TITLE: The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water
AUTHOR: Zen Cho
158 pages, Tor.com Publishing, ISBN 9781250269256 (hardcover/ebook)
DESCRIPTION: (from the front cover flap): A bandit walks into a coffee house, and it all goes downhill from there. Guet Imm, a young votary of the Order of the Pure Moon, joins up with an eclectic group of thieves (whether they like it or not) in order to protect a sacred object, and finds herself in a far more complicated situation that she could have ever imagined.
MY RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
MY THOUGHTS:
In The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, Zen Cho explores issues of faith, honor, history (and who gets to preserve it), and identity through the lens of a classic magic-infused martial arts genre amid a back-drop of war.
The band of “contractors” (they don’t consider themselves “bandits” regardless of the wanted posters featuring their likenesses) at the center of this novella are a ragtag group who just want to survive the ravages of the long war surrounding them. Like many displaced by war, they are simply doing what they can to support themselves and the loved ones they’ve been forced to leave behind. They are together more by happenstance than any commonality: they come from different walks of life, different ethnic backgrounds. They are the very definition of “found family” at the heart of much of queer literature, and even though we don’t get to know most of them very well (outside of the book’s lead characters and a couple of supporting roles), their support of each other is evident on almost every page.
Speaking of queerness: it abounds throughout, giving us gay, lesbian, transgender and non-binary characters in lead and supporting roles. Their queerness is accepted and open for the most part. In the first scene, a male customer pinches the ass of a male waiter – and the only problem two of the leads have with it is that it’s an unwanted invasion of personal space that needs to be called out. From there, mentions of who the characters may or may not be attracted to are sprinkled in with no extra emphasis on the type of attraction. This is not anyone’s coming out story (although there is a coming out moment between two of the characters that is sweet and clumsy and just right). But again: we’re watching a queer found family in troubled times.
The war itself is largely off-screen: it’s part of the world-building, part of understanding how displaced Lau Fung Cheung’s group is as well as how sheltered Guet Imm was before leaving her tokong. Her faith, at odds as it is with the others in the band (notably Ah Boon’s lack of faith, Ah Hin’s yearning for something to believe in, and Tet Sang’s dispassionate knowledge of Guet Imm’s faith), gives her strength but has also put her at a disadvantage because of her seclusion. This leads to several awkward situations as Guet Imm misunderstands how the world works now and Tet Sang has to find ways to correct the problems caused. There is a great dynamic between the nun and the bandit, subtly developed as they get to know each other better, and as both characters’ pasts are revealed. At the heart of the action and the conflict between Guet Imm and Tet Sang is the acquisition and disposition of relics from the tokongs (temples/monasteries) of the Pure Moon, another indicator of how the ongoing war has ravaged this country. Both sides of the conflict have destroyed tokongs for their own reasons, choosing also to either destroy or appropriate holy relics (something we know has happened consistently throughout our own history both by colonizing forces and by religious groups). The question is: what does Lau Fung’s group intend to do with the relics in their possession? Are their intentions honorable? And can Guet Imm stay true to her vows while traveling with the bandits? (One of my favorite scenes early on involves a discussion of those vows and how they might affect “intimate relations” between Guet Imm and any of the men. I won’t ruin it further by trying to summarize it.)
The war may be back-drop, but that doesn’t mean the novella is free of physical combat. The book starts with a fight scene in a coffee-house that is wonderfully described and captured all of the giddiness of the fight scenes I loved in Shaw Brothers movies played on my local New York City television stations on weekend afternoons (long before I learned the term “wuxia” or that the genre has a long literary history). And there are fight scenes later in the story – but they’re almost all one-on-one or small groups, as befits the genre. And they all result in character development or revelation in addition to being fun to read.
And there’s another thing I loved about this novella: the humor. Despite the war-time setting and the fact that the main characters are living “on the run,” there is a light-hearted tone to the narrative and tons of good-natured teasing between the characters. Zen Cho clearly had fun playing all of these characters off of each other. There’s also wonderful interplay between the main characters and people they encounter who are less inclined to humor and more inclined to be judgmental. The more officious and “high ranking” the person encountered, the more obsequiously sarcastic the main characters get. There are points where the main characters are clearly treading just up to the line of disrespect that would result in bigger problems, and every scene in which it happens is so much fun to read.
I have no idea if Zen Cho plans to return to this world in future novellas. There’s certainly room for more adventures of this band. But if not, I’m happy with where the characters are left, and happy to have spent the time with them that Cho gave us.