The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang

Lin Chong is an expert arms instructor, training the Emperor's soldiers in sword and truncheon, battle axe and spear, lance and crossbow. Unlike bolder friends who flirt with challenging the unequal hierarchies and values of Imperial society, she believes in keeping her head down and doing her job.

Until a powerful man with a vendetta rips that carefully-built life away.

Disgraced, tattooed as a criminal, and on the run from an Imperial Marshall who will stop at nothing to see her dead, Lin Chong is recruited by the Bandits of Liangshan. Mountain outlaws on the margins of society, the Liangshan Bandits proclaim a belief in justice—for women, for the downtrodden, for progressive thinkers a corrupt Empire would imprison or destroy. They’re also murderers, thieves, smugglers, and cutthroats.

Apart, they love like demons and fight like tigers. Together, they could bring down an empire.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

7/10

This book has a great opening, and a pretty good ending. I liked the characters, and it was a nuanced and imaginative take on the Water Margin. I do feel it was way too long, it definitely could have been cut down in some places. The fights were entertaining, but I found some of the dialogue very stilted.

Ultimately, glad I read this book as its an interesting experiment, but it wasn't a favorite.

DNF@38%

This book wasn't bad at all but it put me in a huge slump that I've been in almost 2 months now. I keep trying to get back to it but nothing pulls me in. My friend has just finished it and based on their thoughts it seems like it's just better to let this go.

I will say that the story was interesting and I wanted to love it. Lin Chong was interesting to follow, and she was the only reason I wanted to continue. I felt like her inner conflict and having to adapt to a lifestyle and values that were the opposite of what she is used to would've made a really good read. I really enjoyed what I have read of her. On the other hand, Lu Da was absolutely annoying and I genuinely hated reading the book whenever she was on page, which might've been why I didn't feel the pull to go back to the book. The way the narrator did her voice was awful too, which didn't help.

This book follows Lin Chong, a once-arms instructor for the Emperor, who gets branded a criminal based solely on the untrue word of a government official. She falls in with a group of bandits who have a code of justice to protect those less fortunate, and though they do many good deeds, they're all still criminals, traitors, and cutthroats, so Lin Chong struggles daily with reconciling her old life with her new one. This book also (in the middle stretch, at least) follows Lin Chong's friend li Junyi, who gets voluntold by the Empire to work on harnessing a weapon--manufactured Gods' Teeth. Chapters are dedicated to her viewpoint as she works through creating a small team to meet the demands, researching and testing the weapon, and finding out her best friend is working for the other side.

I very badly wanted to like this book, especially since it starts out really strong in my opinion, but the middle chunk of the book felt too oddly paced, and focused too much on Ii Junyi. The ending was strong, but I mentally struggled to keep my attention in the middle stretch of the book. I also feel like the cast of characters was entirely too large, and while Lu Da's character was necessary to be Lin Chong's other half (so to speak), I personally didn't really care for her personality.

The writing was really strong though, I just had a hard time with the actual story being told.