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snd1101 's review for:
Stormdancer
by Jay Kristoff
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON LIBRARYTHING; RECEIVED AS LIBRARYTHING EARLY REVIEWERS PROOF
Long story short, I really did enjoy this book. I think the concept of [culture other than English] steampunk is neat, and while I didn't find the female character extraordinary by any means, she was at least an interesting character to follow throughout the plot.
But it wasn't without its flaws. In order to set the scene, Kristoff made an effort to make EVERYTHING Japanese. Now, this wouldn't be a problem if his answer to the question "How much research did you do?" was anything other than the following (http://dashcooray.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/an-interview-with-jay-kristoff-stormdancer/):
"Less than people seem to think. It’s kinda odd – I’ve had people ask if I did a degree in Japanese studies, but the closest I’ve come is reading all six volumes of AKIRA in a week. Maybe I’d picked up a lot of detail through film and manga that I’ve consumed down through the years, but Wikipedia was really my go-to-guy. I have a friend who lives in Japan who I bounce ideas off too. I pay him with the promise of booze."
Wikipedia is not a good source. Manga is not a good source. The only people who think he did a degree in Japanese studies must be studying similar sources, because my limited Japanophilia picked up on some distinctly off things about his research. Frankly, Kristoff ought to be ashamed at the shoddy research he did, not trumpeting about it in interviews.
"Sama" and "san" are honorifics, attached to a person's name, and are never used by themselves to mean "sir" or "my lord" as Kristoff seems to think they are. (Even Wikipedia should tell you this! I would be amazed if it didn't.) Weapons and clothing are given in straight-up Japanese in the text, with a brief glossary at the end. Unfortunately, I would be surprised if a lot of people found the glossary unless they were specifically looking for one, but it does exist, and it doesn't really matter to the story that I didn't know what a "wakaizashi" was, much less a "chainwakaizashi". (That it didn't matter to the story is, of course, another issue entirely—I get that fight scenes can get a little tedious to write, but when the characters are using weaponry and what precisely they're using is mentioned, IT SHOULD MATTER.) Kimonos are/were not actually everyday wear.
The lead character, so Patrick Rothfuss blurbs on the front cover, is strong and female. When we talk about strong female leads, I expect something more along the lines of Tamora Pierce's female leads, not some cold, mopey girl who's good at fighting and is instantly softened and easily tricked by the guy she has a crush on/is sleeping with. Uh, no. Being a good fighter does not make a strong female lead (because I doubt they were talking about her musculature when they said "strong"); a strong female lead should not be reliant on male characters for fighting, for satisfaction, for saving her, and certainly should be canny enough to not trust some guy who she just met and who has access to both her room and her body.
The pacing is a little strange throughout the book—the first quarter and last quarter went by quickly, but the middle half was so slow I had to justify it to myself that this is the first in a trilogy, so maybe nothing extraordinary happens until Book Three. (I was wrong. What does he have left to write in the next two books now?) The middle seemed to be the best thought out and planned section of the book, while the beginning was only being used as a setup and to get to the middle/end, and the end happened as if Kristoff got a little too excited and let the entirety of his plot wrap up in the final 30-40 pages... which is not ideal, for the author or the reader. I think he lucked out in having a lot of action at the end; without that, the reader would notice that they had to make some leaps of faith to follow the plot.
This book has potential, though. It's painfully obvious that this is a debut novel, but the series should be an interesting one. Kristoff is very good at writing engaging action scenes and at coming up with an interesting plot, so in spite of all this, I did enjoy the book and am looking forward to the next. If he does some proper research and the lead character grows, then he should have some excellent books coming up in the future.
Long story short, I really did enjoy this book. I think the concept of [culture other than English] steampunk is neat, and while I didn't find the female character extraordinary by any means, she was at least an interesting character to follow throughout the plot.
But it wasn't without its flaws. In order to set the scene, Kristoff made an effort to make EVERYTHING Japanese. Now, this wouldn't be a problem if his answer to the question "How much research did you do?" was anything other than the following (http://dashcooray.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/an-interview-with-jay-kristoff-stormdancer/):
"Less than people seem to think. It’s kinda odd – I’ve had people ask if I did a degree in Japanese studies, but the closest I’ve come is reading all six volumes of AKIRA in a week. Maybe I’d picked up a lot of detail through film and manga that I’ve consumed down through the years, but Wikipedia was really my go-to-guy. I have a friend who lives in Japan who I bounce ideas off too. I pay him with the promise of booze."
Wikipedia is not a good source. Manga is not a good source. The only people who think he did a degree in Japanese studies must be studying similar sources, because my limited Japanophilia picked up on some distinctly off things about his research. Frankly, Kristoff ought to be ashamed at the shoddy research he did, not trumpeting about it in interviews.
"Sama" and "san" are honorifics, attached to a person's name, and are never used by themselves to mean "sir" or "my lord" as Kristoff seems to think they are. (Even Wikipedia should tell you this! I would be amazed if it didn't.) Weapons and clothing are given in straight-up Japanese in the text, with a brief glossary at the end. Unfortunately, I would be surprised if a lot of people found the glossary unless they were specifically looking for one, but it does exist, and it doesn't really matter to the story that I didn't know what a "wakaizashi" was, much less a "chainwakaizashi". (That it didn't matter to the story is, of course, another issue entirely—I get that fight scenes can get a little tedious to write, but when the characters are using weaponry and what precisely they're using is mentioned, IT SHOULD MATTER.) Kimonos are/were not actually everyday wear.
The lead character, so Patrick Rothfuss blurbs on the front cover, is strong and female. When we talk about strong female leads, I expect something more along the lines of Tamora Pierce's female leads, not some cold, mopey girl who's good at fighting and is instantly softened and easily tricked by the guy she has a crush on/is sleeping with. Uh, no. Being a good fighter does not make a strong female lead (because I doubt they were talking about her musculature when they said "strong"); a strong female lead should not be reliant on male characters for fighting, for satisfaction, for saving her, and certainly should be canny enough to not trust some guy who she just met and who has access to both her room and her body.
The pacing is a little strange throughout the book—the first quarter and last quarter went by quickly, but the middle half was so slow I had to justify it to myself that this is the first in a trilogy, so maybe nothing extraordinary happens until Book Three. (I was wrong. What does he have left to write in the next two books now?) The middle seemed to be the best thought out and planned section of the book, while the beginning was only being used as a setup and to get to the middle/end, and the end happened as if Kristoff got a little too excited and let the entirety of his plot wrap up in the final 30-40 pages... which is not ideal, for the author or the reader. I think he lucked out in having a lot of action at the end; without that, the reader would notice that they had to make some leaps of faith to follow the plot.
This book has potential, though. It's painfully obvious that this is a debut novel, but the series should be an interesting one. Kristoff is very good at writing engaging action scenes and at coming up with an interesting plot, so in spite of all this, I did enjoy the book and am looking forward to the next. If he does some proper research and the lead character grows, then he should have some excellent books coming up in the future.