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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
I really enjoyed this book. It took me a while to get into it, because there were a lot of Japanese words I didn't know. (Stupid Kindle. Didn't realise there was a glossary until I got to the end!) I kept Googling things to find out what they were (like the names of weapons, etc). After about 1/3 the way through, however, I was totally hooked.
I LOVE stories where the main character bonds with an animal and they talk together in their heads (Robin Hobb's Farseer books and the Eragon books come to mind), and I absolutely loved Burru. There were a few plot points I saw coming a mile off, but there was enough to keep me guessing that it stayed exciting. I'm definitely interested in reading the next one, if and when it comes out!
I LOVE stories where the main character bonds with an animal and they talk together in their heads (Robin Hobb's Farseer books and the Eragon books come to mind), and I absolutely loved Burru. There were a few plot points I saw coming a mile off, but there was enough to keep me guessing that it stayed exciting. I'm definitely interested in reading the next one, if and when it comes out!
Now I want to start by saying this is not a bad book. Not at all. And for a debut, it is pretty good; however, I do believe it would have been all the better if it had gone through another round of editing.
The first 50 or so pages were hard to get through. And I mean HARD. Like, if I hadn't read from other reviews that it got better after that, I probably wouldn't have finished. And I had to skim. I hate skimming. One of the biggest problems this book had was description. It was entirely too bogged down with description. It dragged the beginning, making it both boring and confusing. This continued throughout the book. One object could be the center of description several different times in lengthy paragraphs. Also, sayings were repeated a little too often. I understand the point of them and I did like them but they were so over used that the poignancy and impact were lost a little.
Furthermore, there is a glossary. Not that that is bad but the story relies to heavily on people reading the glossary to understand the novel. I think that that is a dangerous road to go on for any author. If someone doesn't know there is a glossary (which the likelihood increases if they are reading on an e-reader) and they don't have a familiarity with Japanese words and culture, they are going to be thoroughly lost. Drowning lost. And the sign of a good writer is that there is enough context that if someone doesn't understand a word or gesture they can figure that out. Unfortunately, that was lacking from the book.
Also, I felt the loves in the book were a little underdeveloped. I never felt fulling invested in one of them at all because there wasn't much foundation for the love and that reduced the impact of the plot twist.
Now that probably sounds like I didn't like it at all. Which is untrue. I did like it but I definitely think it would have ranked much higher for me if the author had had better control over his prose. That's all. Now, I loved the premise. I mean, Japanese steampunk, come on! I've never read anything like it. I was intrigued and I did finish. The deaths at the end were moving and I do think it is very brave -and necessary- to have deaths to show the high stakes in this sort of story.
Overall, if you love description or if you won't let it ruin a good story, I would recommend this book. If not, give it a pass.
The first 50 or so pages were hard to get through. And I mean HARD. Like, if I hadn't read from other reviews that it got better after that, I probably wouldn't have finished. And I had to skim. I hate skimming. One of the biggest problems this book had was description. It was entirely too bogged down with description. It dragged the beginning, making it both boring and confusing. This continued throughout the book. One object could be the center of description several different times in lengthy paragraphs. Also, sayings were repeated a little too often. I understand the point of them and I did like them but they were so over used that the poignancy and impact were lost a little.
Furthermore, there is a glossary. Not that that is bad but the story relies to heavily on people reading the glossary to understand the novel. I think that that is a dangerous road to go on for any author. If someone doesn't know there is a glossary (which the likelihood increases if they are reading on an e-reader) and they don't have a familiarity with Japanese words and culture, they are going to be thoroughly lost. Drowning lost. And the sign of a good writer is that there is enough context that if someone doesn't understand a word or gesture they can figure that out. Unfortunately, that was lacking from the book.
Also, I felt the loves in the book were a little underdeveloped. I never felt fulling invested in one of them at all because there wasn't much foundation for the love and that reduced the impact of the plot twist.
Now that probably sounds like I didn't like it at all. Which is untrue. I did like it but I definitely think it would have ranked much higher for me if the author had had better control over his prose. That's all. Now, I loved the premise. I mean, Japanese steampunk, come on! I've never read anything like it. I was intrigued and I did finish. The deaths at the end were moving and I do think it is very brave -and necessary- to have deaths to show the high stakes in this sort of story.
