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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
This book was WAY better than I thought it was going to be. It had a lot going on and was hard to keep straight more than once along the way, but I really enjoyed it. Combined Japanese culture, steampunk, fantasy and dystopian. Totally new and different but still really good. Looking forward to the next one!
Original rating: 3 stars
I really didn't like this book originally but now that I found out how offensive to Japanese people this is, I am clearing my rating. I will no longer be reading any more self authored books by Jay Kristoff.
I really didn't like this book originally but now that I found out how offensive to Japanese people this is, I am clearing my rating. I will no longer be reading any more self authored books by Jay Kristoff.
It was a little difficult to get into since it has a lot of Japanese terminology. I'm thankful that the author included a dictionary at the end of the book.
"Stormdancer" is a little different than the books I usually read but it was interesting nonetheless. When I got through the terminology I pretty much couldn't put the book down (in the moments that I got some time to read).
The book is about a young girl Yukiko and her loved ones in a steampunk, Japan-inspired land. Their mission is to capture the last known arashitora - an order from the current Shõgun. Of course, there is a sudden plot twist and change of plans.
Everything is so beautifully described and feels so alive. It's not difficult to imagine the landscapes and creatures throughout the book.
"Stormdancer" is a little different than the books I usually read but it was interesting nonetheless. When I got through the terminology I pretty much couldn't put the book down (in the moments that I got some time to read).
The book is about a young girl Yukiko and her loved ones in a steampunk, Japan-inspired land. Their mission is to capture the last known arashitora - an order from the current Shõgun. Of course, there is a sudden plot twist and change of plans.
Everything is so beautifully described and feels so alive. It's not difficult to imagine the landscapes and creatures throughout the book.
What a horrible, polluted, red skied, graceless future world, where demons exist and the wonders are thought extinct.
In this feudal futuristic Japan like country, Shima, all is ruled by the red lotus farming, they use its flower for everything, for powering machinery, weapons, steampunk cyborg type humans, as a drug, and many other utilities, it’s also responsible for the fumes that kill so many, the death of all farmable land, the disappearance of wondrous creatures, and what allows the Lotus Guild (enterprise/government/faith) to exercise control over the population and even its ruler, the Shogun, from the tiger clan, one of the four surviving clans.
Ruled by bushido, honor and service above all, the people are mostly slaves or soldiers in a war against the west and the gaijin.
In service to the Shogun and his dream of glory as a Stormdancer (riders of thunder tigers) the famous Black Fox, the imperial hunter, is ordered to go in look and capture of the lost mythical creature. With him goes his daughter, our mc, Yukiko, a stubborn, strong, brave and compassionate girl, with a magical ability she’s been hiding since childhood.
Safe to say they will find the gryphon, the marvellous thunder tiger, and his capture will change Yukiko’s life forever.
This is a story of compassion and rebellion, of forgiveness and vengeance.
The relationship between Yukiko and Buruu (the captured thunder tiger) is the best part of the story, but there’s so much, so many great characters and moments, such richness of world and feelings.
Jay is a great writer, every detail is vivid and full of life, although I did find the beginning quite hard due to the massive world building, and even by the end there were always so many new details, difficult words and concepts for a westerner, still I’m completely enthralled by this story and can’t wait to know more of what the future holds for this world, Yukiko and Buruu.
I dropped a star but I’m still unsure, it was pretty difficult not to give it the 5⭐️ because I loved it a lot.
In this feudal futuristic Japan like country, Shima, all is ruled by the red lotus farming, they use its flower for everything, for powering machinery, weapons, steampunk cyborg type humans, as a drug, and many other utilities, it’s also responsible for the fumes that kill so many, the death of all farmable land, the disappearance of wondrous creatures, and what allows the Lotus Guild (enterprise/government/faith) to exercise control over the population and even its ruler, the Shogun, from the tiger clan, one of the four surviving clans.
Ruled by bushido, honor and service above all, the people are mostly slaves or soldiers in a war against the west and the gaijin.
In service to the Shogun and his dream of glory as a Stormdancer (riders of thunder tigers) the famous Black Fox, the imperial hunter, is ordered to go in look and capture of the lost mythical creature. With him goes his daughter, our mc, Yukiko, a stubborn, strong, brave and compassionate girl, with a magical ability she’s been hiding since childhood.
Safe to say they will find the gryphon, the marvellous thunder tiger, and his capture will change Yukiko’s life forever.
This is a story of compassion and rebellion, of forgiveness and vengeance.
The relationship between Yukiko and Buruu (the captured thunder tiger) is the best part of the story, but there’s so much, so many great characters and moments, such richness of world and feelings.
Jay is a great writer, every detail is vivid and full of life, although I did find the beginning quite hard due to the massive world building, and even by the end there were always so many new details, difficult words and concepts for a westerner, still I’m completely enthralled by this story and can’t wait to know more of what the future holds for this world, Yukiko and Buruu.
I dropped a star but I’m still unsure, it was pretty difficult not to give it the 5⭐️ because I loved it a lot.
