Beth's Reviews > The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water

I enjoyed this story as an adjunct to Cho's short story collection, Spirits Abroad. Without that connection, I don't think I would have gotten as much out of it.

Guet Imm and Tet Sang are a good pair of characters. Guet Imm reads very similarly to Prunella from Sorcerer to the Crown: blithe, bluntly principled, and somewhat naive. Tet Sang becomes known to us mostly through the revelation of his secrets: a stolid, close presence in the central band of adventurers, I mean, "contractors," in a war-torn Malay peninsula. The fantasy element comes in the form of magic-wielding monks whose powers are used in service to others and gained through religious meditation.

On the whole, this story felt like a sketch, so its being in the form of a hardcover, with the expections that entails, somewhat does it a disservice. The characters, the world, and plot are pleasing, but on the whole this novella didn't have the impact I was hoping for. Cho is great at depicting relationships between women, and there isn't a lot of that here--the scene featuring (view spoiler)[the negotiations with (hide spoiler)] Yeoh Gaik Tin was one of my favorite parts of the story, and far too brief.