A review by swalk
The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang

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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