Ahoy there me mateys!  I was interested in this novella as soon as I heard about it.  It was described as a martial arts story involving bandits and a young nun.  I requested an eArc immediately but was denied ::sob::.  Then Matey Tammy @ books,bones,andbuffy was nice enough to send me an extra copy ::cheer!::.

This wasn't quite what I was expected based on the description but I did enjoy it nonetheless.  I thought the martial arts aspects were going to be front and center.  Instead it was more about the three main characters and their interpersonal relationships.  This novella is classified as wuxia fantasy.  I didn't know what that meant.  Turns out these fantasies are set in classical Chinese eras with martial arts traditions and a hint of magic.  As I am not familiar with this genre, I can't tell the crew how it compares to other works in this style.

I absolutely loved the young nun, Guet Imm, who is both naive and cunning.  She is funny and it was lovely to watch her discomfit and change the group dynamics.  The leader of the group, Lau Fung Cheung, is a bit mysterious and I enjoyed all the silliness around how good looking he is.  But the best character for me was Tet Sang by far.  I enjoyed learning about his background and he was always surprising me.  I particularly adored the ending of this novella.

I liked this read well enough but I am not sure why I didn't love it.  The elements seem to be there but I wasn't head over heels about the story.  Maybe this is one of those times where I just needed more details.  The world building is light.  Besides the three main characters, all the others felt interchangeable.  The blend of serious and silly was well done but I am not used to that kind of writing so maybe that was the disconnect?  I am not sure.

I have no regrets and certainly enjoyed reading this.  I just don't think that the plot details will linger even if the characters certainly will.  Arrrr!