Review: Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff

I hear amazing things about Jay Kristoff all the time and this book has been sitting on my shelf for a while. When I went on vacation a little while ago I decided it was finally time to tuck into what appeared to be an epic fantasy. 

I got settled in on my beach chair and started reading. I found it very slow going, but figured I was just distracted by the heat, the view and the sea calling out for me to jump in and cool off. But I have found out that others have had the same problem with the start of this book. I think it is such slow going at the start because of the intricate world building and the explaining of a bunch of Japanese terms. 

Speaking of Japanese terms I think that was a little overdone. There were a multitude of clothing items and weapons, especially, that each had a specific term, and I could never remember which was which. Once I finished the book I realized there is a glossary at the back…But even if I had known about it, I hate flipping back and forth to see which type of sword this or that is, specifically. 

Once the story got going I rather enjoyed it, but not as much as I expected. This book is the first in a series, The Lotus Wars, and it is about a young girl, Yukiko, whose father is the master huntsman for the shogun. They are sent to catch a mythical beast called the stormtiger, arashitora, and to everyone’s surprise, including their own, they actually manage to catch it. However, it escapes and this does not sit well with the shogun, who takes his anger out on everyone, whom he deems responsible. Meanwhile, a group of people are planning a revolution to overthrow the shogun and Yukiko gets caught up in this. I can’t really say much more without major spoilers, so I’ll leave it there. 

As I said, I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. The world building took up a lot of time in the beginning and the emphasis on the Japanese setting seemed a little contrived. As for the characters I found the arashitora the most interesting, although I did have some trouble with its development, as it seemed to very quickly gain an understanding of logic and reason, at first being presented as a wild animal whose actions are mainly based on feelings. Rather quickly it gets a sense of dry humor and is capable of abstract thought. I thought that was a little too quick, but since the plot was based on this development it had to happen. I just wonder if it could have been done better.  

I gave this book 3 stars out of 5 on Goodreads, and I doubt I will be continuing this series. Partly because I’d rather read other things and partly because I fell like this book wrapped up pretty nicely. There are still a few loose strings but none that I am too interested in pursuing.