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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
I thought this book was ok. It was definitely fast packed and action filled but I didn't really love the story. There was nothing wrong with it per say, I just didn't really like it.
This story is based on the true story of The Walled city of Kowloon, Hong Kong. The sad thing is I didn't realise this until I read the author's note at the back of the book. The names of all locations had been changed in the book, and I really don't think this was a good move. I often got confused remembering what and where everything was.
I also felt an aura of "It isn't real" while reading, and if the author had done something as simple as maintain the real names of Hong Kong, Kowloon etc, I think this book would have been much easier to visualise. This is based on a true story and obviously a lot of work went into producing an accurate picture of life in the lawless city, but I felt that was all thrown away with the use of pseudonyms .
I didn't love the characters or connect with them. The style of writing was ok and I thought the three points of view was a good way to tell the story.
I just didn't really like this book that much but thats ok because there are some books out there you just don't like. I finished it and thats all I really ask for in a book.
I'd give this book a 4/10
This story is based on the true story of The Walled city of Kowloon, Hong Kong. The sad thing is I didn't realise this until I read the author's note at the back of the book. The names of all locations had been changed in the book, and I really don't think this was a good move. I often got confused remembering what and where everything was.
I also felt an aura of "It isn't real" while reading, and if the author had done something as simple as maintain the real names of Hong Kong, Kowloon etc, I think this book would have been much easier to visualise. This is based on a true story and obviously a lot of work went into producing an accurate picture of life in the lawless city, but I felt that was all thrown away with the use of pseudonyms .
I didn't love the characters or connect with them. The style of writing was ok and I thought the three points of view was a good way to tell the story.
I just didn't really like this book that much but thats ok because there are some books out there you just don't like. I finished it and thats all I really ask for in a book.
I'd give this book a 4/10
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
An exciting yet lyrically written adventure set in a version of Kowloon, Hong Kong's former walled ghetto. The lives of three teens intersect--the girl Mei Yee who was sold to a brothel and longs to be free from her prison; Mei Yee's younger sister Jin Ling, who disguises herself as a boy and lives a hand-to-mouth existence on the gang-ridden streets as she searches for some sign of where her sister is being held; and Dai, a boy street rat in the city racing against a deadline to uncover evidence that will help him clear his name. All three despise their lives in the city, as they are tied to the gangs and especially The Brotherhood, which runs the brothels and drugs and other illegal activities, and leaves death in its wake. I really liked the setting, which was gritty, dark, dirty, and had a kind of dystopian/apocalyptic feeling. I liked the characters, who all showed strength in the face of extremity. I loved the language, which was almost poetic, very lyrical, full of neat metaphors such as "syllables strung together like herbs drying from rafters." That's not really a great example, I suppose, but just in general the language flowed nicely and slowed the reader down to savor it. In particular I liked Mei Yee's descriptions of how she saw the simple objects in her room and the limited view out her tiny window. You easily sensed her longing and despair. And despite the setting of a brothel, no sex scenes were described; it was all alluded to very circumspectly, so you could give this to a middle school reader. (Although there is a scene of drug use, and some violence. Okay maybe not for middle school after all now that I think about it.)
I read a digital copy of this book from netgalley.com.
I read a digital copy of this book from netgalley.com.
This book is beautiful and gripping and haunting. It's been a long time since I've read a 400+ page book as quickly as I read this. The characters and the setting and the plot all sucked me in. It's fast-paced but doesn't sacrifice character development to plot. And it turns out it's more of a sort of historical fiction than dystopian. Google Kowloon Walled City to learn about the setting of this book. It was real. And it comes back to life in this novel. I definitely recommend this book and am thankful to Around the World ARC Tours for letting me borrow their ARC to read.
This took me a little while to get into. The world didn't make a lot of sense -- and that's purposeful -- and I had difficulty distinguishing among the three voices. But that actually made me want to keep reading and figure out what was going on and what the stakes and motivations were for each of the three characters, Dai, Jin Ling, and Mei Yee. Once those became clearer, this was a page-turner.
It's interesting to see how people are categorizing this one. It's not a dystopia. It's not fantasy. It's not science fiction. It's realistic fiction, though it's set abroad in a world that's unfamiliar to most readers. This is a walled city, one based on the Kowloon Walled City. It's ruled by drug lords and the trafficking of drugs and of people is everywhere. That's how the city operates: it's not a government power but a power of lawlessness.
Any explanation of the three characters and who they are would be spoiler. That's part of why they're a little difficult to understand when the story opens; they aren't necessarily who they claim they are. More, they are all tied together, and the way they're connected is intricate and yet makes perfect sense.
It didn't feel like Graudin took shortcuts in this one, and I appreciated that. The stakes are high, the turns and twists felt real and authentic, and at the end, I didn't feel like I'd been cheated. This isn't an easy, happy read. There's not going to be a magical romance. And it's going to be a little jarring at the start. But those are features, not bugs, of the book.
It's interesting to see how people are categorizing this one. It's not a dystopia. It's not fantasy. It's not science fiction. It's realistic fiction, though it's set abroad in a world that's unfamiliar to most readers. This is a walled city, one based on the Kowloon Walled City. It's ruled by drug lords and the trafficking of drugs and of people is everywhere. That's how the city operates: it's not a government power but a power of lawlessness.
Any explanation of the three characters and who they are would be spoiler. That's part of why they're a little difficult to understand when the story opens; they aren't necessarily who they claim they are. More, they are all tied together, and the way they're connected is intricate and yet makes perfect sense.
