Outlaws of the Marsh, new edition Vol. 3: Lost In Exile

Lin Chong is the tragic hero in the early chapters of Outlaws of the Marsh, an honorable man who served his emperor with distinction and loved his wife with all his heart. Fidelity to nation and family are two cherished principles in any culture at any time, and Lin Chong believes that adhering to those principles amkes him a good man. But when corruption and villainy conspire to frame Lin Chong for a crime and sentence him to exile, he learns that when principle, purpose, and social order have been stripped away, he is nothing like the man he thought he was.

From the beginning, there were suggestions of a violent nature lurking beneath Lin Chong's calm demeanor: when Gao YaNei first made unwanted advances on his wife, Lin Chong struggled to suppress the impulse to kill him, since such an act against the son of a royal official would result in a death sentence. But even once he'd overcome the impulse, he tormented himself with thoughts of how helpless he was in the face of social norms and the law itself. When Gao YaNei conspired with Lu Qian to have him exiled, Lin Chong learned that the law did not deliver justice. But Lin Chong will realize that his idea of justice can be as vicious as anything done to him by Gao YaNei.

Once he is sentenced to exile, Lin Chong is expelled from the social order he relied on so heavily. As a result, there is no one to defend his life and no way to seek retribution if he is further wronged. If he is to survive, Lin Chong must become a society unto himself and act as guardian, judge, and jury, so that he alone defines what justice is. When Lu Qian betrays Lin Chong a second time, and tries to kill him by setting fire to the military supply depot, Lin Chong sentences his old friend and his two companions to death and carries out the sentence with the swift brutality of a natural born killer. Lin Chong is startled by the realizaton that he can do something so violent, so ruthless, so against his nature. But then he must consider that by doing what he's done, his nature wasn't all that good to begin with.

© 2026 JRM + (E-bog): 6610001266639

Oversættere: Jonathan Evans

Udgivelsesdato

E-bog: 25. juni 2026