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A review by etinney
The Walled City by Ryan Graudin
4.0
3.75 out of 5 stars
I just want to say at the beginning if you are thinking of reading this book, **TRIGGER WARNING for sexual assault, violence**
The Walled City is a very unique YA story. It is based on the real city of Kowloon in Hong Kong, which makes a very interesting setting for this fictionalized story.
The plot was very interesting. At the beginning of the story, it sounds like it is going to be a fast-paced dystopian-type tale. However, the story is much more slow-burning and focuses on building tension and the characters. The story is extremely tragic, especially when hearing the description of the brothel in which one of the characters live. The descriptions of the Walled City are very gritty and show how desperate the characters' situations are. The plot is very well paced. However, I do wish we got more background on the characters/setting. They are very interesting, and I think one 400 page book did not do them enough justice.
Graudin does not shy away from violence and swearing, which is very refreshing in YA. The characters do swear and there are descriptions of violence (they are not too gory, however).
The multiple POV's does work in this story. I did listen to the audiobook, which had different voice actors for each POV. This helped me differentiate who was speaking, so I am not sure if it would be as easy in the text.
This book is a very unique read in the YA genre. It was refreshing to read after a million dystopians in a row.
I just want to say at the beginning if you are thinking of reading this book, **TRIGGER WARNING for sexual assault, violence**
The Walled City is a very unique YA story. It is based on the real city of Kowloon in Hong Kong, which makes a very interesting setting for this fictionalized story.
The plot was very interesting. At the beginning of the story, it sounds like it is going to be a fast-paced dystopian-type tale. However, the story is much more slow-burning and focuses on building tension and the characters. The story is extremely tragic, especially when hearing the description of the brothel in which one of the characters live. The descriptions of the Walled City are very gritty and show how desperate the characters' situations are. The plot is very well paced. However, I do wish we got more background on the characters/setting. They are very interesting, and I think one 400 page book did not do them enough justice.
Spoiler
I did appreciate how the ending was not entirely happy. The fact that a lot of the girls went back to the brothel highlights the sad reality of human sex trafficking. Often when young men and women don't know anything besides their abuse, they go back to it after being rescued. I thought it was great that Graudin acknowledged this reality and even advocates for change in human sex trafficking in her author's note.Graudin does not shy away from violence and swearing, which is very refreshing in YA. The characters do swear and there are descriptions of violence (they are not too gory, however).
The multiple POV's does work in this story. I did listen to the audiobook, which had different voice actors for each POV. This helped me differentiate who was speaking, so I am not sure if it would be as easy in the text.
This book is a very unique read in the YA genre. It was refreshing to read after a million dystopians in a row.