It didn't feel like Graudin took shortcuts in this one, and I appreciated that. The stakes are high, the turns and twists felt real and authentic, and at the end, I didn't feel like I'd been cheated. This isn't an easy, happy read. There's not going to be a magical romance. And it's going to be a little jarring at the start. But those are features, not bugs, of the book.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Note: I received a free copy of "The Walled City" from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I finally got around to reading this book after having requested it months ago and I'm so disappointed in myself that I hadn't read it earlier! This was a wow book.
"The Walled City" by Ryan Graudin is set in Hak Nam, a fictionalized version of Hong Kong's very real Kowloon Walled City which was a densely populated settlement that was a hot bed of gambling, prostitution and drug use. And the three main characters are involved in it all (well other than the gambling...I don't believe there was any gambling?)
The chapters were told from the point of view of three very different and distinct characters who all have their own secrets. (And the author did a very good job of keeping the sections distinct, I never forgot whose section I was reading as I read it!) There's Dai: a boy who traffics drugs for redemption, Jin: a young girl posing as a boy in order to find her sister who has been sold into prostitution by their father, and Mei Yee: a girl who has been trapped in a brothel for two years and who, throughout the novel, learns that she has more strength than she could have ever imagined.
Just from the book blurb I knew how two of the characters were connected but I was very curious to know how they were all going to meet and it was splendid. It was dark and gritty and real and not the situation, the characters felt real as well. Every time someone pulled out a gun or a knife or interacted with the gang leaders I feared for the characters lives. And I was cheering them on as they raced to beat the clock and get what they needed to get out safely.
And to add to my enjoyment (though it feels wrong to say I "enjoyed" a book with such horribly realistic dark situations like human and drug trafficking) I also decided to do one of those 2015 book challenges and I chose this one to qualify as my "book set in another country" because even though Ryan Graudin changed the names of the real locations it was very clear what city this was based on (there was even an author's note at the end of the book) and that city was in China.
I finally got around to reading this book after having requested it months ago and I'm so disappointed in myself that I hadn't read it earlier! This was a wow book.
"The Walled City" by Ryan Graudin is set in Hak Nam, a fictionalized version of Hong Kong's very real Kowloon Walled City which was a densely populated settlement that was a hot bed of gambling, prostitution and drug use. And the three main characters are involved in it all (well other than the gambling...I don't believe there was any gambling?)
The chapters were told from the point of view of three very different and distinct characters who all have their own secrets. (And the author did a very good job of keeping the sections distinct, I never forgot whose section I was reading as I read it!) There's Dai: a boy who traffics drugs for redemption, Jin: a young girl posing as a boy in order to find her sister who has been sold into prostitution by their father, and Mei Yee: a girl who has been trapped in a brothel for two years and who, throughout the novel, learns that she has more strength than she could have ever imagined.
Just from the book blurb I knew how two of the characters were connected but I was very curious to know how they were all going to meet and it was splendid. It was dark and gritty and real and not the situation, the characters felt real as well. Every time someone pulled out a gun or a knife or interacted with the gang leaders I feared for the characters lives. And I was cheering them on as they raced to beat the clock and get what they needed to get out safely.
And to add to my enjoyment (though it feels wrong to say I "enjoyed" a book with such horribly realistic dark situations like human and drug trafficking) I also decided to do one of those 2015 book challenges and I chose this one to qualify as my "book set in another country" because even though Ryan Graudin changed the names of the real locations it was very clear what city this was based on (there was even an author's note at the end of the book) and that city was in China.
Want to see more bookish things from me? Check out my Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCferU-BCL2dlFjWdD0rS75Q
Jin, Mei Yee and Dai are trapped in the Walled City, run by crime lords and fueled by drugs and brothels. Jin has been masquerading as a male, looking for her long lost sister. When Dai gives her the chance to enter the last brothel she hasn't searched, she jumps on the chance.
This started off really slow in my opinion, and it took me a while to get invested in the story. It did pick up eventually, and then I began to actually care. The last-third of the book was definitely the best part. I did like the three alternating POVs, but they all were pretty similar. I liked learning their backstories, and why they were on the journey they were on. Dai was probably my favourite, just because he had the most mystery behind his reason for needing to leave the Walled City.
Overall, it was alright, but too slow of a start for me.
Jin, Mei Yee and Dai are trapped in the Walled City, run by crime lords and fueled by drugs and brothels. Jin has been masquerading as a male, looking for her long lost sister. When Dai gives her the chance to enter the last brothel she hasn't searched, she jumps on the chance.
This started off really slow in my opinion, and it took me a while to get invested in the story. It did pick up eventually, and then I began to actually care. The last-third of the book was definitely the best part. I did like the three alternating POVs, but they all were pretty similar. I liked learning their backstories, and why they were on the journey they were on. Dai was probably my favourite, just because he had the most mystery behind his reason for needing to leave the Walled City.
Overall, it was alright, but too slow of a start for me.
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
after the adrenaline rush i got from Wolf by Wolf (which accompanied an excitement for YA that i haven't felt in a long time), this was sort of a let down. there was so much i WANTED to like- the Asian characters (Even though sometimes i questioned the seemingly interchangeable use of japanese/chinese names, but i'll take accept what she says in the Author's Note as true, especially bc the editor is a Taiwanese American woman), the fact that the love between 2 sisters drove so much of the story... but ultimately, it was sort of boring? but I will still keep an eye out for her future projects bc that's how good wolf by wolf was