Title : Stormdancer (The Lotus War #1)
Author : Jay Kristoff
Publication date : September 18th 2012
by Thomas Dunne Books
You know, I have never read a steampunk novel before and when I picked this book, I didn't know it belongs to that genre. I thought it was a merely fantasy story with a samurai girl as the protagonist. I was wrong though, first because a samurai didn't dress like she does on the cover. Second, well, I never really read book blurb, so it's easy to miss important parts until I get my hands on the book.
Yukiko is a sixteen year old girl from Kitsune (Fox) clan. She has this gift of being able to communicate with animals telepathically. Her father, Masaru along with his friends Kasumi and Akihito are hunters that specialize in mythical creatures. The ruthless shogun command them to catch the hunter tiger a.k.a. griffin a.k.a. arashitora that is well known to be extinct.
Kristoff did a great job in world building. He makes sure that the readers are shown every details of the Shima Nation. The bad side is, the writing style can be too detailed it slows the plot down. Other thing I find strange is the tendencies to use Japanese world literally. Take arashitora, for example. Tora is a Japanese word for tiger. So Arashitora is a thunder tiger or should have been storm tiger a.k.a a griffin. Duh! I have a feeling that Kristoff doesn't speak Japanese, or else, I bet he wouldn't do this. There is also a scene where Yukiko (the heroine) kicks her father to wake him up ( I don't really remember the precise scene), but come one, everybody and their little brother know that Japanese (or we, Asians in general) respects our elderly. I think it's very impolite of her to do something like that to her parent.
Yukiko is a likeable character, though I have to admit at the beginning of the book she acts like a stereotype female teenager (snaps at everyone, irritable and mad for no reason). I didn't like her during the first few chapters. She becomes a better character when she meets Buruu, the arashitora, or maybe should I say it's Buruu that I actually like?
As for Buruu, well I just love him. He's wise but very fierce. Though he's a monster physically, he has this compassionate human heart to people he cares about. Kristoff did a great job creating him and I cannot wait to read more about Buruu.
During the scenes, it's mostly Buruu that saves the day. I wish I could read Yukiko more in action, considering they heavily promote the bad-ass side of her on the cover. She doesn't do much, actually and I am kind of disappointed. I want more action. I mean, if you put a picture of a girl with a sword, show us (lots of) her fighting scenes. Is that too much to ask?
Now here's a favorite quote of mine:
"When a man's fate is not his own, when he may die at the behest of a man born luckier or wealthier, when he sweats all his life for scraps from another's table, then he's in peril." Daichi's eye glittered in the half light."But when he accepts it in his heart, when he ceases to struggle that fundamental injustice, then he is a slave"
3 rating for Stormdancer. I'd definitely raise the rating if only the details don't slow the story down. It's a pretty enjoyable book and I am planning to read the whole trilogy. Looks like a steampunk book might appeal to me, after all! Now let's talk about your reading journey. Do you like steampunk books> If yes, what would you like to recommend?
