This novel is a retelling of Water Margin, a classical Chinese novel about the legendary outlaw Song Jiang and his band of outlaws in 11th-century Song Dynasty China. S. L. Huang has made it their own, giving it a gender bent and queer reimagining.
It’s a wuxia story, and my first foray into this genre. My white and American understanding of wuxia is that it is a genre that combines fantastical martial arts with Robin Hood-esque honorable thieves? I feel like there are cultural subtleties that I’m missing, but that’s how I understand it.
Regardless of the historical origins (of which I know practically nothing) and the genre (again, practically nothing) this is a kick-ass story.
The protagonist is a woman named Lin Chong, who (despite being a woman) is an expert martial artist and respected instructor for the Imperial guard in the Song Dynasty capital of Bianliang. This ends when an Imperial Marshall makes unwanted advances on her. She’s easily able to fend him off, but a man so powerful will not meekly accept that kind of denial. So he falsely accuses her of crimes, she’s found guilty and branded, and sent to a labor camp.
From there, she makes her way to the Liangshan Bandits, a mostly-female group of outlaws. But despite their habit of robbing nobles and landlords, the women of Liangshan are loyal to the Emperor and consider themselves as acting in service to the Empire. The Empire is corrupt, and they want to purge that corruption.
Meanwhile, a noted scholar and friend of Lin Chong’s is recruited - like it or not - to help the Imperial Chancellor harness a mighty and dangerous supernatural power.
It’s an exciting story, filled with dramatic fights, defiant last stands, and a plucky underdog fighting to hold back much more powerful forces through determination and clever use of the terrain. Highly recommended.
One last note: Huang opens with content warnings about the attempted sexual assault, graphic violence, and a little light cannibalism. These things are all present, but I want to speak a bit more about the attempted sexual assault. Minor spoilers ahead.
I had an exchange recently with a few people on /r/Fantasy who put the book down after the attempted sexual assault, because they weren’t in the mood or headspace to read a rape story. Between the book blurb and how quickly it takes place, that’s a fair assumption, but it isn’t really what the book is. Lin Chong is driven into exile because she had the audacity to not let herself be raped, but once that happens the story is really about the Liangshan Bandits and their fight for justice. Lin Chong is, justifiably, furious about the injustice she experienced, but the Imperial Marshall who assaulted her isn’t the villain or even really a major character in the story. This is not the tale of a woman damaged by an attempted rape, or of a woman on a quest for revenge.
This is a story about fighting for justice more generally, and eating the rich. Not necessarily literally.