In a steampunk land based on feudal Japan where the blood lotus powers it machines and pollutes its skies, a mad shogun commands his chief hunter to find him a griffin, despite the fact that the creatures have vanished. But the hunter and his daughter Yukiko find one, only for their airship to go down in flames, leaving Yukiko stranded in the wilderness with a crippled griffin. The world building in Stormdancer is fabulous--Kristoff has thought out every aspect of this world and fills each page with rich detail. But he never sacrifices emotional impact for elaborate mythology and the characters in this book are just as vividly drawn as those in any "literary" novel. Yukiko is a clever and resilient heroine that I found myself cheering for on every page of the book, and the other characters are just as complex (even the villains are legitimately terrifying). It's Buuru, the griffin himself, who ultimately emerges as one of the characters and it's fascinating to see how he grows and changes throughout the novel. It does drag a little in the first 100 pages, as Kristoff fills every scene with more detail and less plot, but the twists and turns of the next 200 more than make up for it. Recommended for fantasy nerds ready for a challenge.
Upon reflection, I've decided that while I really liked this book, I won't keep it on my shelf or continue this series because I feel that fantasy books about this culture should really be told by authors of this culture, and my space could be taken up by those books instead.
If you are aware of this issue and that the representation won't be all that accurate, and don't mind that this is a white author writing about a Japanese based culture and it isn't always the most accurate, it is good. I'm just too aware now and I want to support authors of colour who struggle to publish books like this while white authors easily do so.
It's come to light that Jay Kristoff is a pretty problematic author when it comes to issues like how he's handled race and how he's behaved toward fans and other people online. You can look this up if you want to know; I'm not here to educate you.
If you are aware of this issue and that the representation won't be all that accurate, and don't mind that this is a white author writing about a Japanese based culture and it isn't always the most accurate, it is good. I'm just too aware now and I want to support authors of colour who struggle to publish books like this while white authors easily do so.
It's come to light that Jay Kristoff is a pretty problematic author when it comes to issues like how he's handled race and how he's behaved toward fans and other people online. You can look this up if you want to know; I'm not here to educate you.
This is how the rain becomes a flood. One drop at a time.
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Okay. My immediate thought while reading this book, with near every page turn was: "Wow. This book is in sore need of a good editor." It's one of the few books I noticed a clear typo in the main character's name and many inclusions of Japanese terms were misused throughout. There were times when I was fully immersed and immediately ripped out of the world by a misplaced suffix. Typos are one thing; I can see how they get missed even with a critical eye. But a setting like this really needed more than just brief wiki-research.
That aside, I really enjoy Kristoff's style. I've seen complaints about the way his prose lingers and seems superfluous but I did appreciate the attention to setting, especially with the prior issues. The dialogue discounting misplaced terms was fluid and I loved the dialogues between Yukiko and Buruu. I adore Buruu.
I honestly struggle to think of a character in this book that I actively disliked, besides the villain. I loved Yukiko's character and development, especially when bouncing off of Buruu, and apart from some eye-rolling moments of vapid attachment/attraction to another character, she was very believable as a main character.
Overall, I'm a pretty generous reviewer, which is why this lies at 4 stars instead of 3 despite my issues (although I would say its a rounded up 3.5). I did genuinely enjoy Stormdancer and I can only hope that much of the issues I had with it are fixed with the second and third books.
-
Okay. My immediate thought while reading this book, with near every page turn was: "Wow. This book is in sore need of a good editor." It's one of the few books I noticed a clear typo in the main character's name and many inclusions of Japanese terms were misused throughout. There were times when I was fully immersed and immediately ripped out of the world by a misplaced suffix. Typos are one thing; I can see how they get missed even with a critical eye. But a setting like this really needed more than just brief wiki-research.
That aside, I really enjoy Kristoff's style. I've seen complaints about the way his prose lingers and seems superfluous but I did appreciate the attention to setting, especially with the prior issues. The dialogue discounting misplaced terms was fluid and I loved the dialogues between Yukiko and Buruu. I adore Buruu.
I honestly struggle to think of a character in this book that I actively disliked, besides the villain. I loved Yukiko's character and development, especially when bouncing off of Buruu, and apart from some eye-rolling moments of vapid attachment/attraction to another character, she was very believable as a main character.
Overall, I'm a pretty generous reviewer, which is why this lies at 4 stars instead of 3 despite my issues (although I would say its a rounded up 3.5). I did genuinely enjoy Stormdancer and I can only hope that much of the issues I had with it are fixed with the second and third books.
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Perhaps the thing that stuck with me the most after reading Jay Kristoff’s Stormdancer is that I would like an arashitora – a half eagle, half tiger- of my very own. In all seriousness though, Stormdancer is a powerful read about rising up against oppression set against the backdrop of a fictional land called Shima that may as well be feudal steampunk Japan. As a patient reader, I reveled in the days spent reading Kristoff’s richly detailed writing.
Read the rest of my review here link goes live 8/23/12
Read the rest of my review here link goes live 8/23/12
I didn't finish the book but I'm done. Cultural appropriation aside, the author couldn't even put together a cohesive story that made sense. And then of course, there was the theft and subsequent butchering of Japanese language and culture. I may have let it slide if it seemed that the author had consulted historians or experts, but as other critics have noted, it seems like he only consulted Wikipedia before building his world.
It's really a shame, because I really loved the idea of a steam punk samurai story. I guess I'll have to stick to anime for that.
It's really a shame, because I really loved the idea of a steam punk samurai story. I guess I'll have to stick to anime for that.