The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water

by

Hardcover, 158 pages

English language

Published June 23, 2020 by Tor.

ISBN:
978-1-250-26925-6
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4 stars (22 reviews)

A bandit walks into a coffeehouse, and it all goes downhill from there. Guet Imm, a young votary of the Order of the Pure Moon, joins up with an eclectic group of thieves (whether they like it or not) in order to protect a sacred object, and finds herself in a far more complicated situation than she could have ever imagined.

2 editions

Malaysian bandit action adventure

5 stars

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 …

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water

4 stars

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 …

A nice fantasy tale with a Southeast Asian setting.

3 stars

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 …

Review of 'Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

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 …

Review of 'Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I flew through this novella.

I loved everything about it: the setting, the characters, the language.

The stunningly beautiful Fung Cheung visits a coffee shop where he witnesses an altercation between a handsy customer and a waitress. He intervenes, defending the woman – wrecking the place and getting the waitress fired in the process. Cheung's ugly companion, Tet Sang, pays the waitress and the cafe owner for their troubles. Only he gets more than he bargained for when the waitress decides to join their gang.

Review of 'Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

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 …

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