Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water is a novella by Malaysian writer Zen Cho. The story is captivating and fun, telling of a group of bandits joined by a nun of the order of the Pure Moon. The novella is expertly crafted. I admire how Cho guides the readers through her narrative, how she distributes information cleverly to introduce details about the setting, to slowly unfold the job the bandits are on, and step by step unveil the depth of the characters. It all fits together in the most entertaining and satisfying way. What I loved most are the characters and the joy and energy with which their personalities are portrayed – including the respectful handling of queerness. When the story found its natural conclusion, it left me wanting for more. The setting is influenced by mythic China and wuxia, but also by the Malayan Emergency, a guerilla war in the late 1940s and 50s against the colonial British rule of Malaya. Just from reading the book I wouldn‘t have known, to be honest, since I know nothing about the history of Malaysia. But the novella made me wonder what the historical inspirations were; and Cho‘s website provided this snippet of information. (Thanks!) While I couldn’t have put a name to it, again due to me ignorance, at least I wasn’t fully surprised by the variant English spoken by the characters. It is Malaysian English, probably in its colloquial form of Manglish, so if the grammar feels wrong to you, congratulations: You’re learning a new language! That said, there are no difficulties for readers used only to British or American English. I never had a problem understanding it, while I guess I would have understood much less if the text had used the full range of Malaysian English. So no worries: Without knowledge of Malaysia, wuxia, or Manglish, The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water is still easy to enjoy. And enjoy it you will! zencho.org/books/the-order-of-the-pure-moon-reflected-in-water/

I read this as a part of the #SFFBookClub for March. I voted for this book largely because I had enjoyed Zen Cho's Sorcerer to the Crown and wanted to read more from her.

To sum up the book, it's a wuxia novella that follows a bandit group along with ex-nun Guet Imm. Guet Imm in the first scene loses her job at a coffee shop because of said bandits and insists on joining said gang.  Very queer; some gender stuff going on; the gang itself is sort of a found family that sticks up for each other even when they don't get along.  It's hard to talk about too much more without getting into spoilers. It's far more about characterization and shifting identities due to wartime loss than about magical fight scenes.

I was not expecting to find this book so funny and to have such great banter.  Guet Imm is an optimistic force of nature whose personality carries the book.  Her dynamic with the grumpy Tet Sang and amused Fung Cheung made the book a lot of fun.  She shows up to the group of bandits and insists that she's joining them despite being already paid off, despite not being able to cook, and also despite making it very clear that she will not sleep with any of them.  This sort of dynamic continues elsewhere where Guet Imm innocently and irreverently inserts herself into situations (fully knowing what she's doing) while everybody else is amused or exasperated.  (Although they are definitely not the same character, I think there are some personality vibe parallels with Prunella from Sorcerer to the Crown here, which probably added to my enjoyment.)

If I had any complaint, I feel like the focus on banter and main characters left some of the other place and character details out of focus.  One amusing example is the scene where Guet Imm shows up to join the group and multiple bandits are introduced out of thin air.  There's an ongoing conversation, and Ah Boon (never mentioned before) tries to flirt with Guet Imm.  A few conversation beats later, Fung Cheung says "oh you can ask Rimau about religion" and Rimau (never mentioned before) chimes in.  Then, Fung Cheung mentions Ah Yee's cooking and Ah Yee (also never mentioned before) chimes in a reply.  Maybe this is supposed to be an intentionally comedic clown car introduction of the bandit troupe (or some trope that went over my head), but it took a reread to make sure I understood who all was even in the scene.

Overall, I enjoyed this a lot.  Would recommend.

A mild fantasy novel apparently set in Peninsula Malaysia, the story tells of a nun from the Order of the Pure Moon who decides to join up with a gang of bandits (who prefer to call themselves 'roving contractors') after a fight at a coffee house where she was working, when one of the bandits backs up her version of events that lead to the fight.

For much of the story, the fantasy elements remain muted, but the characters, their banter, and the situations she and the gang end up in drive the story. But things start to change when the nun discovers what the bandits are trying to sell to a third party. When the sale goes sour due to her intervention, a different plan is proposed by her, and this is where the story starts to give out twists to the characters, revealing that some bandits are not what they may appear at first, and also that she may also have been more than just a nun in the Order and that it may have granted her more than the normal abilities to see and affect the world in the usual ways.

By the end of the story, more is revealed about her frightening powers, and she has to make her own way in the world again, but she may not be going alone.

An interesting, light fantasy tale that starts off sounding like a tale of a misfit trying to fit into a group but ends up being another kind of story, revealing it to be a tale about relationships and different genders that feels quite normal in the context of the tale,

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water explores faith, sacrilege, and reverence in the midst of a silent war. Beginning slowly with a truly fantastic second half that ties everything together, make some room for this novella on your TBR.

The tone is very light and the story feels fun at first, laughing in the face of danger in a dark time. The dynamic of a tightly-knit group hesitantly absorbing a newcomer works really well. It’s short but it packs a lot of story and excellent character work into a small volume. As the reader becomes more comfortable with the characters the tone gets more serious. It's also possible that I missed some of the ways in which it was more serious from the start, and really I was getting more comfortable with the story and gradually realizing what it was doing. It lingered in some uncomfortable moments in a good way, a lot of the tension is due to interpersonal drama that is somewhere between joking and deadly at any moment. The focus gradually narrowed to being about two members of the group finding an equilibrium with one another while still managing the macguffin. 

For the first third or so of the book I thought it was good, but I wasn't sure yet why a friend of mine had recommended it so highly. Then, just before the halfway mark, something clicked and the story went from pretty good to really amazing (I know exactly what did it, I just can't say because of spoilers). The second half is just so satisfying and this book is great. A quick read and a very good one.

Like a lot of people here, I was absolutely drawn in by the gorgeous cover. Let's just take a minute to admire it before I continue.

I'm not a stranger to the wuxia genre, and I was looking forward to more over-the-top wuxia fun based on the blurb. What I got instead was unexpected, but not unwelcome. Instead of kung fu moves and long, drawn out, bombastic fight dialog, we get a surprisingly quiet and thoughtful story about motives, relationships, theology, and what makes a family.

The plot brings the relevant characters together quickly. We meet a host of side characters that are never fully fleshed out but provide some amusing fireside moments and some conflict, and there's enough unexpected moments to keep my interest. The author even incorporates some LGBT themes in a thoughtful way, which is unexpected for the wuxia genre.

Other than the side characters not being fleshed out well, I also felt that the book was light on details in general. Descriptions are brief, jargon is used but requires context to understand, and some of the character developments take place more rapidly than maybe is believable. It is a novella, however, so I found it easy to overlook.

In short, this was a fun, quick read that I enjoyed for reasons I wasn't expecting when I started it. I won't spoil the ending, but I found it both touching and satisfying.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this novella in exchange for an honest review.