Short story collection, all about time traveling and falling in love. Some authors took the assignment literally (Theodora Goss’s A Letter to Merlin, in which time-traveling agents, sent to influence the behavior of historical figures, try to communicate with one another); others take a more roundabout route (Zen Cho’s The Past Life Reconstruction Service, in which people get to relive their past lives in search of answers for their present lives). Other standouts were Sam J. Miller’s Unabashed, or: Jackson, Whose Cowardice Tore a Hole in the Chronoverse, a poignant and unforgettable wail of pain; and Time Gypsy by Ellen Klages, which creates one of those beautiful perfect cause-and-effect time-travel loops while also pulling in themes of feminism, gay rights, and found family. Really great collection overall.
Tag: author-zen cho
The True Queen, by Zen Cho
Sequel to Sorcerer and Crown. Muna and her magical sister Sakti remember little of their past; all they know is that they are inseparable, and that Sakti is fading. In trying to break their curse, they go to England where the Sorceress Royal may be able to help. However, they are separated along the way, and Muna is left with nothing but her own wits to navigate both English and fairy society, while she figures out the mystery of her and Sakti’s existence. Muna is a very Zen Cho narrator, blunt and forthright, never hesitating to point out (even if it’s just to herself) when people are being unreasonable or ridiculous. The pace of the story started out slow, but got rolling quite well in the last two-thirds.
Sorcerer to the Crown, by Zen Cho
I enjoyed this so much. I’d only read Zen Cho’s Malaysian fairytales before so I was completely unprepared for this extremely Jane Austen-esque treatment of magical England, with bonus characters of color who were looked down on by society, but grudgingly tolerated because they were incredible magicians. (And they were adorable! For any fans of Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series, I really feel like Prunella is Iskierka in human form.) The prose and dialogue are florid but also delightfully deadpan; the plot was slow to get started but finished so delightfully that I was sad to get to the end. I already have the sequel on hold at the library.
Spirits Abroad, by Zen Cho
This is a collection of short stories full of Zen Cho’s sardonic characters, who encounter creatures out of Malay myth and still manage to be dry and ordinary about it all. I love all the stories, but especially the ones about the dragon who fell for the girl who is more focused on getting her university degree; the lion dance troupe whose side gig is to exorcise ghosts; and the high school pontianak (female vampire) who just wants to go to school without worrying about her interfering aunts. Absolutely delightful collection.
The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, by Zen Cho
This has probably one of the best beginnings of any book I’ve read recently: a bandit comes reluctantly to the defense of a mouthy waitress at a coffeeshop; a totally avoidable brawl ensues. The book then proceeds to unfold in layers: the barmaid turns out to be a nun; the bandit has his own secrets; the bandits’ mission is not quite what it seems. The characters are hilariously sarcastic to one another but also thoughtful and tender; the wuxia/fantasy element is fantastic as well. I really enjoyed this book. I also loved how the Malaysian turns of phrase weren’t presented as an exotic English accent, but simply the language of the characters; all too often dialect is used as a way to set characters apart from the main, but here it is acknowledged as normal.
Black Water Sister, by Zen Cho
This phrase is overused, but: I felt seen. Narrator Jess, getting ready to move back to Malaysia with her parents, begins to hear a voice in her head. She chalks it up to the multiple stresses in her life: moving back to a country she barely remembers; feeling like a failure for being unemployed after graduating from Harvard; being afraid to come out to her parents, and having to constantly hide the existence of her long-distance girlfriend. But when the voice keeps feeding her facts that actually turn out to be true, Jess eventually finds to her dismay that she is a medium, and that the ghost of her grandmother Ah Ma has her own reasons for wanting to drag her Americanized granddaughter into the world of spirits and gangsters that she’d left behind. I loved Jess’s relationship to her parents and extended family, which reflected my experience of being mostly familiar with your birth culture, but occasionally encountering unexpected pitfalls that remind you that you didn’t really grow up immersed in the culture the way the previous generation did… though of course my pitfalls didn’t involve demons or a powerful crime boss. The book manages to cover a ton of ground, touching on various conflicts from homophobia and sexism to the tension between capitalist development and the respect due tradition and nature, while never losing track of the personal and familial relationships that drive the story. Jess is a strong character who tries her best to take control of her own story, even as the plot events yank her around (often literally). I actually loved most of the characters, and their conversations and interactions were delightful. If I had a criticism of this book, it would be that I felt it moved a bit too fast, without giving Jess (and therefore me) time to process what was happening. Still, I really liked it and will definitely be reading anything else the I can find from the author.