Stormdancer: The Lotus War, Book One

INTRODUCTIONI'm always a sucker for a good fantasy novel. As I get older and busier, I find I have less and less time for prolonged fantasy books so I tend to try and choose as wisely as possible when it comes to selecting the longer works of fiction that I do read. Jay Kristoff's STORMDANCER (The Lotus War Book One) is a book that comes passionately recommended by some and fiercely chastised by others. While I normally don't see such a divide in opinions and was a little skeptical about this book for that reason, it sounded like everything I wanted in this type of plot-line, plus upon sampling some of the author's writing I knew this had to be at least a little good.Ultimately, I found that every part of this adventure was filled with intrigue, intelligent thought, and aching emotion. I haven't indulged in epic fantasy quite this good in a very long time. Kristoff has some really interesting quirks in his writing that are a bit of a love it or hate it kind of deal, but I fall on the side of love and couldn't have been more engaged in a cast of characters and the troubled world that they reside in.THINGS FROM JAPANLet's get this out of the way right now, because this is a point of immense praise and bitter criticism in other reviews that I have read. There are some that love the Japanese components and others who claim that they feel forced and fail to be a true representation of traditional Japan.I openly admit that going into this, I had NO expectation that this would be at all historically or even culturally accurate in terms of what feudal Japan was or was not like. Jay Kristoff is about as white of a name as you could possibly ever hope to find so any that came in with the expectation of this being a true alternate Japanese history piece came in with a misguided idea of what they were getting into (either that or Mr. Kristoff's marketing team REALLY dropped the ball in how they hyped this up). This is Shima, not Japan and while the cultural similarities are absolutely present, this world is as much like Japan as Middle Earth is like Europe - close, but not meant to be an exact match. I never once got the feeling that the author meant to convey any sort of factual information about this country, but I did sense that this is a man who has a lot of respect and admiration for Japanese culture. Other than that, I didn't necessarily feel like Kristoff has that much more actual knowledge of the country than an avid anime fan might posses. The Japanese elements are far more of a backdrop for what ultimately feels like a microcosm of humanity as a whole.What does come through in the work are the sumptuous pieces of Japanese imagery. From azalea trees to jagged mountain ranges, and bustling cities, this book is brimming with some of the most beautiful and intriguing things from Japan. Then there is the fashion, weaponry, and language. Many of these things are even called by their Japanese names. This could be both a good and a bad thing. It is bad because there is a TON of foreign words thrown at readers all at once. I'm all for expanding my vocabulary, but the extent to which these words are used in the earlier chapters did get overwhelming. Thankfully, the words are somewhat discernible within the context that they are used and there is a fully detailed glossary to be found in the back of the book. These words are also used often enough where I eventually started to read them as naturally as if they were from the English language. All and all the Japanese elements didn't make me feel like an expert in their history and culture, but they did provide an exquisite flavor to a genre that is predominantly saturated with white people who speak with vaguely British affects (not that I don't love that too, but a bit of variety is always nice).CHARACTERSOnce you can get past the names of these characters, there is a staggeringly large and unnervingly compelling cast of individuals that inhabit the pages of this tale. There were characters I loved and characters I loved to hate. It all centers around our young heroine, Yukiko. I'll admit that she was a character I was a bit nervous about because these "strong female characters" tend to get a lot of hype and often times disappoint me, especially when they are written by a male author. I find that too often, these ladies so focused on being tough and standing up with the guys that the celebration of their womanhood is entirely forgotten. This is not the case with Yukiko. She's not a strong female character, she's just a strong character, period. Yukiko has lived a life of pain and loss, a life that has hardened her, but also left her a little broken. I found her character to be a really interesting blend of cynical and hopeful in a way that felt truly authentic to what being a teenager is really like, nevermind being a teenager in a polluted and dying world. She's as strong of a protagonist as I could ever ask for. She's beautifully flawed and remarkably gifted, especially since she has a gift known as the kenning, which is essentially a psychic ability that allows her to mentally communicate with animals among performing other impressive feats.Then there's the crew we meet around her. From her lotus-addicted father and the brutish, but loyal Arkihito to the lethally beautiful yet tender Kasumi, the characters in this story are varied from the