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fairymodmother 's review for:
Black Water Sister
by Zen Cho
A Malaysian urban fantasy with sassy grandmas, overbearing family, and all the torqued millennial self doubt a girl could dream about.
CONTENT WARNING:
Things to love:
-The mythology. I think Malaysian lore is so interesting, with all of the different cultures that either naturally or by force of imperialism have mixed in with local traditions.
-The topics. This covers a lot--being an immigrant to the US, being seen as American elsewhere, unhealthy family relationships, the legacy of trauma, being closeted gay...just a lot of stuff crammed into a story of supernatural mystery.
-The dialogue. This was the best part. The author has natural dialogue and different regional speech patterns down.
Things I didn't quite love:
-The MC. I didn't find her an authentic person. Her decisions and crisis points didn't make sense to me. The author tried to address this, but it was a lot of performance simply to get to the next plot point. On top of that, I felt she was sort of...flat, and the only dimensionality she did have made me dislike her. She lies, she gives up, she whines, makes bad choices... She felt like the sort of person who would take and take and take and then when you needed a small word of compassion, she'd take some more.
-The resolution. It felt a bit like a throwaway to me.
-The end. Ambiguous ending with the MC going to do something I think is another bad idea is just a bit of a letdown.
Once again I'm left with what I think is the combo I see a lot lately--a good writer with a great perspective who doesn't quite have a vehicle for the talent they possess. Weaker than the short story collection, but still worth a read. 3.5 rounded down because I rated Spirits Abroad 4 and this was not as good, in my opinion.
CONTENT WARNING:
Spoiler
torture, homophobia, graphic attempted rape, lots of domestic violence, organized crime, xenophobia, religion.Things to love:
-The mythology. I think Malaysian lore is so interesting, with all of the different cultures that either naturally or by force of imperialism have mixed in with local traditions.
-The topics. This covers a lot--being an immigrant to the US, being seen as American elsewhere, unhealthy family relationships, the legacy of trauma, being closeted gay...just a lot of stuff crammed into a story of supernatural mystery.
-The dialogue. This was the best part. The author has natural dialogue and different regional speech patterns down.
Things I didn't quite love:
-The MC. I didn't find her an authentic person. Her decisions and crisis points didn't make sense to me. The author tried to address this, but it was a lot of performance simply to get to the next plot point. On top of that, I felt she was sort of...flat, and the only dimensionality she did have made me dislike her. She lies, she gives up, she whines, makes bad choices... She felt like the sort of person who would take and take and take and then when you needed a small word of compassion, she'd take some more.
-The resolution. It felt a bit like a throwaway to me.
-The end. Ambiguous ending with the MC going to do something I think is another bad idea is just a bit of a letdown.
Once again I'm left with what I think is the combo I see a lot lately--a good writer with a great perspective who doesn't quite have a vehicle for the talent they possess. Weaker than the short story collection, but still worth a read. 3.5 rounded down because I rated Spirits Abroad 4 and this was not as good, in my opinion.