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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
Jin’s sister was sold to a drug lord by her drunken father. Now, Jin disguises herself as a boy to go save her sister, who is being kept in a lawless walled city. Drugs, prostitution and murder are all commonplace within the walled city. Jin needs to think and act fast to stay alive. She steals and runs drugs to check all of the prostitution dens for her sister and to stay alive.
Jin meets Dai and the two become quick allies. Dai is looking for information that will allow him to return to his life outside of the city. Jin is his best shot at getting that information. Is it possible that these two can help each other escape?
At first, I thought that this was a fantasy/otherworld novel, but as it turns out, it was based on true historical occurrences. It took me some time to get into the novel, because the behavior in this novel is truly vile at times. All in all, I did like it.
Jin meets Dai and the two become quick allies. Dai is looking for information that will allow him to return to his life outside of the city. Jin is his best shot at getting that information. Is it possible that these two can help each other escape?
At first, I thought that this was a fantasy/otherworld novel, but as it turns out, it was based on true historical occurrences. It took me some time to get into the novel, because the behavior in this novel is truly vile at times. All in all, I did like it.
This is a trimmed down version of my review, to view the full review visit The Book Ramble.
I received a copy of this book from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
3 teenagers living in the Walled City must find a way out of the city by New Years Eve. One is a criminal on the run, one has been sold into prostitution, and one is trying to save her sister. Together they must save themselves, each other, and everyone around them before the Walled City is destroyed. This take on historical events in 1980s Hong Kong is a thrilling, chilling, and amazing journey into the underbelly of society and acts as a reminder of the terrors that happen everyday not just in other countries, but in our own communities.
As soon as I saw the words The Walled City I knew this book was about Kowloon Walled City. Reading the description made me even more confident that it would be. Starting the book I was delighted to see that, yes, this book was a take on the world within Kowloon Walled City. The author captures the tone and realities of Kowloon in her novel even with the pan-Asian setting and 2010s time period. I found this book thrilling, interesting, and hard to put down.
The historical setting of this book is really interesting and I, for one, was super excited to see a book about it. Especially a book for teens who may not know a lot about this particular piece of history. I do think the book has been marketed poorly as a dystopian even though this is not a dystopian novel.
The characters were really well developed. The backstories were interesting and also based on realistic events that would produce the kind of teenagers who lived in the Walled City. Jin and Mei Yee are sisters who grew up on a rice farm, their father wanted a boy and routinely beat them. He eventually sold Mei Yee to a brothel and Jin followed to save her. Dai is the son of a rich family who gets involved in the crug community and eventually is wanted for the murder of 3 people and so he runs to the Walled City where there is no police presence. I enjoyed these plot lines because they worked well within the Walled City of the book, but also the historical point of reference for the book.
I enjoyed the writing and found it really easy to get into. I honestly found this book hard to put down, and wound up reading the last 60% of the book in about an hour while waiting for some car repairs to be done. It was super absorbing while also making me think a lot about the realities of the drug trade, human trafficking, and the historical point of reference for the book.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. I think the tone of the book was excellent when the historical point of reference is in mind. It seems well researched, which creates a realistic world. I highly recommend this book and I'll likely buy it myself.
I received a copy of this book from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
3 teenagers living in the Walled City must find a way out of the city by New Years Eve. One is a criminal on the run, one has been sold into prostitution, and one is trying to save her sister. Together they must save themselves, each other, and everyone around them before the Walled City is destroyed. This take on historical events in 1980s Hong Kong is a thrilling, chilling, and amazing journey into the underbelly of society and acts as a reminder of the terrors that happen everyday not just in other countries, but in our own communities.
As soon as I saw the words The Walled City I knew this book was about Kowloon Walled City. Reading the description made me even more confident that it would be. Starting the book I was delighted to see that, yes, this book was a take on the world within Kowloon Walled City. The author captures the tone and realities of Kowloon in her novel even with the pan-Asian setting and 2010s time period. I found this book thrilling, interesting, and hard to put down.
The historical setting of this book is really interesting and I, for one, was super excited to see a book about it. Especially a book for teens who may not know a lot about this particular piece of history. I do think the book has been marketed poorly as a dystopian even though this is not a dystopian novel.
The characters were really well developed. The backstories were interesting and also based on realistic events that would produce the kind of teenagers who lived in the Walled City. Jin and Mei Yee are sisters who grew up on a rice farm, their father wanted a boy and routinely beat them. He eventually sold Mei Yee to a brothel and Jin followed to save her. Dai is the son of a rich family who gets involved in the crug community and eventually is wanted for the murder of 3 people and so he runs to the Walled City where there is no police presence. I enjoyed these plot lines because they worked well within the Walled City of the book, but also the historical point of reference for the book.
I enjoyed the writing and found it really easy to get into. I honestly found this book hard to put down, and wound up reading the last 60% of the book in about an hour while waiting for some car repairs to be done. It was super absorbing while also making me think a lot about the realities of the drug trade, human trafficking, and the historical point of reference for the book.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. I think the tone of the book was excellent when the historical point of reference is in mind. It seems well researched, which creates a realistic world. I highly recommend this book and I'll likely buy it myself.