beginning and only get more interesting from there. The ambitious Captain Yagamata, the wicked Yorimoto, handsome Hiro, and strange Kin among others round out the cast and make this world feel like a living, breathing space. Each have their own personality traits, backstory, and many will suffer tragedies as the story rolls onward. Most of these characters have been indoctrinated into one manner of thinking or another and it was really interesting to see two characters from different factions interact with one another. The world they live in is one of corruption and wickedness and this really shows through in how these people communicate with one another. The angst always felt authentic and relatable which made the moments of compassion and understanding all the more rewarding. Perhaps the best character of all is the Arashitora or Lightning Tiger (essentially a griffon but with tiger parts instead of lion parts). While I'd like to go more into the role that this beast has to play in the story, it would be very difficult to do so without delving into spoilers. All that can safely be said is that he is a pivotal part of the plot and one of my favorite characters to ever grace the pages of modern literature.WORLD/SETTINGWhile I know what a lot of people get really excited about in a fantasy novel is the characters, what really sells me on this genre is a compelling world. STORMDANCER has by far one of the most grief-stricken and smolderingly engaging story-spaces that I have ever visited as a reader. The more I learned about the world and all its conflicting factions, the more I wanted to know. The political engagements in these lands are complex and dangerous. Each party has it's own agenda yet all must bow to the will of the Shogun. It's a devious and tense system that only gets better with time. Even on a superficial level, the world is immediately gripping. Before I understood any of the intricacies, I saw a world as polluted with chi ash as with sorrow. This is a world of suffering and hardship where an elite few revel in their wealth and leave little for everyone else. This might sound like a common fantasy trope, but it is presented in a really interesting way herer. It is also a stark reminder that in so many cases, the ones who hold leadership over others often do not have their people's best interests in mind. I think this is a continued theme in fantasy, because it is also something that we must face off against in our own realities. It might be our peers, a manager at work, or even our own politicians and political leaders. Shima deals with this fear and frustration in a very extreme setting. The greed of the Shogun has torn the land apart with war and positioned the skies with the chi which is what the people call their power source.Chi is burned in order to fuel all of the steampunk contraptions that buzz around. Mechanized suits, chainsaw katanas, and even glorious airships all fill this world and help further distinguish this place as a very unique setting, even within the fantasy genre. It all comes from the lotus plant which is grown and harvested by a faction known as the Guild. In addition to a fuel source, the parts of the plant are used in other parts of Shiman life, namely as an opiate of choice for several characters. As you might have guessed, both the plant and the Guild that grows it have some dark secrets that many people in this world are blind to. It is an unsettling thing to see the more beautiful elements marred by the stain of the chi and points where readers are brought to lands not yet tainted only make the pollution that much more painful to read about.Then there is all the dark mythology that fleshes out the world and its people that much more. The gods play a huge role in how the characters behave and help define what it is they believe in. While it is not clear as to whether or not these beings are real - and if so, in what capacity - they are a delightfully intriguing aspect of the story's overall lore. The little excerpts quoted from a fictitious text also hint at possible plot points to be addressed in the later books in this trilogy.This book does an absolutely remarkable job of showing readers as much of the world as it possibly can without ever feeling rushed. Dingy cities, peaceful woodland marshes, fierce wilderness climates, majestic airships, and sparkling palaces are just hints at some of the places that readers will be taken to. It's a world worth exploring and one that I certainly will not easily forget.PLOT/TONEA lot of what marks this plot is the people and places that it involves. The story itself goes through several phases which are marked as different sections within the book. While I won't discuss what any of them entail, it's far from a spoiler to say that at the heart of each of these story beats is the individual heartache that each of the characters feels coupled with their determination to survive and perhaps rise above their dire circumstances. Bits of Yukiko's past are divulged gradually as the story moves forward and connections can be found between many people that she comes across. Kristoff was smart to make her father, Mesaru, such a prominent and well known figure within the world because this made a lot of the more convenient coincidences feel way more plausible and even sincere. This is a world filled with secrets and suffering that is not openly