While this is a lot of heavy world building and like intense info-dumping at times, I also cried so hard at the end that it has to be a five star. 

Like, okay. The writing is definitely standard Kristoff and it’s so engaging and beautiful that it’s easy to get sucked in. However, for as interesting and everything that it was to read, it was also so easy to put down at times because this is the set up to the rest of the trilogy and it definitely reads like one. I loved it, it was necessary, and it really did work to bring the reader to loving the characters in all their flawed glory. And they’re so flawed, but you love them anyway. Except Yoritomo. Screw that guy, he gets everything he deserves. 

Okay, let’s get into this. The characters are so typical teen girl, and I love that for them. They’re excellently developed with motivations that make sense and, honestly, they’re easy to like. I wanted them to succeed. Some characters were a little iffy at the beginning, but the natural progression of the story does leave readers satisfied with redemption arcs and the deterioration of other characters’ morality. Do I have a want for Yukiko to fall in love with a certain character, yes? Do I have a fear it won’t happen? Also, yes. 

But it’s amazing because the romance subplot was worked in beautifully. Every element that went into this story worked and got to live up to its fullest potential without taking anything away from other aspects. Was there a lot going on? Oh, definitely, but it all felt necessary and interesting. 

So, why did this take me absolutely forever to read if I liked it so much? Honestly, I’m a slow reader and it was easy to put down, even though it’s absolutely worth every effort one could put into it. 

Cry count: 3
I didn’t stop crying for the last like chapter of this book, so many tears were shed even though the amount of times cried were so few.
Spice: two instances, both fade to black, minor references. 

I definitely recommend this for grimdark fantasy lovers, those interested in silkpunk, and pretty much everyone who doesn’t mind the trigger warnings because it ended up surprising me with how much I liked it. 

Recommended to me by a friend, Stormdancer really got me hooked pretty quick. It has such a fascinating world of Japanese culture mixed with steampunk, something that I honestly don't really ever see, so it was a pleasant surprise. It even got me to tear up in the end, which is not very common when it comes to books. I also very much enjoyed Jay's descriptive writing of this world. It really does well at describing how gross and polluted the country has become, how much nature has been choked out to the point of extinction. It's very bleak. 

I don't intend on including any major spoilers, but I do recommend giving it a shot. I have yet to read the rest of the series, so hoping they are as strong an entry as this one is!

Putting a little disclaimer in front because it’s been eight years (oh hell) since I read and reviewed this book and I obviously did not exactly catch on to a lot of culturally appropriative stuff. Just to say: this is something that he *repeatedly* does - cherry-picking and dissecting (and disrespecting) non-white cultures, probably to make his books look cooler or something

This authors gratitude “take” on Japanese culture was something I found grossly racist, from the random out of context words to the over sexualisation of the young female main character to the weird fetishization of coloured eyes (white traits). It made the book really unpleasant to read despite having interesting characters and plots.