I am so glad that I did the Read Harder challenge last year, because I found Zen Cho’s work through it. She has such a jubilent voice when telling stories, even when they might have a tinge of sad to them. If you’d like a taster, read her lovely short story.

Anyway, this was a wonderful novella. We follow a group of bandits, who inadvertently get hijacked by a nun, Guet Imm. It is a fairly straight forward plot – going to delivery some good – with somethings going awry in the process. However, the real story is discovering more about Tet Sang.

I won’t do any spoilers, but it’s just such a lovely story. I loved the world building, so much packed into such a slim volume, that you just kind of fall in love with it a bit. It reminded me a bit of The Empress of Salt and Fortune in that way. I just can’t help but admire the skills of those authors who let the world flower through character interactions.

I really enjoyed Guet Imm as a character. We know she’s a nun from the beginning, but there’s more to her than meets the eye. But even beyond that, she’s just such a fully formed, interesting character. I loved her attitude more than anything. She was just great.

Also the cover is so beautiful. Just go have a read.