talked about. Throughout the duration of Yukiko's odyssey, I could not help but feel an overwhelming sense of gravity while reading. This is the kind of tale that makes you feel more grateful for the little joys that surround you in life and makes you want to hold the ones that are dear to you. Life in Shima is even more imperfect than life in the real world and it is even more fleeting. Be prepared to feel genuine loss and heartbreak at every turn and general rushes of emotion all around.What is perhaps the most unique and potentially the most enjoyably aspect of this novel is the author's style. Kristoff writes in a sharp and often abrupt tone of voice with a choppy sentence structure that I felt really suited the story, but others may not be thrilled about. It's one of the riskier elements in my opinion and an aspect of the adventure that readers are either going to be in love with or really turned off by. It's a stern and sometimes irreverent tone of voice that conveys sarcastic humor as often as it does raw bitterness. There is also a vaguely cartoonish feel to the writing which feels weird to say, but it is undeniably there. This isn't at all a bad thing, there's just a very distinct stylization to the descriptions that feel a bit larger than life.CONCLUSIONThe best advice I could give on this is to simply give it a try. Pick a copy up off the shelves at the bookstore or download the Amazon sample for your eReader and see if Kristoff's style is one that you think you might enjoy. The world and it's characters are not to be passed by lightly because they have an awful lot to offer. Don't come in expecting some kind of alternate history story, but instead prepare yourself for one of the most flavorful epics you have probably read in a long time. I now consider myself a huge fan of this author's work and fully intend to see this series through to its conclusion.

Stormdancer (The Lotus War Book One) by Jay KristoffThis book is marketed as Japanese Steam-Punk and that alone is intriguing. I have often heard people ask if there were other steam-punk novels than those centered on Great Britain and the European nations. This seems almost designed to fit that bill and for that reason it stood as part of the reason I waited before reading this. I always read the reviews along with a sampling of the beginning and I particularly pay attention to the bad reviews. Bad reviews range most generally between short and not very informative to a few sentences that leave me puzzled. This one for some reason garnered a few lengthy almost vindictive reviews and after reading those I decided to let it sit till I had a moment to read it with a more open mind. That moment came and I'm glad I waited because: although there are some rather suspect style decisions in the author's approach, there is a rather entertaining and thought provoking plot sandwiched between all the world building. I give Jay Kristoff high marks for that, but there were some puzzling things that I'd like to mention.First of all this is not Japanese Steam-punk. At best it is Shima Imperium Steam-punk. It's an alternate reality and though(by the maps supplied) it manages to be central to what we consider Japan; it is an Imperium that seems to extend much farther than that and is the dominant Kingdom on this alternate planet. I for one do not have a problem with that setup and the anachronisms that appear throughout when trying to compare this to our world. In fact; even though I have not yet become an expert on Steam-punk, I believe one qualifier is that the story will contain some anachronisms. I will, though, make the observation that there are certain efforts by Jay Kristoff to legitimatize the Japanese setting through the use of certain words. Some of these are in the dialogue and do seem to become a bit annoying; though I found I was annoyed by different reasons than some readers. I felt like it was just a bad style choice. What I mean by that is that the author chose to have the characters speaking English and my thought is that when that is done it might be prudent to avoid certain expressions like; it's only one word ; or it's two simple syllables. But personally that wasn't at all that annoying because the meaning comes through anyway. I'm looking more at other novels where the characters language is not English but they speak English. Usually if the author chooses to have them momentarily speak their language natively it is for entire phrases and sometimes they even append a translation. Sometimes they don't translate and I think they think it's just fun to make you look it up. Not that often have I seen single words singled out to consistently replace single common words and that's what happens here in the dialogue. The words Hai, Sama, and Aiya are placed in the dialogue almost as though they are a reminder for the writer that this characters are pseudo Japanese or worse yet that he thinks that the reader will forget that fact. For the record I got that notion in the first couple of pages and never needed any prompts to continue the illusion. I could not find any valid justification for not using the English equivalents to these words. That's just me though.The next complaint I have is the decision to make the story drag until about 24% of the way through somewhere about 11 chapters and 78 pages the world building comes to a grinding halt and we finally see