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rome_from_ruins 's review for:
When I picked up this book from Barnes and Noble I had been craving a good Japanese tale of adventure that involved a little magic and romance. Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff gave me these things plus the addition of a kick ass heroine and a remarkable steampunk setting as a backdrop for all of the action and drama that is packed into this debut novel. I was expecting action from the beginning and was not disappointed when the first chapter involved iron war clubs, murderous Oni, and knife wielding heroines. From there however the book took a rapid turn and the next few pages involved a much more mundane setting (well as mundane as one can get in steampunk feudal Japan). Yukiko is introduced as well as a rather motley gang of Hunters that she calls family, among them her addict father Masaru. Then comes the first problem with this novel.
Though I am a fan of novels having a certain sense of realism involved in world building I do not condone the use of Wikipedia-esque information dumps. They just make the author seem lazy and unconcerned with the flow of the story as it is now broken up into pieces amid the huge paragraphs of information. Most of the second and third chapters irritated me with just this characteristic. I took almost three chapters for the characters to walk down the street. Everything was described excessively and in more than one way. In short the over zealous descriptions made the reader tired before even getting thirty pages into the story. Once or twice during these drug out chapters the thought of putting the book down surfaced in my mind, but I continued hoping that it would get better. I was not disappointed
The rest of the novel was punctuated by odd Japanese words that made my tongue twist in agony and my mind struggle to adjust to the language that is about as familiar to me as the surface of Mars. Despite these problems the story soon picked up with the capture of the Arashitora otherwise known as a Thunder Tiger. They are supposedly extinct but obviously that theory is disproved about a quickly as it is proposed. The beast is wild and soon the arashitora causes problems with the hunters sky ship. Along with the dangerous storm that cropped up. The crew along with Yukiko and her friends are about to be sent overboard. In a desperate attempt to calm the beast Yukiko reveals a power that is forbidden in the island country of Shima;it's called Kenning, and it allows the person to communicate with animals and other beasts through a type of telepathy. She makes contact but the ship is to badly damaged and they go down. Her father and friends escape on a lifeboat while Yukiko frees the arashitora and rides off astride its back. For a while at least until the beast decides that it doesn't want her riding in and bucks her off. Yukiko and the arashitora which she names Buruu become friends and embark on a journey to kill the Shogun and free the country from his tyranny.
This fast paced novel was over to quickly in my opinion and I was eager for the next installment. Sadly the second book is not out and without a release date I have no clue when I will be able to return to Shima and its oppressed society. I give it a solid 4 stars and hope to be able to read the sequel as soon as it comes out.