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shadereads 's review for:
Stormdancer
by Jay Kristoff
My feelings about this book are... mixed, to say the least.
First of all, I really enjoyed the story, and I thought the characters were really interesting. I don't know if I can find much of a fault there off the top of my head.
The worldbuilding was good too, though unfortunately, there were some problems for me. First of all, the descriptions. I struggled not to DNF this book after the first five chapters because off all the exposition. I skimmed most of them and couldn't tell you what really happened. I was just longing at that point for the story to start, rather than having to struggle through pages of info-dumping. To be honest, all of it made my eyes and head hurt, and I am so glad it stopped the further into the story I got.
Secondly, while the concept of Japanese Steampunk was highly interesting, I was very thrown off by all of the Japanese terms. Now, let me preface this by saying that I am not Japanese, do not speak Japanese, and my knowledge of Japan and it's language come from my own time toiling away at research on the internet. There are several other reviews of this book that will go into more depth. However, even with my limited knowledge, even I could tell when words were used out of place - Like 'Hai' for yes, and 'Sama' in place of sir and not used as a suffix. If every other word in the dialogue was English, and there was no replacement word for Lady like there was for Sir, why not have just said yes and sir instead? Also, 'Aiya' was used a lot, and I am sorry to say that every time I came across it, all I heard was Uncle from The Jackie Chan Adventures cartoon.
There is a glossary at the back of the book for all of the Japanese terms used, but really, who flips to a glossary while they're reading? I don't exactly know how to fix the jarring-ness of the Japanese, I just want to warn you that if you don't know anything about Japanese weapons or traditional dress, you may find it harder to read.
Speaking of jarring, Buruu's (the 'griffin') thought-speak. It was always written in all-caps, and it always felt like he was yelling. I feel like an alternative way of punctuating when it was his thoughts (or just marking them with something like 'said') would have made them easier to read.
Also, just one last thing. I was a bit iffy on how the women were described in this book. It did feel like there was a bit of objectification going on, from boys spying on our main character as she was taking a bath (and it being written from their point of view and being described in detail), to every single woman being described as beautiful, no matter what. I swear there were never any average or ugly women anywhere. The men were varied and described as such, but the women were all thin and pale with pouty lips. It was like the written variant of same-face syndrome in art, and it did bother me the more I noticed it.
So, I would say this is a decent book, but jarring and a bit worrisome when it comes to the research and the gaze on the women.
Right now, I would say I am slightly interested in reading the next book, but I think I'll be borrowing it from the library rather than spending money on it.
First of all, I really enjoyed the story, and I thought the characters were really interesting. I don't know if I can find much of a fault there off the top of my head.
The worldbuilding was good too, though unfortunately, there were some problems for me. First of all, the descriptions. I struggled not to DNF this book after the first five chapters because off all the exposition. I skimmed most of them and couldn't tell you what really happened. I was just longing at that point for the story to start, rather than having to struggle through pages of info-dumping. To be honest, all of it made my eyes and head hurt, and I am so glad it stopped the further into the story I got.
Secondly, while the concept of Japanese Steampunk was highly interesting, I was very thrown off by all of the Japanese terms. Now, let me preface this by saying that I am not Japanese, do not speak Japanese, and my knowledge of Japan and it's language come from my own time toiling away at research on the internet. There are several other reviews of this book that will go into more depth. However, even with my limited knowledge, even I could tell when words were used out of place - Like 'Hai' for yes, and 'Sama' in place of sir and not used as a suffix. If every other word in the dialogue was English, and there was no replacement word for Lady like there was for Sir, why not have just said yes and sir instead? Also, 'Aiya' was used a lot, and I am sorry to say that every time I came across it, all I heard was Uncle from The Jackie Chan Adventures cartoon.
There is a glossary at the back of the book for all of the Japanese terms used, but really, who flips to a glossary while they're reading? I don't exactly know how to fix the jarring-ness of the Japanese, I just want to warn you that if you don't know anything about Japanese weapons or traditional dress, you may find it harder to read.
Speaking of jarring, Buruu's (the 'griffin') thought-speak. It was always written in all-caps, and it always felt like he was yelling. I feel like an alternative way of punctuating when it was his thoughts (or just marking them with something like 'said') would have made them easier to read.
Also, just one last thing. I was a bit iffy on how the women were described in this book. It did feel like there was a bit of objectification going on, from boys spying on our main character as she was taking a bath (and it being written from their point of view and being described in detail), to every single woman being described as beautiful, no matter what. I swear there were never any average or ugly women anywhere. The men were varied and described as such, but the women were all thin and pale with pouty lips. It was like the written variant of same-face syndrome in art, and it did bother me the more I noticed it.
So, I would say this is a decent book, but jarring and a bit worrisome when it comes to the research and the gaze on the women.
Right now, I would say I am slightly interested in reading the next book, but I think I'll be borrowing it from the library rather than spending money on it.