THE ORDER OF THE PURE MOON REFLECTED IN WATER

Nancy Wu narrates a wuxia-inspired homage to friendship and found family inspired by wuxia, a genre of Chinese fiction about the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. A group of bandits who are wanted by the Protector is joined by a coffeehouse maid after a brawl leaves her without a job. While the bandits have a tendency to seem interchangeable, Wu does a remarkable job with her portrayals of the maid, Guet Imm, and the bandit lieutenant, Tet Sang. Guet Imm is pert and impetuous, utterly delightful, and is clearly too good for the coffeehouse. Tet Sang is much more of a cypher, usually grumpy and bossy, but also a surprisingly soft touch, given the right circumstances. The complexities of their relationship form the heart of the story, and Wu is at her best when depicting them. K.M.P. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2020]