character development. Up until this point we have a very young Yukiko who acts well beyond her age but is being defined in a rather stiff manner and we only occasionally see flashbacks that explain possibly why she acts so mature. It is not until this 11th chapter that we get a closer look at her and her father and their relationship and how his drive to capture the Arashitora coupled with his strange sense of honor and loyalty to the Shogun can easily eclipse even his love and compassion for his daughter. And we see how despite her love and sense of honor and loyalty to her father she is still at best the rebellious teen who is trying to reconcile her own sense of values against those being imposed upon her while respectfully remaining a dutiful daughter. This coupled with the discovery that the Arashitora are still alive and they have an opportunity to capture it all conspire to put their relationship to task. Despite the intense action in the scene this is a highly emotionally charged scene that defines the entire book. I'm just amazed that there are a large number of people who make it this far.From this point forward the last three quarters of the novel make this worth reading.This is where the story began for me and when I go back I can find nothing in the previous ten chapters that are essential to driving the story. What little bit of world building that might be necessary and the back-story could have been fitted in anywhere inside what remains and there honestly is a whole lot of world building that seems to be trying to establish the Japanese connection that I found unnecessary to this story. Terms such as shakuhachi flute, yakuza, split-toed tabi socks, kimonos and an infinite array of others that seem mostly to be trying to create validation for a setting that is, at best, a caricature to that setting. The incessant nonstop world building in this case might be the reason some people have such fierce objection to the misuse of a few words. For me it was fortunate that I ignored the glossary at the end and mentally inserted my own best guess to the English word that should have been there: and moved on.One of the strongest things I judge a novel on is whether it entertains me and this book did despite how long it took to get there. I do think it could have been better if the author could have stepped back and realized that he needed to create the alternate world he was writing about; as opposed to the flimsy caricature of a world he ended up with. Good world building is when the author builds a world that is consistent within itself and I think that this is that. I also think it's more difficult to see this because of having to look around the extra hand-waving with pseudo historic references that seem mostly unnecessary to driving the plot forward. I would recommend this to SFF fans and lovers of Steam-punk with the caveat that the reader should not expect historic and cultural accuracy. And I give it high marks but could have given it the top rating if there had been some balance in the world building. J.L. Dobias

Applause to JK for allowing me to revel in my Japanese fantasy love that bit longer and better yet with an amazing cast, a brilliant plot and an incredible world.Firstly I want to say how much I love the cover to this book! Am I right? Though, when I first saw this book it was to the white cover, not my preferred one, and from that I was expecting a somewhat traditional fantasy. Then I read the blurb, and I'm like okkkkkkkay. Not what I was expecting but still. Then I see the alternative cover and I'm just blown away. I LOVE the colour contrast, as a massive lover of Japanese art (mainly tattoos) I loved it immediately. I feel the grey/red cover is far more appropriate for this story than the white cover. Just saying 🤷‍♀️Now to the actual story 🙈The characters in this novel are great, each varying in their issues and each growing and developing. The main focus being Yukiko and Buruu, on their relationship and how they grow together. And man am I a sucker for a companion! So this was winning already.I do think that the prose could have been a little less. There was so much embellishment at times I lost where I was in the story. It was mainly a problem at the start when you were still yet to get to the thick of it but blimey it was a lot. While being a slight weakness to the debut it was also a plus, I don't think this steampunk world would have been quite so spectacular without it. So do with that what you will.The world which JK has created it so amazing, and it pulls you in because you understand it. With the world we live in today being ruined by pollution, overfishing and much much more it is a world we can all relate to. You understand Buruu’s anger and loathing of those who destroy it for nothing more than greed. It makes his characters that much more.Despite, my earlier protests of it taking a little while to get into due to a slow pace and description, this book is well-paced and keeps you reading. It does have some flashbacks, but not so many that you lose yourself. They are more her memories of moments that will and have helped her. I hate flashbacks and instill really enjoyed this. So, even if your not a fan if them they take nothing from the story.This book is incredible, I was worried at the start with it being so flowery and descriptive, but keep on reading it is SOOOO worth it.

