Just nope.

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Oh my, God. My breath was literally taken away by reading Jay Kristoff's masterpiece. Stormdancer couldn't have been more beautifully crafted, and I couldn't have fallen harder than I have over the world and the characters. When I first sought eyes on this pretty:
1. the cover made me a happy camper because of my love for Japan and Japanese anything.
2. Japanese Steampunk. Literally. End of story.
3. Originality. I've never read a novel like Stormdancer.
My love for this book goes without saying.

Yukiko is a favorite name of mine, it means snow. Pure and unscathed. So in the vile, poisoned world of Shima with the Lotus killing the ground and destroying the lives of the citizens, Yukiko is a delicate warrior who knows what's right and what's wrong and fights until her very last breath, never giving into temptation or standing down. As strong heroines go, Yukiko takes a seat in the top ten ranking I have going on in my head.

And you can't get any better than a loyal and comedic (from time to time) thunder tiger named Buruu. Though headstrong over issues and a tad bit hung up on killing, Buruu had the nature of snatching up my heart for his own throughout my reading. His relationship with Yukiko is a heartwarming tale. From a rough and rocky start, their travels and survival together weaves together a wonderful friendship and protective nature over each other. Their bond had me melting in my seat while reading because it was just so gosh darn adorable! I could not stop reading once Buruu entered the story and took my heart by storm, literally.

A sad and desolate place Shima is, with the poison drug that the lotus creates and the after affects it has on the people (i.e., blacklung) and the iron weapons, the chainkatanas (yes, chainsaw + katana, motherfudging badASS!), skyships, this Japanese world-building swept me away. I don't know if chainkatana's literally blew your mind, because mine blew up before I even finished the word.

Final Summation: I have never seen Japan like this. Steampunk themed, feudal Japan in the land of Shima. I was at a loss of thought, and in a good way! Jay Kristoff created a strong and feisty heroine with a pure heart and unyielding volition. Stormdancer is an original novel that shouldn't be missed.

DNF

I've been putting off posting my review for Stormdancer because I know I'm on the minority. I'm all in for diversity especially when it focuses to Asian Culture. That's my thing. I thought I would like this book to the point I bought 2 paperbacks of Stormdancer by mistake and 1 hardcover book of the sequel.

I took Asian history on my freshmen & sophomore year in High School. We tackled Korean, Chinese dynasties, Philippines, Thailand histories etc and a little bit of Feudal Japan. It's a broad study. I'm Asian and grew up watching asian dramas and anime. I think does count for something.

As a reader, I'm lenient to overlook historical inaccuracies since I'm not expert myself. If the story is good, nobody is perfect. Stormdancer have a fabulous premise. I thought Yukiko is a great heroine.

The book is well written and eloquent, I'll give it that but plot wise aside it's boring and couldn't get pass the "long flowery" description and the shoddy attempt for a AU of Japan isn't working well for me.

Please if youre going to write an Asian novel, make an extensive research and make sure you'll use the honorifics properly.

Cyna made great remarks about how problematic this book is.
And Zoe Marriott, author of my favorite book Shadow on the Moon discusses the difference between diversity and appropriation.

FAVORITE FAVORITE FAVORITE.

I love when our authors make some strong ass females. THANK YOU JAY KRISTOFF. THANK YOU

This story was passionate. The bones of this story remind me of 1984. You should have a gist of what this is about by that description.

In this review I'm going to try and simplify things for you. Why you may and may not love this book.

Mr Kristoff is really into descriptive imagery. And I enjoy that, to extent. There were certain times in the book I felt like saying

"ALRIGHT ALREADY CAN WE CONTINUE ON NOW?!?"

Why did I rate it four stars my friends? Because I prevailed. I put my foot down and said "you sir, are not going to deter me from enjoying this damn book". And once I got past the first 50 or so pages I did enjoy it. Now listen, you really shouldn't be encouraged when someone writes in a review "once you get past..." BUT you will be missing out on some fantastic dialogue and some great butt kicking action.

