The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water (June 2021) Buddy Read Discussion - Raquel, June, Gaea, Cat, Elysian, Jimara

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

Welcome to the The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water Buddy Read Discussion thread! This thread officially opens on June 10th and anyone can join at any time. Please keep in mind that spoilers are allowed in this thread but only up to the group's current reading place. Do not spoil the book if you've read further than the group. Any extra days can be used to catch up!

Each day we will be reading by chapters or page numbers. Page numbers are an approximation based on the hardcover or paperback that is the default on Goodreads. The suggested Buddy Read discussion schedule is as follows:

Week of 06/10
June 10: 50%
June 11: 100%
June 12: extra day if needed

PARTICIPANTS
~ Raquel
~ June
~ Gaea
~ Cat
~ Elysian

[aikaterine]

Hey guys!! First time I’m the first to write in a BR, but, curiously enough, I read the allocated pages early, ahaha!

So, for the first 50% (view spoiler)[ I have to say I’m super impressed!

Tet Sang is a woman??? I really didn’t see that coming, I couldn’t tell, like at all!! What a point to stop reading for today :O

I love the Chinese numbers indicating the chapters, and the fact that the story is overlapping with religion(s). Can’t wait to see where we’re going with this! (hide spoiler)]

[Jimara]

yess i totally agree!! I definitely did not see that coming either. I'm about 60% through and really enjoying it so far

[Jimara]

okay so I've finished now and I think that, for a novella, it was so well written and planned- it didn't feel too rushed or like it was just plucked from another story. I loved the humour in the book too but I'm on the fence on the writing style- It felt annoyingly choppy and blunt when reading but also, I think the style perfectly matched the characters' personalities so that kind of made up for it? It just didn't feel like 'wow' to me

[Elysian]

So. I finished it today and it was okay? Ngl, I will forget I ever read this story very soon tho.

I had troubles getting into it and also the romance and how it ended felt so sudden. I did not really recognise it.

[Jimara]

Elysian wrote: "So. I finished it today and it was okay? Ngl, I will forget I ever read this story very soon tho.

I had troubles getting into it and also the romance and how it ended felt so sudden. I did not rea..."

yesss to the romance thing- i almost missed it

[Elysian]

@Jimara

Same. I did not realise there was romance or any romantic feelings until the end were they decided to leave the group together.

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

I read only the first two chapters.

At first I liked the writing, but when the dialogue came 😬 The dialogue was cringy, and just basic.

[Tawallah]

I agree this lacked a wow factor. Initially it had great potential but then things ebbed. The ending seemed to come out of nowhere.

[Elysian]

I originally rated this 3 stars but actually taking about it makes me realise it does not deserve it as I actually enjoy 3 star rated books.

[Gaea]

Ahh, I'm so late in starting this, sorry! Although, seeing what you guys have said about it, I'm kind of wary now lol

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

@Gaea Don't worry it's not that bad.. but it's also not great 😂

I'm half-way done with it and I wish I just speed read it and be done with it.

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

I finished it (thank the universe), and yeah.. what was this? And I agree, the romance was just unexpected and not needed. Maybe it would've been more interesting if there had been more about the religion (or maybe there was enough, but me listening to it at 3x meant I missed a lot 😅 oops, not sorry).

[Gaea]

I'm halfway through this! It's... okay? I'm definitely feeling the wuxia-ness but other than that, I'm mostly meh about it. And it doesn't help that so far the nun character just makes me feel irritated.

Now I'm kind of wishing I could speed-read through this, only it won't let me haha.

[Gaea]

Finished! I'm giving it 3 stars. I just wish there had been more of a focus on Tet Sang (and Ah Lau and the world itself and the war and even those religious orders), and (far, far, faarr) less involvement of Guet Imm.

can you tell I didn't like Guet Imm? (:

[aikaterine]

I guess this was... kinda good?

Mostly gave it 3 stars because the writing style was easily flowing and didn't tire me. I also like the representation. Other than that I will probably forget ever reading this pretty soon, haha! xD

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

😂😂 I'm glad you guys liked it enough

[aikaterine]

mina wrote: "😂😂 I'm glad you guys liked it enough"

Ahaha, well, I mostly didn’t hate it, which seemed good enough 😅😅

[Raquel]

Eh, this book was okay. I feel like this would've been better as a full length novel. Then we could've dived into the world more. I was curious about all the different religions and the war that never got expanded on much.

I see that in some reviews people say Tet Sang is transgender but I read him more as nonbinary. What do you guys think? He's definitely not cis.

@Gaea I completely agree about Guet Imm, I found her mostly annoying. Was much more interested in Tet Sang and the other bandits.

[aikaterine]

Raquel wrote: "Eh, this book was okay..."

I was most interested in Tet Sang as well! To be honest, I thought of his more as transgender, but I didn't really thought of him that way until you mentioned it. It just was so apparent to me that he didn't view himself as a woman, and with all the 'he' references made me think he viewed himself as a man.

But, now that you do mention it, I think he could very easily be nonbinary, too.

I definitely love the fact that it is kinda vague and the author left it up to our interpretation!

[Raquel]

Yeah I can see it being either one too with how vague it was.

I just read in an interview with Zen Cho that Guet Imm and Tet Sang were inspired by the characters of Baze Malbus and Chirrut Imwe from Star Wars Rogue One. Have any of you seen that movie? I loved both of those characters and their relationship, but I definitely don't think it translated well to Guet Imm and Tet Sang. Like I've said, I found Guet Imm annoying and the romance with her very unneeded. If there absolutely had to be romance I wish it was between Tet Sang and Ah Lau because I liked their dynamic much more.

[Gaea]

I haven't seen that movie but I'll take your word for it that it didn't translate well! Part of my problem with Guet Imm is that she felt almost mary-sue-ish, which just put me off even more. It just didn't feel like a believable relationship, you know? And yeessss, a romance between Tet Sang and Ah Lau would have been tons more interesting (and just better overall in that it would have made sense).

[Tawallah]

Actually I thought Têt Sang and Ah Lang would have ended up together. That made more sense with what we were given in the plot. This novella started out well, but just petered out.
Is Black Water Sister by the same author better? I have it on Scribd and could squeeze it into my reading schedule.

[Raquel]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who liked Tet Sang and Ah Lau together!

I haven't read Black Water Sister but I'm interested to hear how they compare.

[aikaterine]

I have been intending to read Black Water Sister, as well!

I'm curious as to how they compare but also the story sounds more gripping to me, compared to this novella.

[Gaea]

I'm also planning on reading Black Water Sister! Hopefully I'll be able to join the group read, though it'll have to be a bit later this month. Although considering my hopes for this novella fell kind of flat, I'm trying not to have much in the way of expectations lol

[aikaterine]

Gaea wrote: "I'm also planning on reading Black Water Sister! Hopefully I'll be able to join the group read, though it'll have to be a bit later this month. Although considering my hopes for this novella fell k..."

Haha, well, keeping our expectations low might make us pleasantly surprised in the end, so fingers crossed!! :D