[Subdue] The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho - 3.5 stars

[Pam]

This wuxia fantasy begins when a ragtag group of bandits crosses paths with a displaced nun who decides she's joining them on the next part of their journey.

It took a little while to feel like this was going somewhere, but once the plot kicked in around 25% I really enjoyed it. 

Both main characters were intriguing, and I really liked the way the spiritual aspects were incorporated into the story, especially how the mechanics of their belief system and the inner workings of the Order were described. I could feel both the soothing/calming/meditative aspects and the awe/majesty at the same time. In fact, I'm bumping the rating up a half star more than I was originally intending because I can still feel that sense of tranquility just writing about it, and that's pretty impressive five weeks/19 books later. 

The writing takes a much lighter tone than I was expecting, which is definitely not a complaint, but combined with the short, novella length it did leave me wanting more. Mostly that's a sign of how intrigued I was by where these characters were headed, though. And now I'm going to go add one of this author's full-length novels to my TBR since I've realized how much more this has stuck with me than I was expecting it to.

One small warning: I am almost positive this is not a translation, but it kind of feels like it is? To the extent that I think it must be intentional, which I don't hate, but there were moments when it was rough enough to pull me out of the story a little.