481 reviews for:

The Walled City

Ryan Graudin

3.77 AVERAGE

dark sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I received this free from the publisher via NetGalley

Actual Rating - 3.5 stars.

Release Date - November 4th


There are three rules in the Walled City: Run fast. Trust no one. Always carry your knife. Right now, my life depends completely on the first. Run, run, run.

There are three teenagers - Jin, Mei Yee, and Dai. All live in The Walled City and all are fighting for something different. Jin is fighting to find her sister who was taken away from her. Mei Yee is fighting to survive, keep her head down and she is safe. Dai is fighting for his freedom from The Walled City. All three have something in common though, they all want to go home. The Walled City is a city run by criminals, no law and no justice. Just violence and crime. Dai offers Jin a chance to find her sister, while also offering a chance of escape to Mei Yee. They are no in a race against the clock to find what they need.

The premise of The Walled City filled me with excitement and I was so thrilled to get my hands on it. With high expectations, I really dove into this book, but unfortunately I was sadly disappointed. There was an element of originality to the story, and the world building was absolutely fantastic. There were street gangs who ran the place, there were teenagers doing drug runs, and teenagers working in brothels. Living in The Walled City was hard. The first couple of chapters really did capture my attention. There was violence and gore and so much crime. There was an feel of realism to it, (The author mentions that it was based on a real place). Also, it is a standalone! How many dystopia's can you say that about? Also, not everything is hunky dory at the end of it. People who lived in The Walled City, they are broken, they feel like they don't belong anywhere else, and they slowly slink back into the dark alleyways.

I felt like the pacing could have been better, so that the story didn't drag as much as it did. The middle really failed to keep my attention. It quickly got it back near the end, but the pacing in the middle really was a let down. I have read that a lot of people don't really like the purple prose, but I personally enjoyed it. While some sentences were a bit much for me, the majority was OK.

Lets talk about the characters. I liked them enough, but I didn't really connect with them. They were OK but that is all they were. I didn't really care much what happened to them. But they were enjoyable and they were likeable. The bad guys of the story were good, which was a bonus. The romance, I felt, was a little bit insta-love. But you can also see it as the fact that they were each others way out and they clung to that hope.

Overall, an OK read which I would probably recommend.

3.5

Decent story, but things seemed to happen all too conveniently at times and the writing was not good.

4.5/5

Couldn't get into it
adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

DNF at 50% - I just can't do it.

It's true that I don't often give more than one star to books I couldn't finish, but I can't argue with the fact that there's a lot to praise here. If I wasn't so sold on the concept, I would not have pushed myself past so many unbearably slow, purple passages.

The Walled City is perhaps mistakenly labelled as "dystopian" when in fact it is based on a once very real place - Kowloon Walled City, an ungoverned settlement in New Kowloon, Hong Kong. The society will seem fantastical to most readers because a place without laws is, thankfully, so alien to us. Streets that are run by drug lords and criminals are not something we have to deal with on a daily basis; nor do we feel threatened by the mass kidnapping of underage girls to work in brothels.

This is the scene we are first introduced to in The Walled City and, I admit, I was intrigued rather than repelled by this unusual display of grit in YA. Similarly, I love books that incorporate non-Western cultures and places into their fiction. The names and "feel" in this book are Chinese, which was another point in its favour.

But it took less than two chapters for me to feel the [b:Stormdancer|10852343|Stormdancer (The Lotus War, #1)|Jay Kristoff|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337359560s/10852343.jpg|15767096] syndrome taking hold. If you loved that book, then there is hope for you. But this is one of those books that is sooooo slooooowwwww. I made a promise to myself that I could DNF it if it hadn't improved by the 50% marker; I kept forcing myself to pick it back up and thinking "just make it to 50%, just a bit more, you can do it..." It was torture to read half of the book.

It was one of those situations where I kept waiting for the good stuff to happen. The concept was so strong, the world promised so many interesting things that I couldn't believe something awesome wasn't just around the corner... so I pushed on... and on. I was so bored.



Perhaps it was the characters. The narrative jumps between the perspectives of three people - Dai, Jin Ling, and Mei Yee - and none of them feel particularly distinct. Many times I had to flick to the beginning of the chapter again to remind myself who we were with. Part of the problem, it seems, is that the author has deliberately withheld a lot of information, been vague about the world itself and vague about the characters. It doesn't make for a compelling read.

Perhaps it was the language. I actually think I have quite a high tolerance for purple prose. I know I've been carried away by pretty sentences that others found nauseating and, for the most part, it didn't bother me that much here. But there are two things that irritated me:

1) When the romantics came out (in the most inappropriate, dire moments, I might add): “I try my hardest to follow, try not to get distracted by the curl of those lashes. They’re perfect for catching raindrops.” Ugh.

and

2) The use of metaphors and similes that really do not make any sense: “My emotions are like pounds of overcooked rice noodles.” Seriously, what does that mean? What do overcooked rice noodles say about your emotions?!

Some people are calling this book a page-turner, which is something I evidently missed out on. Maybe after the 50% marker shit goes down, action kicks in, and the pages start flying by. Maybe. I just have no desire to find out.

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Will come back to it someday. Too dark for me right now

I never in a million years thought that I would love this book as much as I did! I 100% don't think it should be labeled in the YA genre, considering the contents of the book!

The walled city is the slums of Hong Kong. A 6 acre lot with over 30,000 residence living under the control of gangs and crime lords. This walled city is considered home for both Jin Ling and her sister MEI YEE! However Jin Ling lives on the streets.. whereas Mei Yee lives in a brothel as a slave to the brotherhood ( The gang that controls the walled city). Jin Ling has one mission only.. to find her sister and save her from the torture she is experiencing! Dai on the other hand has lived a comfortable life within the walled city. His one goal... to complete his mission before New Years eve! When all three lives collide, the plan is complete. But will they be able to complete their goals before its too late?

this was such a great book! So under rated! honestly, if you are even thinking of reading this book... just do it! Yes, it is slow in the beginning, but the climax is just INSANE!