There were some holes as well and I really wanted to get the story, but I'm hoping in the next book of the series we get some more descriptive details. Wink Wink.

Okay now this is the important part. The stuff thats going to make you want to hold onto your mind grip of this book if you're getting frustrated.and

We are following the life of Yukiko. A head strong, intelligent, compassionate and genuine girl. She's the product of a father who is the head huntsman of the Shogun, also a lotus addict and a sweet and gentle mother.

What is lotus. I'm going to describe it pretty much equivalent to opium. The world we are immersed in is clogged with this shit. I mean it's used for everything, from smoking to fueling their....well hot air balloons. I'm actually kind of embarrassed I just called them that but that's what kept popping into my head. The air is so thick with its destructive properties, that you shake your head at the pollution.

So there's our world. Pretty tragic.

And the puppet running this show is the Shogun. A young and hmmm selfish, arrogant, close minded ASS.

But who are the guys that are running the puppet.....? You shall see.

So back to Yukiko. She is also telepathic with animal(s).

The Shogun being a psychopath that he is, has a dream of riding a griffin of thunder and lightning (an Arashitora) into battle. He is fierce he is powerful and the animal in said dream is pretty much a myth among the people.

Guess who we get to meet and because of kick ass Yukiko's telepathic abilities? Burru (the Arashitora) as Yukiko renamed him. He is one sassy son of a BEE. He has attitude, he has a fierce loyalty and a strong connection to our girl. During their time together we witness the two trying to define what is good and bad. Example, is clipping the wings of an ancient and possibly extinct race of Arashitora a good thing if the Shogun says so?

We follow her challenges and battle of will through the lotus clogged air(s) of the Kigen to the rich and lush forests the are still untouched by the "blood lotus".

I feel like this review hasn't done justice for this book.

I say give it a try, try and work your way through the long descriptive paragraphs and envision what Jay Kristoff has created. Follow the current and allow yourself to be swept away.

SIDE NOTE. I noticed with a lot of reviews that people are very unsatisfied with the Japanese culture and the way it is used (said improper words etc) I would like to research this more as a lot of reviewers has "rants" because the book is mostly and truly described as a Japanese steam punk book.

Es un 3.5 pronto la reseña completa...

Japanese Steampunk Mythology.
How could I not like it?

(Originally posted at https://bigpapageek.wordpress.com/2015/02/28/book-review-stormdancer-the-lotus-war-1-by-jay-kristoff/ )

I'm gonna be straight up with you, OK? Because I respect you, and I don't want you to waste your time. If you don't like,

A. Steampunk

B. Japan

C. Ninjas

D. Griffins

or E. Fun

you probably won't like Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff. But honestly, even if you don't like steampunk...there's still a REALLY good chance that you will love Stormdancer.


Stormdancer leans heavily on what are typically seen as steampunk tropes. I mean it's got them all; goggles, airships, industrialization, chainsaw katana...

Ok, so it's safer to say that it takes those tropes as a jumping off point, as the rest of the book is full of both original ideas and riffs on classic steampunk tropes.

One of the most unexpected (and surprisingly refreshing) elements is how Kristoff weaves surprisingly strong social commentary about war, imperialism, the environment, and the oppression of the working classes throughout the story. This puts it squarely in the tradition of steampunk (or "Victorian adventure") authors, from H.G Wells and Jules Verne, to K.W. Jeter and William Gibson, all of which feature varying degrees of commentary (and criticism) of science and colonialism run amok. There is a strong case to be made that "true" Steampunk must bring this social consciousness to bear, otherwise it's just "Gaslamp Fantasy" (which is fine, if that's what you are looking for).

Yukiko, who serves as our window into this world, is a16 year -old girl, struggling with the traumas of her past and present. She is really quite a good protagonist; she is distinctly feminine, but the story doesn't overly rely on her being so; she feels like a teenager, and makes some stupid, bad decisions, but also discovers hidden strengths and competencies; she falls in love, but never loses her head.

She also kills demons with a tanto and rides a griffin, so make no mistake. This book is pulpy as hell. And I loved every page of it.

