The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water

A quick, light-hearted, and entertaining romp through a unique fantasy world inspired by Malaysian culture, lingo, and wuxia dramas. An easy 5 stars for me, for so many reasons.

Guet Imm accidentally incites and gets involved in a coffeehouse brawl that loses her her job as a waitress, so she decides to fall in with the gang of bandits, led by Lau Fung Cheung and Tet Sang, who had began the brawl defending her honour. She is also a votary of the Order of the Pure Moon, a nun inducted into a Buddhist-esque religious faith. Although falling in with Lau's gang had been an impulse decision, Guet Imm isn't so sure that the Goddess of her Order isn't sending her on a mission along the way.

As a Singaporean, I was already strongly impressed and pleasantly surprised in Chapter 1 of this book. For those who may not be familiar with this region of the world, Singapore and Malaysia are geographical neighbours and share a lot of history and culture - and slang. I had gone into this book expecting an East Asian/Chinese-inspired setting which would've been par for the course for such a premise. But instead, I was treated to something completely unique in all the fantasy/wuxia books I've read - and something so unexpectedly close to home.

Being ethnically Chinese, I enjoy reading East Asian or Chinese voices in literature as the closest approximation to my own lived experience. But being born and raised in South-East Asia, which has a very populous Chinese diaspora, my actual lived experience is very much different. I never expected to see anything close to that because it's so niche. Order of the Pure Moon is the first time I've ever felt seen in a fairly mainstream fantasy book that's entertaining in its own right and isn't just about history or politics. The vernacular used by the characters (the syntax and some jargon) is common in this region, known as Malaysian or Singaporean-English, and is what I use on a daily basis to everyone around me. I just never expected to read it in a book like this, wielded in dialogue by wuxia-like characters. It's an amazing feeling to finally feel like these characters are just like you and speak like you - something I had never even entertained any hopes of reading in mainstream lit.

Aside from all of this, Zen Cho builds a compelling world that's clearly inspired by an immediate post-WW2 Malaysia, with thinly veiled historical references like the Protectorate being colonial Britain, the Yamatese occupation being the Japanese Occupation, and the Reformist probably being an approximation of the Communist guerillas. The book also had a surprisingly nuanced take on LGBTQ+ characters and relationships; it never felt like the topic was shoehorned in for diversity points, or that it was put on some kind of pedestal to be objectified. Gender fluidity and identity is dealt with in a sensitive manner - it never felt like the author had an agenda to promote, but was simply put across like a matter of course, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

My only issue with the book was that the ending felt a little abrupt, although to be fair the characters' stories are unlikely to come to any final conclusion while the war in the background is still ongoing. This is one of those uncommon books where I wouldn't have minded if it had gone on for another 400 pages, or if it had developed into a whole series.

This is my very first time reading anything by Zen Cho, and I'd certainly be checking out more of her works.