The Water Outlaws
Readers rate it 3.7 (37 on Hardcover)
543 pages · Released Aug 17, 2023 · Solaris
Content report card
The Water Outlaws parent’s guide: what’s inside
What it offers
Educational value
A note for parents
The Water Outlaws is an adult-oriented wuxia fantasy inspired by classical literature, featuring complex characters who are outlaws and rebels against an imperial system. While the story rewards justice-seeking and courage, it contains significant violence (sword combat, murders), morally ambiguous protagonists, and themes of trauma and displacement that suit mature teens and adults rather than younger readers. The LGBTQ+ representation and progressive themes are central to the narrative, but the book's sophistication, length, and content intensity make it better suited for ages 15+.
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From the publisher
A Best-Of Pick for Vulture |The Washington Post | Publishers Weekly | Men's Health | IGN | Polygon | Goodreads | Amazon | Nerd Daily | WeAreBookish | Paste | Books, Bones & Buffy | The Escapist | Paste Magazine | SciFixFantasy | Distractify | Gizmodo | Ms. Magazine | Booklist | Popsugar | Book Riot | Autostraddle | The... A Best-Of Pick for Vulture |The Washington Post | Publishers Weekly | Men's Health | IGN | Polygon | Goodreads | Amazon | Nerd Daily | WeAreBookish | Paste | Books, Bones & Buffy | The Escapist | Paste Magazine | SciFixFantasy | Distractify | Gizmodo | Ms. Magazine | Booklist | Popsugar | Book Riot | Autostraddle | The Mary Sue & others Finalist for the American Library Association Carnegie Medal | British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel | Nebula Award for Best Novel | Ignyte Award | Dragon Award | Locus Award Inspired by a classic of martial arts literature, S. L. Huang's The Water Outlaws are bandits of devastating ruthlessness, unseemly femininity, dangerous philosophies, and ungovernable gender who are ready to make history - or tear it apart. 'This wuxia eat-the-rich tale is a knockout' - Publishers Weekly, starred review In the jianghu, you break the law to make it your own. Lin Chong is an expert arms instructor, training the Emperor's soldiers in sword and truncheon, battle axe and spear, lance and crossbow. Unlike bolder friends who flirt with challenging the unequal hierarchies and values of Imperial society, she believes in keeping her head down and doing her job. Until a powerful man with a vendetta rips that carefully-built life away. Disgraced, tattooed as a criminal, and on the run from an Imperial Marshall who will stop at nothing to see her dead, Lin Chong is recruited by the Bandits of Liangshan. Mountain outlaws on the margins of society, the Liangshan Bandits proclaim a belief in justice-for women, for the downtrodden, for progressive thinkers a corrupt Empire would imprison or destroy. They're also murderers, thieves, smugglers, and cutthroats. Apart, they love like demons and fight like tigers. Together, they could bring down an empire.
Shelved under
- Fiction
- Strong Character Development
- Diverse Characters
- A mix driven
- Plot driven
- Unloveable Characters
- Erica (housemate)
- Loveable Characters
- Adventurous
- tense
- inspiring
- Fantasy
Books in The Water Outlaws
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ISBN 9781837860159 · Solaris