The Water Outlaws

This felt like a mashup of Robin Hood and The Magnificent Seven but with a martial arts. It's a retelling of a Chinese classic with the majority of the characters being female this time around.

If you've seen any of the Shaw Scope kung-fu movies made in the 1960's and 70's, then you've got a pretty good image of the settings and tropes of this novel. A group of outlaws hiding in the mountains band together to form a righteous society with an agenda to root out their empire's corruption. Steal from the rich, give to the poor, and behead the rich and powerful evil-doers along the way.

The highlights for my were in the battle/fight passages. The prose is a bit choppy, but the overall composition left me feeling fulfilled. It took me way to long to finish, but I never felt like it was a chore waste of time. If you love martial arts and literature with heavy social commentary, this one is for you.