Overall, if you love description or if you won't let it ruin a good story, I would recommend this book. If not, give it a pass.
This review first appeared on my blog My Life is a Notebook.
There are some times that you have great, high hopes for a book and then you are disappointed.
This is not one of those times.
For the most part. Let’s get those parts over first.
It is undeniable that this is a fantastically written book. I mean, holy moly Jay Kristoff. It isn’t often that you find that level of prose in a YA book. Every sentence was written with complex visuals that left you able to image the scene or object being discussed right down to the smell. Kristoff remembers there is five senses to deal with. However, while I enjoyed this as I tried to understand his equally complex world, I found this to be a problem in action scenes. Often, a section of the book would be bogged down with flowery language that, while impressive, just isn’t what I like to read. I prefer my books to go FAST. It’s strange to explain but the point of this convoluted paragraph is: while I am amazed at the level of prose, it slowed down an otherwise fairly action heavy plot.
While we’re discussing words, let’s talk terms. Japanese terms. Made up terms. Technical terms. There are a LOT of terms in this book. When you pick up a copy of this (which you will, and I’ll explain why in a minute), please remember that there is a glossary in the back. If you’re reading this as an eARC PDF, as I was, there is no easy way to skip between the glossary and the part you’re currently reading. In the first chapter, especially, my mind was BLOWN by all the terminology and I continued to struggle to wrap my head about it for a large portion of the book.
Both those two things are what caused the book to be hard for me to settle into. I was, at the same time, skimming and rereading to try to understand all the terms, but to also have the book move forward in some way. The beginning of the book isn’t very fast (and I don’t like books that start with a chapter and then begin the second chapter with “X amount of time previous”). However, this betrays the rest of the book, especially the entire second half. The second half of the book MOVES.
Despite (and sometimes because of) the way the book was written, I felt that the world building was very solid. I may not have understood every facet, but Kristoff has this down watertight. Despite the crazy premise–I mean, JAPANESE STEAMPUNK?–I never once felt like the world was imaginary. Everything felt real, from most of the characters to all of the settings.
It should be said that this book included two personal pet peeves: unneccessary POV switches and a love triangle. Several, actually. (Some of which occurred in the past but were still prevalent for reasons I didn’t entirely understand.) (And no, the love triangle isn’t a spoiler because it’s really obvious really fast. All of them.)
The POV switches were TOTALLY unnecessary, that is why they irk me. I don’t mind them if they have a purpose, but for me the entire book could have been told by Yukiko and nothing would really have changed. I mean, the book is third person anyways. It was further annoying that the switches could happen over a paragraph break with no warning. If you are going to switch POVs all over the place, please at least use chapter breaks.
Absolutely none of the love triangles in this book were ever fleshed out. There was simply not enough time in this complicated plot. Given that they didn’t really serve a purpose either in the overarching plot, they annoyed me even more than usual.
Alright, alright, I know that’s a lot of negativity right there. But remember, ALL THAT only made me dock ONE STAR from my review. That’s it. All that, just one. Trust me, there is a reason.
For one, I HAVE to admire Kristoff’s prose. I’ll have to return to this when I’m in the mood to really focus on a book, because there will still be so much more new information I can read. I’ve used complex and complicated a lot in this review for a REASON. Stormdancer is, at the very least, ambitious beyond belief in terms of the world-building, the vocabulary and the plot structure. It is then even more impressive that Kristoff manages to present all of it with watertight confidence. I also really enjoyed the characters. Yukiko is my kind of girl (though I’m not sure all that swearing was necessary; I get that she’s tough). Even better, the thunder-tiger’s voice popped off the page and really grew throughout the book. He was probably my favorite character of them all.
Oh dear, this review is getting way longer than I like mine to be. Oh dear. Uh. I’ll try to wrap this up quickly. Basically, here’s the deal: a lot of things that annoyed me in this book were personal preference and require the right mood from me. The important thing to remember is that even though there WERE all those things, I’m still giving this book 4 stars. It was SO GOOD it overcame all the annoying parts. It was SO GOOD that I slapped my keyboard when I realized Goodreads has neither a title nor a release date for book 2. Was it perfect? No. But it was pretty darn close.
