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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
The walled city depicts a place where there is no law. Jin who is pretending to be a boy is looking for her sister Mei. Their paths unknowingly cross with Dai who is trying to amend past tragedies.
I didn't know much about this book going into it except that the location was based off of a now extinct city in China. The city is claustrophobic, rundown, crime ridden and overpopulated. The story is told in three alternating POVs. At first I was afraid this may lead to confusion or lack of distinct voices for the characters, but I actually found the multiple POVs to give better insight into the life within the walls than if only a single narrator had told the story. The character's story lines all intertwine and overlap, yet there is no redundancy in the storytelling. Jin is a 14 year old girl, disguised as a boy, looking for her sister. Mei Yee is the 17 year old sister, sold into prostitution, and confined to a brothel within in the walled city. Dai, whose story is the most concealed out of the three, seems to be running from his past demons. Out of them, I found myself drawn to Mei Yee's character the most. I am not sure if it was her voice or the situation she was in, but I felt more of a connection toward her character and wished for more insight into her thoughts. Overall, The Walled City is a great fictional glimpse into a destitute city and the affects that city has on some of its citizens.
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Violence
Minor: Sexual assault
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I picked this up looking for something different than the last few books, and I found it. While I didn't love love this book, it is definitely unique. I love the ambiance of the book and it being set in a lawless town. I also love the setting of it being somewhere, either in Asia or something equivalent. But that's where my praise ends. Absolutely nothing happened for over half the book. The povs between Dai, Jin, and Mei all blended together. I had to keep going back to remember whose POV I was reading. There wasn't anything really distinct about them, especially Jin and Dai. I was hoping for so much more.
THE WALLED CITY took a little bit to get going, but the second half of the book flew by. I stayed up into the early morning to read it. It was action-packed almost the whole time. I really liked the different POVs, too. But my favorite part was the family aspect. The three main characters--Dai, Jin Ling, and Mei Yee--were so sweet with each other. They all have very distinct personalities, but it's impossible to choose a favorite! I loved them all. I also thought it was cool that it was set in China. Most YA books seem to be set in America, but I like it when authors branch out and pick a different country. Some of the drug runs and infiltration missions Dai and Jin Ling pulled off reminded me of the TV show "Firefly."
All in all . . .
All in all . . .
MEH I wasn't really a fan of this book which is a shame considering how much I loved Wolf by Wolf by the same author. The main disappointing thing was the characters. There are three main characters whose perspectives we get and the annoying thing was that I couldn't tell them apart. All their chapters kind of blurred together because they didn't stand apart individually. There were a few times where I had to flick back to the start of the chapter and double check who I was reading about. I didn't like the characters. They were boring and didn't really have anything remarkable about them They all felt forgettable.
The plot also left something to be desired. It was meant to be very fast paced and exciting but I found myself skim reading a lot of the time because nothing grabbed me. One of the characters is meant to be mysterious but we go more than half of the book without any explanation as to why he is on the run or anything! It would've been okay if his entire character wasn't dependent on that point.
The writing was okay but metaphors were overused to the max. Every sentence had one. Every description had ten. I'm just not a fan of writing like that. This book had an interesting concept (it's based on a real place in Hong Kong) but I just couldn't get into it.
The plot also left something to be desired. It was meant to be very fast paced and exciting but I found myself skim reading a lot of the time because nothing grabbed me. One of the characters is meant to be mysterious but we go more than half of the book without any explanation as to why he is on the run or anything! It would've been okay if his entire character wasn't dependent on that point.
The writing was okay but metaphors were overused to the max. Every sentence had one. Every description had ten. I'm just not a fan of writing like that. This book had an interesting concept (it's based on a real place in Hong Kong) but I just couldn't get into it.