Review: Stormdancer
Author: Jay Kristoff
Rating: 5/5
Genre: I don't even know....steampunk-fantasy? Whatever it was, it was awesome.
Recommend To: Fans of awesome chainkatana action and sarcastic griffins
Completely blown to pieces right now. I can't even process the magnitude of this book.
The Plot: So much happening. I'll just sum up. Yukiko and her father are sent on a hunt for an arashitora, a legendary thunder tiger, on the whim of the dictatorial shogun Yoritomo. In a storm, the ship goes down, and Yukiko is stuck on a mountain with only the arashitora for company. They realize they need each other to survive and begin to form an unlikely, but unbelievably adorable friendship. (Yeah you might ask how the heck they get to know each other, but she can talk to animals ok?) Not the point. Eventually, she starts to learn all these complicated truths about the Lotus Guild and the shogun and her own family. Plus all this absolutely horrific stuff that has to do with the Blood Lotus itself and the war with the foreigners and basically, we have ourselves a very polluted version of Japan with incredibly detailed myths, and some not-so mythical myths, fantasy griffins, some cool engineering and a full scale rebellion. Can I have more please?
The Characters: In this section, everything was Buruu. He ran this whole book, I'm not even kidding here, I literally read this book to make sure Buruu would be okay. Because he was the best. I want to meet him, and hear him call me MONKEY CHILD and just feel his fur. I couldn't help laughing at his remarks about human "coupling" among other things. Who wouldn't love Buruu? The rest of them, yeah, Yukiko, very independent, driven young-lady, with a lovable father (with some issues), and then the rest of the team. Kin (awesome), Hiro (should go die), Kasumi (badass), Akihito (big, whenever the mentioned him, my first thought was always big), Michi (also badass). You get the picture. Lots of very awesome characters who were overshadowed by Buruu cause he was the best.
The Romance Relationships: Is this even a category for this book? Yeah, I'm changing the title of this category. Okay, so the relationship between Yukiko and Buruu was obviously the main one. The way they begin to care for each other and become one was too precious for words. Of course, there is also Yukiko's rocky relationship with her dad. Then I guess there is Yukiko and Hiro (the sea-green eyes guy). Yechh, I wanted to stab him with his own chainkatana. Whatever. Kin, was sweet though. Team Kin anyone? So yeah, lots of different undercurrents going on in the book. Yukiko and Kasumi. Kasumi and Masaru. Yoritoma and Aisha. Not to mention the complexities involved in understanding clan rivalries and whatnot. Phew.
The Style: Wow. This was one area it took me a little while to get settled into. Very wordy, descriptive, and a little foreign. The Japanese vocabulary took a little while to get settled into, but the dictionary in the back helped. Other than that, it was breathtaking. After a while, it was impossible to put down and you were hanging on to every word. The world-building was exquisite and your understanding of Shima and its complex hierarchies just continues to build throughout the book. It's unbelievable how the small descriptions of the color of the sky, or the black-lung can emphasize the pollution and corruption happening in Shima.
Overall: If you are a person looking for some light-reading, this is not your book. It is complex and takes up a bit of your time, no matter how fast a reader you are. There is a lot of new vocabulary in there and you actually learn a lot about feudal Japan, even if they have chainsaws and a Lotus Guild. But, if you want to read something completely new that will blow your mind with beautiful descriptions and characters, and places, then read this. It has everything and more. It's not all pretty, and there are some gruesome truths about pollution and human nature that some people don't want to face, but it's one of the most unusual and incredible books written in a long time.
