eBook, 176 pages
English language
Published June 23, 2020 by Tor.com Publishing.
A bandit walks into a coffeehouse, 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 than she could have ever imagined.
Fun read with some compelling characters, and a lot of good banter between them. This made me read up on the real world "Malayan Emergency" that it's set in.
A mild fantasy novel apparently set in Peninsula Malaysia, the story tells of a nun from the Order of the Pure Moon who decides to join up with a gang of bandits (who prefer to call themselves 'roving contractors') after a fight at a coffee house where she was working, when one of the bandits backs up her version of events that lead to the fight.
For much of the story, the fantasy elements remain muted, but the characters, their banter, and the situations she and the gang end up in drive the story. But things start to change when the nun discovers what the bandits are trying to sell to a third party. When the sale goes sour due to her intervention, a different plan is proposed by her, and this is where the story starts to give out twists to the characters, revealing that some bandits are not …
A mild fantasy novel apparently set in Peninsula Malaysia, the story tells of a nun from the Order of the Pure Moon who decides to join up with a gang of bandits (who prefer to call themselves 'roving contractors') after a fight at a coffee house where she was working, when one of the bandits backs up her version of events that lead to the fight.
For much of the story, the fantasy elements remain muted, but the characters, their banter, and the situations she and the gang end up in drive the story. But things start to change when the nun discovers what the bandits are trying to sell to a third party. When the sale goes sour due to her intervention, a different plan is proposed by her, and this is where the story starts to give out twists to the characters, revealing that some bandits are not what they may appear at first, and also that she may also have been more than just a nun in the Order and that it may have granted her more than the normal abilities to see and affect the world in the usual ways.
By the end of the story, more is revealed about her frightening powers, and she has to make her own way in the world again, but she may not be going alone.
An interesting, light fantasy tale that starts off sounding like a tale of a misfit trying to fit into a group but ends up being another kind of story, revealing it to be a tale about relationships and different genders that feels quite normal in the context of the tale,
A good short story (I think I discovered it in an award shortlist?) inspired by Asian history and religions. Perfect length to read on a train ride.
