The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang is an action-packed, genderbent homage to a work of classic Chinese literature, but you don’t have to have prior knowledge of the source material to have a good time with these bandits. In Liangshan, a large group of bandits, mostly women, are forced to live outside the bounds of society.
Lin Chong, an arms instructor for the Imperial Guard, willingly upholds the rules and laws of the Empire, and does her duty to the fullest of her abilities, but when she runs afoul of a male noble, her life and career end up in tatters around her, and she is forced to seek refuge with the Liangshan bandits. There she discovers that not only banditry is afoot, but that women from diverse backgrounds and means have gathered to live by their own brand of justice and mercy—which causes her to examine her own loyalties and morals.
The bandits are content to play the long game, fanning the flames of dissent where they find them, but when the corrupt patriarchal gaze focuses on them with intensity, the bandits of Liangshan will be forced to defend their ideals and their very lives against the crushing force of Empire. S. L. Huang constructs a rollicking tale and brings out all the emotions as the women struggle to live their own lives in a society that wants to crush them. This book isn’t exactly a fast read, but I found every page worth it.
The highlight of The Water Outlaws is its characters. Lin Chong was instantly sympathetic to me as a strong dedicated woman who had put forth twice as much effort as her male peers to gain her position and then simply settled in to do her work well and with honor—and probably better than said peers. What professional woman can’t relate to that? S. L. Huang takes care to establish Lin Chong as someone of impeccable character so that when she is finally forced, at extreme danger to her own life, to forsake her duty to the Emperor, readers understand exactly how far she had to be pushed to make that decision. But at the same time, the core of who Lin Chong is never wavers. Lin Chong’s courage and her extreme introspection as she strives to maintain her values make her a character I will think about for a long time, and she is the perfect foil for her two best friends.
Lu Junyi is a minor noblewoman who is a longtime friend of Lin Chong. Rather more privileged than most of her peers, Lady Lu has the pleasure of dedicating her life to helping out her friends, greasing the wheels of bureaucracy for those in need, and hosting intellectual salons for a wide range of delightful people. When Lin Chong is disgraced, Lu Junyi stands by her and uses all of her resources to attempt to improve Lin Chong’s situation. However, like Lin Chong, Lu Junyi falls into the sphere of predatory men who seek only to use her. Her situation and her struggle to retain both her life and her values is an agonizing contrast to Lin Chong’s. Lu Da, on the other hand, first appears to be much simpler than either Lin Chong or Lu Junyi. Known as the Flower Monk, Lu Da possesses a God’s Tooth, a magical artifact that enhances her strength. She enjoys fighting, food, drinking, and the sisterhood of her fellow Liangshan bandits, but it would be a mistake to dismiss her as a simple side character. Lu Da’s bawdy humor and simple outlook conceal a fierce loyalty and towering courage, and she ended up as one of my favorite characters.
The Water Bandits is also a delightfully queer book, although it never focuses too much on romance: there is rather too much flighting, fleeing, and injustice for that. Nevertheless, it is obvious from the first time we enter the Liangshan camp that the bandits are a refuge and a home to people who do not conform in ways beyond being merely bandits. There are obviously trans, genderqueer, or otherwise non-conforming characters abounding among the bandits, and a group composed of mostly rogue women does not excessively revere a heterosexual family structure. The Liangshan bandits are structurally queer from the ground up, in ways that they don’t need to shout about because they have bigger issues to focus on. They support each other in a casual way that I appreciated seeing on a page. Lu Junyi also has an unmarried lady “companion” who depends on her and whi she struggles to protect. Lady Jia has limited page time, but her existence made Lu Junyi’s struggle more poignant to me.
The Water Outlaws was an exciting read. If you’re looking for something meaty yet fun to dig into, it would be a great addition to your reading list. You’ll laugh, cry, and gasp at the incredible action sequences, and most of all, have a great time reading about lady bandits!
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