James Nicoll Reviews

S. L. Huang’s The River Judge is a prequel to The Water Outlaws¹.

In a land not unlike the Northern Song Dynasty, Li Li’s foul-tempered father and submissive mother run an inn in a village notable mainly for its isolation. An inn might seem a reliable source of income. Nevertheless, Li Li’s father has side ventures.

Thus, the corpses.

Every community has people whom other people feel are surplus to need. Overly inquisitive imperial officials, tax collectors, would-be informers, romantic rivals, the list goes on. Li Li’s father makes these persons vanish. Thus, the village tranquility is maintained.

Li Li’s father is happy to kill people. Digging graves is hard work. This he leaves to his long-suffering wife and daughter Li Li. Li Li is increasingly annoyed at the unjustly hard lot that is a woman’s life in this time and place, and unlike her mother, unwilling to simply accept that she has been dealt a terrible hand by being born a woman.

Openly murdering officials could bring down official reprisals. The explanation offered by locals for the astonishing frequency with which imperial visitors vanish is that the river is filled with ravenous monsters. As convincing as this tale might be, Li Li’s father decides prudence requires that he take a long vacation far from the village.

Li Li carries on. Her father’s absence means he no longer rules the household, no longer pockets the income from the inn and assassination. Being a very pragmatic person, Li Li is content with this state of affairs.

Two untoward events upend an otherwise acceptable existence. First, an overly communicative ghost alerts authorities to the location of a murdered magistrate’s burial place, which is suspiciously close to the inn. Second, Li Li’s father reappears to resume his position as head of the household.

Both are challenges for which Li Li has solutions.

~oOo~

I feel like a numpty. Until I read this, it never occurred to me that the fantastical creatures said to lurk in river, swamps, forests, and the frozen food section of certain supermarkets might be lies created as cover for serial murder. In retrospect, it seems obvious that might be the case, what with all the deranged killers, cold-blooded assassins, and reaving Scottish aristocrats that fiction assures us lurk behind every bush.

Like many societies, Li Li’s gives all formal power to men and none to women. Women stuck with dismal men — familial patriarchs, husbands, what-have-you — would appear to have no hope of redress. Why would any male official undermine his own position by helping women? Indeed, officials are happy to punish women for the transgressions of their men.

There’s a happy twist, in that unofficial sanctions always exist. Perhaps a simple spade thrust to the throat might suffice. Perhaps a dinner lightly seasoned with digitalis is called for. Perhaps a tent peg, daintily hammered into a sleeping patriarch’s head, will deliver a demure rebuke. This is a useful lesson for anyone in a system seemingly designed to keep them subjugated by people who have to sleep sometimes.

The River Judge is an entertaining tale skillfully told in the space allowed by the novelette format². The River Judge makes me wonder when the next full-length Huang might be expected.

The River Judge is available here (Amazon US), here (Amazon Canada), here (Amazon UK), here (Apple Books), here (Barnes & Noble), and here (Kobo)³.

I did not find The River Judge at either Chapters-Indigo or at Words Worth Books, which suggests it is only available as an ebook.

1: I wonder if my site can handle ​“Volume ‑1”?

2: Which made The River Judge the perfect length for the interval between my first theatre shift on Saturday and my second theatre shift on Saturday.

3: I note that the US price for this is USD 1.99, £ 1.30, and CAD 2.99. Converting all to CAD for clarity, that would be CAD 2.83, 2.35, and 2.99 respectively. Why are Canadians overcharged for books?

This disparity used to be even worse.