There are some stories that are just so good that, even centuries later, we still tell them. We still tell the stories of Achilles and Odysseus, Beowulf and Hamlet, Scheherazade and Mulan. Regretfully, I wasn’t familiar with the stories S.L. Huang retells in The Water Outlaws beyond knowing that the characters are gender-flipped retellings from the Chinese Classic Water Margin. Now that I’ve read this action-packed story of impossible odds, I hope Huang brings us more from China’s literary tradition. Gosh, it sounds so stuffy when I say it like that! I blame the fact that I work with academics and read their articles all the time. The Water Outlaws is the opposite of stuffy. It’s a wild ride full of supernatural martial arts, injustice, alchemy, friendship, and so much more.
We meet Lin Chong on an ordinary day, as she works with her small class of women studying martial arts. Lin Chong is a respectable woman who holds the position of master arms instructor in the Imperial Army, a rare post for a woman, and she’s fought for everything she has. We even get to see how when a new recruit, Lu Da, shows up thinking that she already knows everything she needs to know about fighting thanks to the god’s tooth she possesses. Even though a god’s tooth allows its user to access incredible strength, speed, and stamina, it doesn’t make people invincible—as Lin Chong quickly proves. We also get to see Lin Chong as a fiercely loyal protector when she learns that her friend, Lady Lu Junyi, has a meeting with a man who should never be left alone with a woman. Unfortunately for Lin Chong, her protective instincts land her in prison on a trumped-up charge. It’s the first injustice we see, but it’s far from the last in The Water Outlaws.
The further we get into The Water Outlaws the more we—and Lin Chong—learn that the great Song Dynasty has gone rotten. After her attempts to keep Lady Lu safe lead to her banishment, Lady Lu rescues Lin Chong right back by dispatching Lu Da to snatch Lin Chong from her sentence at a distant labor camp and escort her to Mount Liang, where she can hopefully live out her days in safety. This might have worked if the man Lin Chong insulted hadn’t been one of the Emperor’s favorites. Or if the man hadn’t been the sort to never let anything go. Or if the people on Mount Liang hadn’t turned out to be an amazing band of woman bandits who aren’t afraid to steal from the only man in the Imperial government more insane that the one who threw Lin Chong in prison.
There is far too much in The Water Outlaws to sum up. My last two paragraphs barely take us out of the first few chapters. Suffice it to say, the plot of this book is relentless. Huang kept me breathless as Lin Chong’s new companions cook up scheme after scheme to keep themselves safe when they are targeted by the vindictive might of the Imperial army. They might have been bandits when they started but the women and non-binary folk of Mount Liang transform into something like freedom fighters, especially when their poet-in-residence turns her pen to telling their story to the people at large. How can we not cheer for an underdog? Especially when they have right on their side?
The experience of reading The Water Outlaws was utterly captivating. Honestly, I could barely put this book down as I read it because I just had to know how Lin Chong and the rest managed to get out of yet another possibly fatal predicament. Huang’s retelling is so rich, so full of interesting characters, and so packed with spectacular fights that I think any other reader will be just as hooked as I was. I can’t praise this book highly enough.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.