The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang

Pages: 496 

Publisher: Solaris 

Released: 17th of August 2023 

Inspired by a classic of martial arts literature, S. L. Huang's The Water Outlaws are bandits of devastating ruthlessness, unseemly femininity, dangerous philosophies, and ungovernable gender who are ready to make history—or tear it apart.

In the jianghu, you break the law to make it your own.

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.

What I Have to Say 

I enjoyed this book a lot, though I found it a bit slow. I also found the names sometimes a bit confusing as there were a lot of them and  some of them were very similar but by focusing on just the main characters, I found it wasn't too hard to keep track. It was just some of the background characters I had to remind myself who they were the few times they came up. 

I found the Liangshan beautiful from the start. It was wonderful that they had somewhere for those betrayed by the empire to come together for a fresh start, where any past lives or crimes were forgiven and they were able to fight for a better future. It was great to see a group of mostly women and also a group where transwomen were just accepted and seeing solely as women and not anything else. 

I really really liked the ending. I wasn't sure if it was going to end happily or not. I could see it going both ways. But the way it ended was just an absolutely perfect message of hope, justice and just so fitting for all the characters. 

4 stars 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Solaris for providing me with this copy for review. 

 

Dragonfall by L.R. Lam

Pages: 448 

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton 

Released: 2nd May 2023 

Long ago, humans betrayed dragons, stealing their magic and banishing them to a dying world. Centuries later, their descendants worship dragons as gods. But the 'gods' remember, and they do not forgive.

Thief Arcady scrapes a living on the streets of Vatra. Desperate, Arcady steals a powerful artifact from the bones of the Plaguebringer, the most hated person in Lumet history. Only Arcady knows the artifact's magic holds the key to a new life among the nobles at court and a chance for revenge.

The spell connects to Everen, the last male dragon foretold to save his kind, dragging him through the Veil. Disguised as a human, Everen soon learns that to regain his true power and form and fulfil his destiny, he only needs to convince one little thief to trust him enough to bond completely–body, mind, and soul–and then kill them.

Yet the closer the two become, the greater the risk both their worlds will shatter.

 What I Have to Say 

This was definitely the dragon book I wanted. I loved the plot and the way that the dragons were described, I loved the shape shifting, both the dragon's different forms and the shapeshifting that the humans could do with their magic. I loved the magic system and the dangers that come from it. I just loved everything. 

This book was so inclusive as well. Not only was one of the main characters genderfluid, but there was also mentions of hearing loss and a commonly known sign language as well. Not only that but I was intrigued by the honorific They pronoun and how no one's gender was assumed until they said it themselves! 

The plot was good. A nice heist and the run up to it, even though the emphasis was on the two main characters bonding. It could have been really boring, but the way it was written meant there was always some action to be had. 

If you like dragons and queer representation, look no further!! 

4 stars 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with this copy for review.