There are some times that you have great, high hopes for a book and then you are disappointed.
This is not one of those times.
For the most part. Let’s get those parts over first.
It is undeniable that this is a fantastically written book. I mean, holy moly Jay Kristoff. It isn’t often that you find that level of prose in a YA book. Every sentence was written with complex visuals that left you able to image the scene or object being discussed right down to the smell. Kristoff remembers there is five senses to deal with. However, while I enjoyed this as I tried to understand his equally complex world, I found this to be a problem in action scenes. Often, a section of the book would be bogged down with flowery language that, while impressive, just isn’t what I like to read. I prefer my books to go FAST. It’s strange to explain but the point of this convoluted paragraph is: while I am amazed at the level of prose, it slowed down an otherwise fairly action heavy plot.
While we’re discussing words, let’s talk terms. Japanese terms. Made up terms. Technical terms. There are a LOT of terms in this book. When you pick up a copy of this (which you will, and I’ll explain why in a minute), please remember that there is a glossary in the back. If you’re reading this as an eARC PDF, as I was, there is no easy way to skip between the glossary and the part you’re currently reading. In the first chapter, especially, my mind was BLOWN by all the terminology and I continued to struggle to wrap my head about it for a large portion of the book.
Both those two things are what caused the book to be hard for me to settle into. I was, at the same time, skimming and rereading to try to understand all the terms, but to also have the book move forward in some way. The beginning of the book isn’t very fast (and I don’t like books that start with a chapter and then begin the second chapter with “X amount of time previous”). However, this betrays the rest of the book, especially the entire second half. The second half of the book MOVES.
Despite (and sometimes because of) the way the book was written, I felt that the world building was very solid. I may not have understood every facet, but Kristoff has this down watertight. Despite the crazy premise–I mean, JAPANESE STEAMPUNK?–I never once felt like the world was imaginary. Everything felt real, from most of the characters to all of the settings.
It should be said that this book included two personal pet peeves: unneccessary POV switches and a love triangle. Several, actually. (Some of which occurred in the past but were still prevalent for reasons I didn’t entirely understand.) (And no, the love triangle isn’t a spoiler because it’s really obvious really fast. All of them.)
The POV switches were TOTALLY unnecessary, that is why they irk me. I don’t mind them if they have a purpose, but for me the entire book could have been told by Yukiko and nothing would really have changed. I mean, the book is third person anyways. It was further annoying that the switches could happen over a paragraph break with no warning. If you are going to switch POVs all over the place, please at least use chapter breaks.
Absolutely none of the love triangles in this book were ever fleshed out. There was simply not enough time in this complicated plot. Given that they didn’t really serve a purpose either in the overarching plot, they annoyed me even more than usual.
Alright, alright, I know that’s a lot of negativity right there. But remember, ALL THAT only made me dock ONE STAR from my review. That’s it. All that, just one. Trust me, there is a reason.
For one, I HAVE to admire Kristoff’s prose. I’ll have to return to this when I’m in the mood to really focus on a book, because there will still be so much more new information I can read. I’ve used complex and complicated a lot in this review for a REASON. Stormdancer is, at the very least, ambitious beyond belief in terms of the world-building, the vocabulary and the plot structure. It is then even more impressive that Kristoff manages to present all of it with watertight confidence. I also really enjoyed the characters. Yukiko is my kind of girl (though I’m not sure all that swearing was necessary; I get that she’s tough). Even better, the thunder-tiger’s voice popped off the page and really grew throughout the book. He was probably my favorite character of them all.
Oh dear, this review is getting way longer than I like mine to be. Oh dear. Uh. I’ll try to wrap this up quickly. Basically, here’s the deal: a lot of things that annoyed me in this book were personal preference and require the right mood from me. The important thing to remember is that even though there WERE all those things, I’m still giving this book 4 stars. It was SO GOOD it overcame all the annoying parts. It was SO GOOD that I slapped my keyboard when I realized Goodreads has neither a title nor a release date for book 2. Was it perfect? No. But it was pretty darn close.