I picked this up after really enjoying Jay Kristoff's Nevernight.Stormdancer is a masterpiece of world building, originality and character. Set in steampunk Japan where 'chi', gathered from the seeds of lotus flowers, is the fuel on which ships and machinery run on, despite it slowly killing the land and people in it. Yukiko, from the Kitsune clan, is charged with bringing a Griffin to the Shogun of Shima. On her journey, secrets are revealed, and with the Griffen by her side, Yukiko realises she can make a difference to the Shima Isles.I have seen other reviewers say that there are slow sections and that this ultimately turns into a rebel vs evil lord kind-of-novel, and these are both true - but for me, the world, characters and the author's beautiful prose kept me hooked and engaged enough that neither of these things mattered. Highly recommended.

Let's start by saying I don't know why I didn't read this book sooner. I was really excited for it when it came out, got it on day of release and then....well even I doStormdancern't know. But in a way I'm glad I didn't because if I had I wouldn't have had the opportunity to listen to it and I would really recommend the audiobook to everyone: the narrator does a beyond fantastic job of the different voices and each has a different lilt of a Japanese accent to it making it feel extremely authentic and all the more thrilling.Let me also say, before I start, that I have heard a lot of bad about his book. I've seen people complain about how Kristoff's Japan is inauthentic and that his creatures are actually more Chinese or Indian and oh no, you can't have that sort of thing happen in Japan because no, historically it wasn't like that. At this point I want to tell people to stop and think for a second: do we tell Tolkein not to include Elves in his work which is suppose to give the UK a mythology because there are no Elves in England? Do we complain when fantasy writers with books set in Europe mix up cultures from all over? The answer is no. So why should Kristoff work by different rules just because he's writing about Japan? The answer is 'he shouldn't'.Like any fantasy writer, Kristoff should get to do whatever the hell he bloody well wants, and if he decides that oni wear pink kimono with rainbow obi and are actually friendly (which he doesn't, btw), then we should all nod and accept it and not question the fact that he is breaking a mythology that he is being inspired by.Hell, anyone who has read manga and anime will know that the Japanese are first in line to breaking their own history, let alone when they get to just be 'inspired' by all the myths and legends of their country. So please, to all the people out there bashing this book because it isn't true enough to Japan and you feel a need to show off that you obviously 'know more than the writer', stop and think for a second. Would you do that a writer writing European based fantasy? Because if the answer is no, I'm sure you can see the problem!Anyway, having gotten that out of my system, onto the review proper!Stormdancer follows the story Yukiko, daughter of the Black Fox, master hunter of the emperor. But there isn't much work in Shima left for her, her father and their companion: the lotus fields and the pollution from them have driven most animals away or to extinction, and some have even become creatures of legends, people no longer sure if they even existed. So when the emperor demands that a Thunder Tiger be brought back to him, Yukiko--who has had to drag her drunk father out of a gambling den again--is afraid that it is the end of them all.Kristoff effortlessly brings his world to life, applying efficient brushstrokes of description in all the right places to describe the bustling, thriving, stinking streets of the city where the story starts. You can almost hear the din of all these people together, imagine the strange contraptions that form the streampunk side of the story (although oilpunk or chi-punk would actually be a far better description!). There is life in Kristoff's world and it is everywhere and unavoidable as Yukiko pushes through the crowd, navigating crowded streets expertly.The story is well paced, and doesn't like to wait around. We find out early on that Yukiko is special and I love how the 'love interest' is introduced. Yukiko is a fierce young girl but that doesn't mean that a pair of pretty eyes isn't going to stick with her, sometimes at the most inappropriate of times. It doesn't take long for the arashitora to be captured but then everything goes to hell: the sky vessel Yukiko and the others are on catches fire and crashes: Yukiko is separated from the others and finds herself with the now crippled Thunder Tiger as only companion.Here starts one of the most genuine and touching friendship I have read in a long time: Yukiko's gift allows her to communicate with animals telepathically and so she does with Buruu. At first he hates her and hers for what they have done to him, but he has to tolerate her presence because he cannot survive in the middle of the mountains alone when he cannot fly. And so the two are stuck together, Yukiko hunting for the both of them whilst Buruu keeps watch. Soon hatred turns to wariness, turns to a grudging respect that Yukiko can sense when her mind is connected to Buruu's. And together in the mountains, Yukiko and Buruu meet the people that will change both of their lives.Kristoff does an excellent job of his heroine, who is both strong and soft, wilful and conflicted, but overall driven by a need to be reunited with her father and to stop the abominations that are happening all around her. Yukiko is not stupid, though she can be reckless (and what girl her age wouldn't be at times!), and she almost manages to outwit all those who she needs to. She is extremely likeable, and it's impossible not to get attached to her. Much as it hard to not get attached to Buruu or to feel for Kin who is trapped, literally, in a skin he doesn't want to be in.But beyond that, Kristoff manages to make us care for the world, for all the people we never get to see, for all the creatures that have been exterminated throughout the years. The weight of it all is there but never is it overbearing and the beauty of the described landscapes plays a perfect counterpart to the events happening within the story.I fell in love with Stormdancer within the first few pages and after that I was hooked. I wanted, needed to know what would come next. Even when events took a direction that I usually find infuriating in books (getting caught for some stupid reason, namely!), Kristoff managed to not drag anything out, and put the story back on track very quickly. I just honestly cannot see what people have against this book. It was a fantastic read, full of life and adventure, and I am definitely looking forward to listening to the sequel!

