Stormdancer

I somewhat regret listening to the audiobook version of this. I found the narration to be not great, leaning heavily on some cultural stereotype for the accents used - a little bit offensive to listen to. The story itself is set in a clever take on a steampunk world, with vast machinery powered by blood lotus, a plant that has ‘particular' needs to grow and produces a vast amount of pollution when used. The military industrial complex that it powers forms the backbone of the society - a scarily believable allegory for modern capitalism and hydrocarbons. The world building here is well done.

The story mostly follows the daughter of the chief tracker of the emperor, being sent to capture a thunder tiger - a griffon like beast. Some characters are a bit one dimensional - I found the childlike petulance of the emperor somewhat grating. The motivations are a bit confused as well. However, they are all distinctive and interesting. The plot is somewhat generic, with its main distinction being the world and the female lead. Kristoff writes with a very accessible and conversational style which is fun and easy to follow and this book is no exception to that.

Overall a fun fantasy romp. Avoid the audiobook though.

Stormdancer..................................what to write, what to do, what am I thinking!!!!!

If this is a YA, Mr. Kristoff you just made me eat my word, I don't like YA, never did never will, upon the first 100 pages or so REDEMPTION!!!!! Ha!!!! Take that YA, I knew you would be so full of endless descriptions, monotonous storytelling Yucky Adolescent!!!!

Then Buruu the arashitora arrived, and upon Buruu's flickering lightning ability, everything changed, the story became faster, characters evolved, and the story!!!! Suffice to say I can't stop reading!!!!!

This one is like a lightning bolt, takes forever to come, but once it arrives, you better be ready!!!!

On to book two!!!!

P.s. your characters truly have short lifespan............ehhhh, Mr. Kristoff!!!!!

This book was slow to start, but once I got into it and really got to know the characters and their plight, I adored this book. Jay Kristoff has this very descriptive elegant writing style that at first can be off-putting. However, once I got used to it in the first 100 pages or so, I grew to really enjoy the level of description.

The only other thing I wish to comment on is how complete this book felt. I assume it was done this way in case the rest of the trilogy was never published, but I have no idea where the story and the characters will go after how Stormdancer ended.