I fell in love with Ryan Graudin’s writing style in Wolf by Wolf. Her worlds tend to be bleak and dangerous. A walled city full of criminals, gangs,prostitutes, and street gangs. This cast lets you know right away that, not only is there little hope, there is no safety and no way out. And yet this is a story about family, forgiveness, and never giving up.
There were a lot of things I loved in this book:
-Sisters
- connecting to people on different levels i.e. not everyone is a love interest
-there were no easy rescues or simple “outs”.
-building family when yours is not healthy
-not everyone made it out
This book went really fast for me. Having 3 narrators helped me keep POV’s straight. Finding out that this story came from history was fascinating. I had no idea that such a place existed. I have to mention the epilogue. A lot better f times epilogues go the direction of happily ever after. This epilogue fit the story. Healing takes time and that is reflected.
There were a lot of things I loved in this book:
-Sisters
- connecting to people on different levels i.e. not everyone is a love interest
-there were no easy rescues or simple “outs”.
-building family when yours is not healthy
-not everyone made it out
This book went really fast for me. Having 3 narrators helped me keep POV’s straight. Finding out that this story came from history was fascinating. I had no idea that such a place existed. I have to mention the epilogue. A lot better f times epilogues go the direction of happily ever after. This epilogue fit the story. Healing takes time and that is reflected.
3 stars. This was really good! I think the plot was interesting and I liked the characters and the writing well enough but it definitely was missing something but I'm just not sure what.
My main issue with this book was that it started off so strong and then towards the end it lost momentum and kinda fizzled. The ending seemed to drag and it was nowhere near as exciting and certain things happened that were such copouts that it didn't feel worth it in the end. Everything was wrapped up a little too nicely for my taste. The stakes felt way too high for it to just end so anti-climatic.
I also didn't care for the romance in this. It was very insta-love and was stale and one-dimensional. I get that Mei Yee had been locked in there for years but the way her and Dai fell for each other after the first time they met was just really silly.
Other than that, I thought this was still really solid. I enjoyed the characters a lot and the fact that it was split between all three of there point of views. They all had their own unique voices and that's always a plus for me. I really liked the friendship between Dai and Mei Yee's younger sister, Jin and how it progressed. Also the lengths Jin was willing to go to save Mei Yee was really admirable and made her my favorite character in the book. To be so young she was pretty bad ass.
Overall, not a bad read. It's a lot of fun and starts off with a bang and I definitely recommend it.
My main issue with this book was that it started off so strong and then towards the end it lost momentum and kinda fizzled. The ending seemed to drag and it was nowhere near as exciting and certain things happened that were such copouts that it didn't feel worth it in the end. Everything was wrapped up a little too nicely for my taste. The stakes felt way too high for it to just end so anti-climatic.
I also didn't care for the romance in this. It was very insta-love and was stale and one-dimensional. I get that Mei Yee had been locked in there for years but the way her and Dai fell for each other after the first time they met was just really silly.
Other than that, I thought this was still really solid. I enjoyed the characters a lot and the fact that it was split between all three of there point of views. They all had their own unique voices and that's always a plus for me. I really liked the friendship between Dai and Mei Yee's younger sister, Jin and how it progressed. Also the lengths Jin was willing to go to save Mei Yee was really admirable and made her my favorite character in the book. To be so young she was pretty bad ass.
Overall, not a bad read. It's a lot of fun and starts off with a bang and I definitely recommend it.
A big thank you goes out to Netgalley for giving me this ARC of The Walled City by Ryan Graudin.
Overall, I really enjoyed this novel. In the beginning, I did have difficulty getting into the book right away and put it down a few times. I turned to Goodreads to check how others reviewed this one - definitely mixed reviews - but those who finished spoke very highly of it. It was in the reviews that I realized that The Walled City is based off an actual place in Hong Kong where criminals, gangsters, prostitutes, and homeless children lived. I googled images (see below) and began reading more about life in this city. Horrifying!
Once I realized that this wasn't a typical dystopian novel, I began to imagine real children living in this despair doing whatever they need to just scraping by to survive. That is when the story became engaging and I wanted to read more. If you are willing to give it a chance, your eyes will definitely be opened up to horrific ways that humans were being trafficked and treated in other parts of the world.
Overall, I really enjoyed this novel. In the beginning, I did have difficulty getting into the book right away and put it down a few times. I turned to Goodreads to check how others reviewed this one - definitely mixed reviews - but those who finished spoke very highly of it. It was in the reviews that I realized that The Walled City is based off an actual place in Hong Kong where criminals, gangsters, prostitutes, and homeless children lived. I googled images (see below) and began reading more about life in this city. Horrifying!
Once I realized that this wasn't a typical dystopian novel, I began to imagine real children living in this despair doing whatever they need to just scraping by to survive. That is when the story became engaging and I wanted to read more. If you are willing to give it a chance, your eyes will definitely be opened up to horrific ways that humans were being trafficked and treated in other parts of the world.
this book was SO good! I loved everything about the characters and Jin was the best, I just love her! The three point of view narrative was great, I could clearly see each one's personality and I liked them all.
The book had evetything to be a heavy and difficult read, but the author just did a great job.
The book had evetything to be a heavy and difficult read, but the author just did a great job.
