Friday, September 28, 2012

Review: Stormdancer

Stormdancer (The Lotus War #1)
by Jay Kristoff
Published September 1st 2012
by Tor UK
ARC from Netgalley
Summary from Goodreads:
Griffins are supposed to be extinct. So when Yukiko and her warrior father Masaru are sent to capture one for the Shogun, they fear that their lives are over. Everyone knows what happens to those who fail him, no matter how hopeless the task.

But the mission proves far less impossible, and far more deadly, than anyone expects – and soon Yukiko finds herself stranded: a young woman alone in her country's last wilderness, with only a furious, crippled griffin for company. But trapped together in the forest, Yukiko and Buruu soon discover a friendship that neither of them expected.

Meanwhile, the country around them verges on the brink of collapse. A toxic fuel is slowly choking the land; the omnipotent, machine-powered Lotus Guild is publicly burning those they deem Impure; and the Shogun cares about nothing but his own dominion. Yukiko has always been uneasy in the shadow of power, when she learns the awful truth of what the Shogun has done, both to her country and to her own family she's determined to do something about it.

Returning to the city, Yukiko and Buruu plan to make the Shogun pay for his crimes – but what can one girl and a flightless griffin do against the might of an empire?

Thoughts:
I think I'm one of the few people who have mixed feelings about this book. The amount of negative and gushing reviews just show how divided readers are about it. As an Asian, I'm all for an epic fantasy not set in another Western or medieval England setting but if you're going to do a book that is supposed to have Japanese inspired setting then I do think one might as well do their research properly.

The most glaring mistake is the use of language but without getting too technical, I must point out that the use of the word ''Aiya" by the supposedly Japanese characters made me laugh. That is something a Chinese would say not a Japanese. It's like an English man saying "Howdy mate" or something.

But if you can get past the dodgy use of Japanese in the book, it is quite enjoyable to some point. The author certainly have a talent of creating a beautiful fantasy world eventhough it suffers from severe over description. The characters are fairly interesting but instead of rooting for Yukiko, I found myself intrigued by the sarcastic Griffin and the mysterious Lady Aisha; sister to the sinister Shogun. Yukiko is a wonderful heroine in the beginning but she's really not good in matters of the heart and that shortcoming actually hurt her in the end.

This book was actually one of my most anticipated books of the year and although I quite enjoyed it, there are too many issues with the setting and language to make it truly outstanding.

Verdict: 3 stars.
In my Debut Author & Steampunk Reading Challenge 
Available on: Amazon

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