too far for me.

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adventurous challenging hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense

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

4.5

This book is a gender spun retelling of the Chinese classic water margin, in which anti-heroic bandits rise against the tyrannical government on behalf of the common people.

For me there was a lot to love about this book, the anti-patriarchal sentiment was always going to appeal to me. But the complexity of the tale, woven with excellent world building and great characters is what really made it shine. I think my favourite character is Lu Da the flower monk, funny, loyal and sweet, but also a bit of a big oaf. I also like the way in which the LGBT+ characters are introduced is so sweet, wholesome and generally … normal. As it should be.

The book follows the character of Lin Chong, Master arms instructor to the imperial guard, a woman with a high level of moral values, who is brought to question her own ideals when she sees the corruption of the government and is forced to join the Liangshan Bandits.

Without giving away a whole ton of spoilers it’s hard to say much else. Some people may find it hard to follow, due to the sheer number of characters and I would suggest including a character list as a PDF as some audiobooks do (This number of characters is in keeping, or even cut down from the original Water Margin. I looked up the Water Margin character list which is pretty similar and found it helpful as a reference.)

In some ways it reminds me of Daughter of the Moon Goddess due to the Chinese folklore influences. If you have read and enjoyed that or similar, I am sure you will love this.

Emily Woo Zeller was an excellent narrator, I remember her from Under The Heavens and I would definitely keep an eye out for more audiobooks narrated by her as I think she has a really soothing voice, but also the character voicing and emotion in the reading is fantastic.

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