STORMDANCER is a wild romp through historical Japan—it’s a story that is told with rich prose and is home to characters that will capture your heart.
My cats now demand I call them thunder tigers. :)
So this is Kristoff’s debut eh? Just based of this novel, his writing style and sense of creativity have evolved greatly over the past few years. There is already some use of the weird similes and metaphors that is often talked about, though they are much more sparse compared to his newer works. So far with Kristoff, is that I liked [b: Illuminae|23395680|Illuminae (The Illuminae Files, #1)|Amie Kaufman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1443433956l/23395680._SY75_.jpg|26653661] and really loved the first two books of the Nevernight Chronicles(I still need to get the third book), yet really disliked [b: LIFEL1K3|29456569|LIFEL1K3 (Lifelike, #1)|Jay Kristoff|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1516369970l/29456569._SY75_.jpg|49731905], so I suppose some of his books suit my taste and others don’t really.
I do think that Kristoff is an incredibly talented and capable author, regardless of what people make of his writing style. Since it was his debut, I found the writing to be more on the amateur side of things and I certainly did not like it as much as Nevernight, which just felt so mature, if that makes sense.
The world building in here is blatantly copied from Japan, and features Samurai, Daimyo’s and Shoguns. It really is not the most creative, though I do like that he focused his world on an Eastern culture instead of a Western one. It does rely heavily on Japanese lore and myths, which led to me to want some more original stuff from this novel. The geography is different obviously, and I did like the concept of the lotus killing off the land, though it would appear the overseas war was likely based of the Japanese wars against the Koreans and Chinese.
The book did end up being fairly predictable, perhaps simply that I have read a lot of books and can sort of just tell where the direction of a story is going to end up. The ending reminded me of the ending from [b: The Final Empire|68428|The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1)|Brandon Sanderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1480717416l/68428._SY75_.jpg|66322], which I had nothing wrong with. It simply was not as exciting as I would have liked it to be, even though I managed to plough through the book pretty quickly, as things just keep happening. The novel isn’t very fast paced, but I would not say it is slow either, though their are the occasional lengthy descriptions that do slow down the story a bit.
I found the characters to be fine and well written, though I wasn’t there to root super heavily for any of them. The characters do change and develop, into what I would like to think into more sensible and responsible people that does not trust everyone, especially Yukiko, our main character. Yukiko was a character with an interesting backstory and was well realised as a person with lots of ideas and passions, with people that she cares dearly about.
Overall, I found the book to be fairly average, though it is understandable since it was the author’s first book, and I can happily say that the Nevernight Chronicles are awesome. 5.5/10
I do think that Kristoff is an incredibly talented and capable author, regardless of what people make of his writing style. Since it was his debut, I found the writing to be more on the amateur side of things and I certainly did not like it as much as Nevernight, which just felt so mature, if that makes sense.
The world building in here is blatantly copied from Japan, and features Samurai, Daimyo’s and Shoguns. It really is not the most creative, though I do like that he focused his world on an Eastern culture instead of a Western one. It does rely heavily on Japanese lore and myths, which led to me to want some more original stuff from this novel. The geography is different obviously, and I did like the concept of the lotus killing off the land, though it would appear the overseas war was likely based of the Japanese wars against the Koreans and Chinese.
The book did end up being fairly predictable, perhaps simply that I have read a lot of books and can sort of just tell where the direction of a story is going to end up. The ending reminded me of the ending from [b: The Final Empire|68428|The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1)|Brandon Sanderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1480717416l/68428._SY75_.jpg|66322], which I had nothing wrong with. It simply was not as exciting as I would have liked it to be, even though I managed to plough through the book pretty quickly, as things just keep happening. The novel isn’t very fast paced, but I would not say it is slow either, though their are the occasional lengthy descriptions that do slow down the story a bit.
I found the characters to be fine and well written, though I wasn’t there to root super heavily for any of them. The characters do change and develop, into what I would like to think into more sensible and responsible people that does not trust everyone, especially Yukiko, our main character. Yukiko was a character with an interesting backstory and was well realised as a person with lots of ideas and passions, with people that she cares dearly about.
