(WFC) The River Judge (Water Outlaws) by S L Huang

[James Nicoll]

The River Judge (Water Outlaws) by S L Huang

Given the chance to assume control of the family businesses, pragmatist
Li Li takes it. There are just one or two managerial issues to clarify,
but nothing a knife to the ribs and a midnight burial won't handle.

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/sharper-than-a-serpents-tooth

[Scott Dorsey]

Post by James Nicoll
The River Judge (Water Outlaws) by S L Huang

So, I read this based on Mr. Nicholl's review, and I found it disappointing.
I felt like I was missing out on some of the basic story, so I read the
original Water Outlaws book.

The original book in the series is sort of a satire and adaptation of the
classic Chinese novel Water Margin, in much of the way that Bridge of Birds
is an adaptation of Journey to the West. However, genders are reversed and
it is a woman martial arts instructor who is driven from her position by
an unjust official and is forced to join a band of female renegades and
revolutionaries in lands far from the capital.

I liked the original book and I'd recommend it but so far the other books
in the series have just seemed strained to me.
--scott

[Paul S Person]

Post by Scott Dorsey

Post by James Nicoll
The River Judge (Water Outlaws) by S L Huang

So, I read this based on Mr. Nicholl's review, and I found it disappointing.
I felt like I was missing out on some of the basic story, so I read the
original Water Outlaws book.
The original book in the series is sort of a satire and adaptation of the
classic Chinese novel Water Margin, in much of the way that Bridge of Birds
is an adaptation of Journey to the West. However, genders are reversed and
it is a woman martial arts instructor who is driven from her position by
an unjust official and is forced to join a band of female renegades and
revolutionaries in lands far from the capital.
I liked the original book and I'd recommend it but so far the other books
in the series have just seemed strained to me.

If this is consistently the case (Mr. Nicholl's reviews encourage you
to read it, and it disappoints) then that makes a very valuable
resource: you can safely ignore any book he reviews and the review
encourages you to read it.

I did this with a movie reviewer I called "The Chick Flick Reviewer".
If she liked a film then, whatever else it was, it was a chick flick.
If she didn't like then, whatever else it was, it was not.

Thus, she liked /Cars/ -- which is a chick flick (a romance). She
disliked /Cars 2/ -- which is not (it is exactly what the trailer
promises -- a James Bond film set in the world of Cars, no romance
involved).

She was /very/ reliable.

[Scott Dorsey]

Post by Paul S Person
If this is consistently the case (Mr. Nicholl's reviews encourage you
to read it, and it disappoints) then that makes a very valuable
resource: you can safely ignore any book he reviews and the review
encourages you to read it.

It's not consistent... and in this case I really liked the idea, just not
the implementation. I'm kind of glad I read the book, but I would't read
it again and I don't feel like I need to read the rest of the series.

I think maybe some of my problem is that I don't really like the idea of
novel series. I want a story arc with an ending.
--scott