The Water Outlaws

"The Water Outlaws retells the fourteenth century Chinese novel attributed to Shi Nai’in, The Water Margin . It begins with the viewpoint of Lin Chong, a rare female arms instructor, who quickly receives an infuriatingly unjust criminal sentence. From multiple viewpoints we are then drawn into two worlds, the ministers of the Empire and the rebel bandits who oppose them – and the complicit pawns stuck in between. Magical elements – gods teeth, dark demons and alchemy – are present, but these are only one kind of technology in a whole tool belt, and the most terrifying blows are often dealt with metal spikes and fists. The Water Outlaws never slows its pace. Huang makes it clear early on in the novel that horrific things can and will happen to people in this world, and are difficult to predict, depending as they do on the whims of the powerful. This ensures your rapt attention at every half-sign of danger. The bandits are loveable and varied, the villains truly teeth-grindingly villainous. In her forward warning readers of the themes to come, Huang concluded: “I hope this is primarily a joyous, toothy escapist adventure, one in which a group made up almost entirely of women and queer folk – who are in equal parts devastating, powerful, righteous, and terrible – stand up as self proclaimed heroes to tear the world asunder.” She succeeds."