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A review by melcanread
Black Water Sister by Zen Cho
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
It's so difficult to find original stories nowadays, because everything has already been written. But this book was definitely a breath of fresh air bringing in a brand new storyline I had never even considered before. It is a beautiful blend of traditional and modern, as well as shining a light on Malaysian culture and religions.
I liked that it was normalising LGBT+ relationships while also highlighting the struggles of being in one, while also not making it the main focus and the entire character's personality. There were layers to each of the characters that made them real. Believable. We all know people like this. People who are heavily superstitious, religious to a fault, people who don't rock the boat for fear of ruining current relationships.
I liked that there was no specific bad guy per se, no Disney villain to be defeated, because there was humanity in pretty much every single character. You could understand where most of these characters were coming from, why they made the decisions they made. Even if those decisions were somewhat unrealistic for every day life. Although, this does come from a white woman who did not grow up in Malaysia, so maybe some of their actions are normal and I don't know enough about the culture.
I think my main gripe that I had with this book, and the reason I didn't give it 5 stars was because at times the writing was unclear. Because this story relied on multiple backstories, it was easy to get lost in who's backstory was whose. And there was no clear divide as to what was happening in the main story vs what was extra information or hallucinations caused by... well, whatever it was caused by (trying not to give spoilers).
Another issue that I had was that, yes, while the characters were wonderfully written and somewhat realistic, it felt like some of the characters were forced to do what they did, if that makes sense. It didn't feel like an obvious choice to be made, or even a natural one. It felt like Zen Cho had taken these characters flaws, put them on steroids and charged forward which did kind of flatten them a bit and take me out of the moment.
However, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It was a beautiful story, and very gripping. I absolutely recommend it to anyone who is interested in traditional Asian cultures and paranormal stuffs intertwined with religions.
I liked that it was normalising LGBT+ relationships while also highlighting the struggles of being in one, while also not making it the main focus and the entire character's personality. There were layers to each of the characters that made them real. Believable. We all know people like this. People who are heavily superstitious, religious to a fault, people who don't rock the boat for fear of ruining current relationships.
I liked that there was no specific bad guy per se, no Disney villain to be defeated, because there was humanity in pretty much every single character. You could understand where most of these characters were coming from, why they made the decisions they made. Even if those decisions were somewhat unrealistic for every day life. Although, this does come from a white woman who did not grow up in Malaysia, so maybe some of their actions are normal and I don't know enough about the culture.
I think my main gripe that I had with this book, and the reason I didn't give it 5 stars was because at times the writing was unclear. Because this story relied on multiple backstories, it was easy to get lost in who's backstory was whose. And there was no clear divide as to what was happening in the main story vs what was extra information or hallucinations caused by... well, whatever it was caused by (trying not to give spoilers).
Another issue that I had was that, yes, while the characters were wonderfully written and somewhat realistic, it felt like some of the characters were forced to do what they did, if that makes sense. It didn't feel like an obvious choice to be made, or even a natural one. It felt like Zen Cho had taken these characters flaws, put them on steroids and charged forward which did kind of flatten them a bit and take me out of the moment.
However, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It was a beautiful story, and very gripping. I absolutely recommend it to anyone who is interested in traditional Asian cultures and paranormal stuffs intertwined with religions.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, Blood, and Homophobia