The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water (vuoden 2020 painos)

This is a charming tale of derring-do set in a fantasy China in the midst of civil war. It's the bandits mixing with the religious types and the religious types hold all the cards. It's not clear whether their powers depend on magic or training. Mixed in is a bit of transsexual romance which gradually surfaces - as these things have a wont to do. After a few broken necks, the principles live happily ever after. I would have preferred to have a book with more heft to it in terms of plot (more setup) and have characters with a bit more background. But overall lovely and jewel-like. ( )

It’s not easy being a waitress. Ofttimes you’re not appreciated for all the hard work. Make sure you get all the orders right, especially for your most finicky of customers, try to ignore the occasional ogling and pinching of your bottom when you walk away. It’s even more challenging when you’ve just started your job at a coffeehouse and the customer thinks you’re a witch.

Enter a kind-hearted bandit, lose your job, and where are you going to go? The small group of bandits of course. Just invite yourself along on their journey to deliver some items and you’ll figure out some way to help them. It’s definitely not your cooking skills, you’re not going to sleep with them unless they won’t mind you cleansing yourself in the blood of their castration to pay homage to your deity, but at least they smell a bit better after cleaning their clothes.

This Malaysian-infused tale, tranquil at times in its presentation, is filled with beauty, Queer characters, and light-hearted wit. There’s a silent war taking place in the background with unpredictable people, mistrust on all sides, and innocents caught in the middle. The Protectorate seeks to establish its hold over the country and the Reformist bandits are rather getting in the way. Caught up in the fray, the tokong (monastic temples) have been burned and sacked. The Protectorate believes they are aiding the bandits and the bandits think they are being sold out to the Protectorate.

Our stumbling bandits just want their pay to take care of their families and maybe have a little fun on the side. The bandits’ misadventures take them through leech-filled jungles to the home of a wealthy powerbroker to fulfill an honorable quest in an untrustworthy world. One of the bandits, Tet Sang, and the waitress, Guet Imm, are at the heart of this wuxia-inspired tale. As their carefully guarded secrets come to light, they are drawn together and set along a path neither could have imagined. ( )

Novella about a nun who, after the destruction of her order in the ongoing war, joins a group of bandits who are smuggling a treasure. Fantasy elements come from most characters’ belief in the nun’s magical powers granted by her deity (if they exist). It’s reasonably cute though slight. ( )

this is really not my thing - a blend of fantasy and adventure - with bandits and religious orders and fight scenes and light magic. but i was super pleased to find that it seems to be based on chinese folklore and had genderfluid characters. and in the end, while it was still a fantasy adventure, it was more about finding yourself and finding your people. i'm still not the audience for this, but i suspect that those who are will enjoy it. ( )

A lovely story. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but after an initial set-up that seemed to promise a martial-arts & magic-fueled adventure, I was pleasantly surprised by how this turned instead to something character-driven, pondering identity and choice against a background of confused political and religious realities. ( )