Overall, I found the book to be fairly average, though it is understandable since it was the author’s first book, and I can happily say that the Nevernight Chronicles are awesome. 5.5/10
Really enjoyed the steam punk/feudal Japan world that Kristoff created. There's a little mythology, a little industrial revolution (gone bad), steam punk armor and yes a thunder tiger. What more could you want out of a story? I really enjoyed the book and I look forward to the next in the series.
Asian steam punk by Jay Kristoff ... do you need any more reasons?
I really enjoyed this beginning of the Lotus War trilogy and after that powerful last line I´m all excited about how the story will continue.
I really enjoyed this beginning of the Lotus War trilogy and after that powerful last line I´m all excited about how the story will continue.
Yukiko is a teenage girl, living at the palace of the Shogun Yoritomo while her father works for him. They are sent to capture a griffin on the whim of Yoritomo. Most people don’t believe griffins exist but some are certain they have seen one in the mountains far north of the filthy, red-smogged Kigen City. To travel there, they have to take a sky-ship and travel for many days.
The plot is thoroughly entertaining, with intrigue, battles, a most unique city, and shaky loyalties. The pace is quick. It isn’t predictable at all, so it gets high marks from me for that. I definitely recommend this book!
I like the exciting adventures in the forests:
I also like the touch of steampunk added to this tale:
My favorite character by far has to be Buruu, the griffin-like arashitora whom the current Shogun wishes to be captured. Buruu can communicate with Yukiko telepathically, something that would bring death to Yukiko if anyone finds out. As a huge, beautiful bird/tiger, he has tremendous strength and of course he can fly.
With the fast pace of the book, I feel that not enough time is spent on the relationships between people. Consequently, decisions that are made by the characters sometimes seem hasty. That’s not to say that relationships aren’t clear, its just that I would have liked to have spent a little more time getting to know them. I’ll hopefully get that chance in the next book!
Stormdancer is a great story of adventure and a pretty amazing debut novel. The first in a planned trilogy, I look forward to picking up the next installment.
Well done, Jay Kristoff!
The plot is thoroughly entertaining, with intrigue, battles, a most unique city, and shaky loyalties. The pace is quick. It isn’t predictable at all, so it gets high marks from me for that. I definitely recommend this book!
I like the exciting adventures in the forests:
Sailing skyward, the length of cable fell short of Yukiko’s grasp again. She wailed in frustration. Gray, scaled talons stretched out and seized hold of the hook; a clumsy fist, still smeared with trout blood. Buruu growled and snapped the wire up into his beak, heaving with all his strength. Kin was screaming and slapping the flames spreading across his body as two tons of muscle hauled him out of the trap…Buruu spread his wings for balance and backed away, cable and claws cutting into moist earth as the boy emerged flaming at the lip of the pit.
I also like the touch of steampunk added to this tale:
Yukiko beat the fire with soaking branches, and between the rain and bursts of strange white foam from valves at the suit’s collar, the flames soon died.
Kin gasped, his throat and face charred. Yukiko clubbed at the jammed emergency release with the hilt of her tantō until she heard a dull, metallic snap. Clockwork seals grudgingly unwound, the atmos-suit peeled open, heated metal steaming in the rain.
My favorite character by far has to be Buruu, the griffin-like arashitora whom the current Shogun wishes to be captured. Buruu can communicate with Yukiko telepathically, something that would bring death to Yukiko if anyone finds out. As a huge, beautiful bird/tiger, he has tremendous strength and of course he can fly.
With the fast pace of the book, I feel that not enough time is spent on the relationships between people. Consequently, decisions that are made by the characters sometimes seem hasty. That’s not to say that relationships aren’t clear, its just that I would have liked to have spent a little more time getting to know them. I’ll hopefully get that chance in the next book!
Stormdancer is a great story of adventure and a pretty amazing debut novel. The first in a planned trilogy, I look forward to picking up the next installment.
Well done, Jay Kristoff!
Fun — good world building, a few unexpected twists. The whole affair struck me as too easy, though — not a lot of struggle.