Dark Water Margin: Tales of Liangshan's Bandits

A Water Margin that will overturn everything you thought you knew: there are no heroes here, only bandits; no loyalty or righteousness, only scheming.

Based on the 100-chapter edition of Water Margin, this book deconstructs the story chapter by chapter, tearing away the cover-up of “acting in Heaven’s name” and “heroic loyalty.” From Grand Commandant Hong digging up the bones of innocent souls to curry favor, to Lu Zhishen walking away after beating Zheng the Butcher and leaving an even more tragic victim behind; from Lin Chong betraying his benefactor to save his own skin to Wu Song slaughtering innocent maids at the Mandarin Duck Tower; from the Liangshan heroes fighting over the spoils to sworn brothers betraying one another after accepting amnesty, every chapter retells the story from the perspective of victims, common people, and the oppressed, laying bare the brutality, injustice, and hypocrisy concealed in the original.

There is no robbing the rich to help the poor here, only the strong preying on the weak; no standing up for justice, only bloodthirsty violence; no undying loyalty, only alliances bound by self-interest. The 108 Liangshan heroes are not star spirits descended from heaven. They are people driven to become monsters in a chaotic age, only to turn around and prey on those weaker than themselves.

Read this book and discover the other side of Water Margin: a dark truth about the evil in human nature, the brutality of the powerful, and the hopelessness of life at the bottom.