Stormdancer: The Lotus War Book One Kindle Edition

First dystopian steam-punk I've ever read. The setting is almost allegorical... chi=oil, guildsman=corporations, over-cultivation=destroying the land, climate change, corrupt leaders.The story is reasonably well written, but I just didn't care for it a lot. I thought that the challenges faced by the protagonist were for the most part easily overcome. There was one scene that really bothered me and really threw me out of the story. [Minor spoiler: Our protagonist is found to have been lying to and plotting against the murderous overlord who kills people at a whim and yet he lets her go with a rant, a beating and doesn't even bother imprison to her in his wonderfully vile dungeons] The story goes the way you expect to and ends with a lead up to the next book.It was just okay and I don't know that I liked the setting or the characters enough to want to follow the story further.

First, let me say I don't care about all the cultural appropriate stuff. I didn't let that come into the rating of the books at all.A book that combines steampunk aesthetics with the ancient Japanese world of the samurai- can such a thing exist? Yes, and it’s called Stormdancer, the first book in the Lotus War series by Jay Kristoff, an award-winning, Australian author. Kristoff said that he first got the idea for this sci-fi/fantasy after a dream he had, and that’s totally believable. From the bleak setting to mythical demons, to iron samurai with chainsaw katanas, this book certainly seems like it could have come from someone’s nightmares.The majority of the story takes place in a polluted world, half-destroyed by the production and consumption a plant called the blood lotus. Because of this flower, the sun is scorching hot and so bright you go blind if you look at it without goggles. The air is poisonous- those of means have expensive respirators, while others get by with dirty handkerchiefs tied to their faces. The poorest succumb to blacklung- a disease that spreads through your body, eventually causing a painful death. There are few animals left, and there are no pets- faced with starvation, their owners have been forced to use them for food. And if that weren’t bad enough, the blood lotus poisons the ground, making it impossible for anything to grow once the blossom has been harvested. Most of the story takes place in one of two settings- the Iishi Mountains, the last wild place in all of Shima, home to demons and the dreaded Kigen, who seem intent on destroying blood lotus fields, and Kigen City, the capital of Shima and center of the Guild, a group of engineers, priests, and businessmen who oversee production of the blood lotus..There are multiple conflicts in the story, but the strongest are nature vs. machine, rich vs. poor, and man vs. man, with Yukiko vs. the Shogun being the strongest.In the beginning, Shogun Yoritomo Kazumitsu, a cruel and heartless leader, commands his hunters to capture an arashitora, or thunder tiger. The creature, a griffin thought to be extinct, is meant to be a symbol of the shogun’s power, the thing that will ensure victory over a long war overseas with the gaijin. Masaru, the lead hunter, his daughter Yukiko, along with a sailing crew, two other hunters, and a guildsman named Kin.They hunters go off to find a griffin, flying into a dangerous storm and manage to succeed in trapping the beast. But before long, the ship is struck by lightning, and a good deal of the crew, including Masaru, Kasumi (a female friend and fellow hunter), and Akahito (a brother-in-arms sort of character) are forced to abandon the ship in a lifeboat while the arashitora is still in its cage. Yukiko jumps from the lifeboat to free the caged arashitora just as the lifeboat is freed from the side of the ship and plunges toward the forest floor.The arashitora, whom Yukiko names Buruu, becomes more than just a protector, as they make their way through a forest filled with demons and Kage, eventually meeting up with Kin, who also survived the destruction of the ship. Kin learns Yukiko’s secret by watching her and Buruu interact without speaking- she has the Kenning, the ability to speak telepathically with animals- but promises to say nothing as it would result in her death at the hands of guildsmen priests intent on destroying anyone who displays gifts like those Yukiko has.With the help of some new friends, Yukiko, Buruu, and an injured Kin make it out of the Ishii wilds. Armed with new knowledge about her mother’s disappearance, and the war on Shima’s poor and the environment, Yukiko aims to take down the shogunate with help from Buruu. But will they succeed?Overall, I liked this book. One of my favorite books of all time is Shogun by James Clavell, so the samurai theme is right up my alley. Stormdancer wasn’t jaw-dropping awesome, but I didn't expect it to be either, so it didn't really disappoint. The plot moves the reader quickly to the climax, which is satisfying, and I did start to connect and care for some of the characters. Others, I couldn’t care less what happened to them, and this was one of my complaints. I think a good book should develop the characters well enough that I do care what happens to them. Some of the action scenes were also a bit jarring. The description was heavy, but abstract, so sometimes it was difficult to get a grasp on what was going on. As a result, the images- especially some of the battle scenes- floundered in my head.Ultimately, it was the premise of the story that captivated me, and it did that well enough that I’ll read the other two books in the series. I would recommend this book to fans of science fiction and fantasy, as it has elements of both. I would rate this book 3-4 stars. The ending was satisfying enough that I wanted to move on to the next book right away, which is a good thing in my book.

“Stormdancer” feels like a hybrid of Philip Reeve, Cherie Priest, and James Clavell’s “Shogun”, and in many ways it outpaces all of them. It takes the breathless scale and darkly meticulous landscapes of Steampunk, and an encyclopediac knowledge of Japanese history, and mashes them together into something new.Kristoff spends the first couple of chapters taking the readers on a tour of this bizarre alternative feudal era Japan, called Shima, beautifully realized so you can easily visualize this ruined parallel world, He paints a shocking picture of mythical beasts co-existing with humans in a slowly collapsing environment.The central character, Yukiko, is out for revenge against Lord Yoritomo, the sadistic warlord who controls all of Shima, responsible for the death of her mother and the imprisonment of her father. She’s aided by the mysterious outcaste Kin, and Buroo the arashitora (storm-tiger) a wonderfully snarky creature from the mists of legend.There is also Hiro, the guardsman who loves Yukiko but is fiercely loyal to the Shogunate, and the Iron Samurai - part-mechanical warriors who are pretty much what you would expect to find in a Steampunk novel.Both main and secondary characters reveal new shades every time we meet them. Despite this, the real star of the book is the Lotus Smoke of the trilogy’s title, that looms over the book as a fuel source, a narcotic, the source of Yorimoto’s power, and the cause of Shima’s environmental degradation. The smoke is genuinely disturbing in its ubiquitous influence, and leads to some creepy imagery throughout the book.Sometimes, there is a piece of writing in a genre book that makes me admire it because it stands out among the rest. It happened with Mark Hodder’s “The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack”, where we saw Jack’s descent into madness as he tried to set right what he thought had gone wrong. In this book, it happens in the climactic battle between Yukiko’s allies and Yoritomo’s forces in Chapter 34, which made me feel like I was watching a movie.“Stormdancer” is written with passion and a huge amount of attention to detail. The writing is lean, doesn’t waste a sentence, and I’m looking forward to Book 2.

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.

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.

This book has all the right ingredients to grip and engage the reader - a strong, interesting female protagonist - a brutish empire in need of an overhaul - mythical creatures and an interesting pantheon of demons and Gods - all in the backdrop of a steampunk-esque Japan.It took me several chapters to fully 'get into' the book - it was only really after the third chapter that I began to take interest and was better able to keep track of what was going on. I found this pattern repeating itself throughout the read - some chapters were thrilling, with tantalising cliffhangers... and others were really subpar with cringy melodrama. It's truly a shame as the chapters which got it right really carried me through the book, but ultimately it's not really been enough to push me to buy the sequel (yet). It's certainly worth giving a go, but I cannot highly recommend it to readers.

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!