[On May 10, 2021 Strange Horizons officially expressed its political support for Palestinian solidarity. The views of Tangent Online reviewers are not necessarily those of Strange Horizons. Fiction critiqued at Tangent Online is, as much as is humanly possible, without prejudice and based solely on artistic merit.]

Strange Horizons, May 29, 2023

“The Ocean Remembers The Wave” by L. Chan

“One For Sorrow, Two For Mirth” by Tina S. Zhu

“The God Of Minor Troubles” by Megan Chee

Reviewed by Mina

This is a special issue “expanding upon long-beloved tropes in wuxia and xianxia”.

In “The Ocean Remembers The Wave” by L. Chan, Huizhong is searching for his beloved and fellow Celestial, Liang. Huizhong follows a trail of enhanced bones in his sentient ship, Quanli. He challenges others for Liang’s bones with sword and song, before coming face to face with the hardest question ever faced by a Celestial: would you give your life or the life of your beloved to save the Empire? It is an exquisitely written tale. The sentient ship alone is worth the read and the Way is mind bending and pure poetry: “Before matter and antimatter, before time and space, before heaven and earth, there was the Way. Time had a beginning and space had a boundary, and before and around them was the Way… In the Way, Huizhong was both cause and effect, both wind and sail, and the ship moved with him.” The reader begins to realise that there is more than one love story at work.

“One For Sorrow, Two For Mirth” by Tina S. Zhu follows Poppy into a saloon, where she chances upon her estranged brother Tie, whilst working as a bodyguard for a wealthy lady. The lady, Diana, is looking for her own wandering brother, Daedelus, to inform him of their father’s death. Poppy realises that the dead man, apparently mauled by a shadow tiger, was her father’s murderer. Poppy wonders if the shadow tiger is her lost shadow acting as an avenger. She is followed by shadow magpies that she believes are Tie’s lost shadow. As magic and shadows combine, Poppy realises that there are many things she had not understood before and that Tie may not be the coward she believed him to be. She must decide whether to save his life. Another well-written tale, masterfully weaving in different versions of a child’s rhyme.

“The God Of Minor Troubles” by Megan Chee is a light tale. Dǔníng arrives late when the gods are being allocated their tasks and finds himself designated the god of minor troubles. After centuries of listening to minor woes, he finds himself drawn to Péi who is vociferous in her minor complaints. Despite his innate laziness, he takes an interest in her survival, especially as she is the first person to ever ask him about himself. A pleasant tale to end with.

Mina recommends reading the three poems in this issue as well—strangely beautiful and beautifully strange to the western mind.