Mountain Light by Laurence Yep

[toastykitten]

I thought I was about to read The Serpent's Children, which I believe is the prequel to this one. Anyway, holy shit. Mountain Light is really violent; I'm only halfway through and already two people die through violence. I flipped to the Author's Note, and apparently this takes place during a time where Cantonese Red Turban (secret society) rebels carried out a genocidal campaign against the Hakka people. Laurence Yep somehow opens this story with a meet-cute where our protagonist jokester Squeaky Lau is almost killed by Cassia Young, a serious, skilled fighter, whose family has been feuding with his for generations but now they need to team up to fight the Manchus and also protect their Hakka friends. This story is really intense.