I discovered this book through the wonderful book bloggers that I've come to know via Twitter. Stormdancer was EVERYWHERE in the book blogging world over the last few months and with the incredibly eye catching cover (not the one above, the red and black one!), you can see why anyone would be intrigued. Add the fact that it's a steampunk fantasy based in a Japanese like world and I was pretty much sold on the idea.Jay Kristoff's characters live and breathe on the page. You can't but help root for the good guys and boo at the bad guys (specially the psycho Emperor). The plot line and action scenes are visually vivid and stunning.Now, to why this is not a five star. Although I love the story and the characters, the prose like writing was overly descriptive and made me falter several times while reading it. For example, I would start one paragraph and by the time I got to the end, I would have to read it again to get the meaning of it. I think some prose is good, especially in this style of book, and mades the experience for the reader very rich indeed, but too much numbs the senses. The first few chapters were particularly hard going as I found the constant description of the city and its people repetitive. The word chi must have been used a hundred times in those first chapters.My only other reservation was the relationship between Buruu and Yukiko. Buruu comes across as a proud, elemental beast who hates humans for what they've done to the land. Yet, his friendship with Yukiko develops at a phenomenally fast speed and several chapters later, he loves her like a sister. I didn't find this plausible. I do like the complexity and texture of their relationship towards the end of the book but I think it should have come after many more challenges to test their feelings for each other.Oh, and I do hope the author tells us what happened to Yukiko, Buruu and Kin? (not sure whether he made it out, I fear we'll find him imprisoned in the Guildhouse in the second novel) during those forty-nine days after they left the city in the second novel!All in all, a stupendous first book!

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.People said this book was good and they were certainly right! I've fallen in love. With a book.'Stormdancer' is a fantasy/Steampunk book set in a Japanese-style land. It is rich with culture and takes care with its descriptions and world-building. To me, this makes it beautiful in every way a book can be beautiful!It took me a few chapters to be utterly immersed in it (some might say it has a slow start), but when I did I just couldn't put it down.I loved Yukiko, the main character. She's strong, willful and compassionate. I absolutely loved and adored Buruu, the thunder tiger who ends up by her side. Initially resentful of her, their relationship develops and Buruu fast becomes my favourite character. He reminds me a little bit of Stitch from Lilo and Stitch, but obviously a bigger-sized creature with more 'oomph'. And his remarks and sense of humour actually had me laughing out loud. He makes the book work like Manchee in The Knife of Never Letting Go does, or the daemons in His Dark Materials trilogy.Evreything else about this book is just splendid. I loved the political intrigue of the book and the many layers and twisting storylines. You know what else was amazing about this book? The women. Plural. Some books just have one female character (the protagonist) portrayed as amazing and brilliant but here it's not just limited to Yukiko. I won't say more because I'll spoil it, but I was really happy with the development of some of the female characters.This book was a rollercoaster of a ride and I enjoyed every moment. I have no idea where it's going next. Will the POV be limited to the main characters? Or will it be told from a completely new POV? Whatever happens, I really, really can't wait!