While I have read criticisms of the book's use of Japanese imagery, misuse of honorifics, cultural appropriation, etc. I didn't find it personally to be a problem (but take that with a grain of salt, as I am neither Asian, nor female). I'm simply happy that writers are branching out into more diverse cultural and geographical settings.

I am thoroughly looking forward to the sequel, Kinslayer (The Lotus War #2). Stay tuned, good readers.

Stormdancer RATING: 3 stars
 
WARNING: Contains SPOILERS!
I liked the overall concept and most of the world building, but some things just didn't work for me. I even made a list, which I will present later, but first, some context.
 
I've read a few reviews that mentioned the fact that Stormdancer gets a lot of things wrong when it comes to Japanese culture, myth and even language. I admit that while I do like anime and manga and have read a few books set in Japan, I don't know enough about their culture (especially historically) to judge if most things described in this book are right or not. But even so I've noticed some things that bothered me (or at least I think I did. I might be wrong, it may be all a matter of perception).
 
1. Setting - so Stormdancer takes place in an alternate version of Japan called "Shima". The author could have gotten away with the frequent incorrections if this "fantasy" land wasn't so obviously Japan. You have Daimios (feudal lords), Japanese supernatural creatures, Japanese deities, the same creation myth, the same society structure and hierarchy and even the same language. Shima is Japan which makes all the factual errors this book might or not contain very bad.
 
The ones I detected (very easy to spot, really) were the erroneous use of "sama" (any anime addict knows this is a suffix, it can't be used by itself) the use of the word "aiya" (which I've heard in Taiwanese dramas, I think, but never in Japanese dramas) and the bow Yukiko was always doing (with the fist in the palm) that seemed right out of "Mulan" (and Mulan, as we all know is Chinese).
 
2. Cultural Values - here's the part that bothered me. While this alternate Japan seems to have most of the values of Feudal Japan samurais that follow the Code of Bushido, rigid social hierarchy, rigid social rituals, respect for honor and servitude, these same values are considered... well, bad. The main character thinks they are the reason why people are oppressed and boasts the qualities of "revolution" and "rebellion" which are typically more western ways of thought.
 
The heroine despises her own culture, as seen when she is invited by the Shogun's sister to tea and says she doesn't have time for such silliness and all the rituals. This disregard for the culture the author is trying to portray bothered me.
 
3. Characters - to me they were another weak point of the book. They were two-dimensional and lacked development. They seemed to be there to further the plot more than anything else. For example, Hideo the minister was complacent, but why was he complacent we never know. He was complacent simply to be an obstacle to our heroine. The Guild people and the Shogun were simply evil without explanation. They were evil so that the heroine could fight them. The rebels were rebels so they could "open the heroine's eyes". Even Yukiko had little substance.
 
I had a hard time connecting to any of the characters.
 
4. Romance - two of my "pet peeves" made an appearance: insta-love (well, insta-lust, but still... the love interest was pretty hollow, no personality whatsoever) and a love triangle. The author didn't handle the romance part well at all. I'd have preferred no romance at all. Enough said.
 
5. Writing Style - too verbose, which made the reading difficult. Some things were just overly described and it served no purpose.
 
So why the three stars? For the potential. The world building is interesting and the story could be good if it was more layered and deep. As it was, the "message" (industrialization is bad, yadda, yadda, we're literally paying for it with our blood, etc) was about as subtle as a freight train. This book could have been great, but I think a little more research and character development were needed before it was 'released'. The concept is pretty good and the whole "steampunk" part of the story was well-constructed and imaginative; I wasn't too fond of the rest, though.
 
A disappointing read, mainly because I had such high expectations.

Tormenta es un libro que nos introduce en un mundo que, desde un principio, se caracteriza por la desbordante originalidad. La acción que inunda las páginas está protagonizada por unos personajes de los que no podremos evitar encariñarnos y las páginas se convertirán en una adicción: no podrás separarte de la historia y estarás deseando conocer el futuro de Yukiko y de un acompañante muy especial.