Review: Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff

Read from August 28, 2012
to September 18. 2012

Book: Stormdancer (The Lotus War #1) by Jay Kristoff

Publication Date: September 18, 2012

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Number of Pages: 336

Genre/s: Young Adult, Steampunk

A DYING LAND 

The Shima Imperium verges on the brink of environmental collapse; an island nation once rich in tradition and myth, now decimated by clockwork industrialization and the machine-worshipers of the Lotus Guild. The skies are red as blood, the land is choked with toxic pollution, and the great spirit animals that once roamed its wilds have departed forever. 

AN IMPOSSIBLE QUEST

The hunters of Shima’s imperial court are charged by their Shōgun to capture a thunder tiger—a legendary creature, half-eagle, half-tiger. But any fool knows the beasts have been extinct for more than a century, and the price of failing the Shōgun is death.

A SIXTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL

Yukiko is a child of the Fox clan, possessed of a talent that if discovered, would see her executed by the Lotus Guild. Accompanying her father on the Shōgun’s hunt, she finds herself stranded: a young woman alone in Shima’s last wilderness, with only a furious, crippled thunder tiger for company. Even though she can hear his thoughts, even though she saved his life, all she knows for certain is he’d rather see her dead than help her. 

But together, the pair will form an indomitable friendship, and rise to challenge the might of an empire. - From Goodreads 

Let me take a moment to wipe my tears. 

Stormdancer has all the merits, the grace, the freaking epicness. I AM IN AWE. I AM STUNNED. I AM AMAZED. My jaw is somewhere in the floor of my dormitory struggling to close itself and to recover from the awesomeness of it all. There are no words to express how much Stormdancer touched me. There are no words. No words.

Oh come on guys. Do I really need to spell it all out why Stormdancer rock so hard, it made the ant hills tremble in fear for their existence. It made thunderstorms cool. It made you anticipate for an arashitora. It made you want to have a Kenning. This book is so good, I have to stop for a while, wide eyed and slack jawed, look at my surroundings and remind myself that I'm not Yukiko. It's a shame really because I want my own Buruu. I want my own arashitora!

I swear to you, I was grinning, smirking, giggling all by myself in class with my professor in the middle of her lecture about peritoneal dialysis and epidural anesthesia. Nothing else mattered at those times. NOTHING ELSE. I was thoroughly sucked in and I could care less with anyone. Anything is nothing compared to this. SHALL I CONVINCE YOU MORE? Because I can, I could go on and on about how freakingtastic Stormdancer is.

Honestly, I was well-prepared for anything. Those early reviews of those lucky reviewers about Kristoff's writing being so...overwhelming. Indeed it is, in a good way. I loved it.  Every word is chosen carefully to add more conviction, to provide more weight in a situation. I appreciated how he string words together, how the words become lifelike, how it showcased his creativity, how it become an art, a written painting. Everything was so vividly described and characterized, even the slightest details were beautifully crafted. Kristoff's writing made my senses alive. 

For those of you who might've problem with that kind of writing, do not give up. The last thing you would ever want to do is give up. I swear it will grow on you and you will love it. If not, then something's really wrong with you. Nah, I'm just kidding. Or am I? But seriously, you wouldn't meet Buruu. The glorious arashitora whom everybody loves right now. Just do it for Buruu. ALL HAIL BURUU!

Yukiko, the bearer of the kick-ass sash and the winner of the badass trophy. You just have to hand it to her. She's fierce yet compassionate. She's just a young girl task to start a revolution, to change everything, to inspire people to see through the haze of corruption, the heat of oppression, to save what there's left to be save. She was an enigma to behold.

The romance. Oh how I giggled. Buruu can be such a tease sometimes. I think it effectively added another side to Yukiko. There was also Yukiko's relationship with her father. She hated him for all the thing she thought she lost because of him. Only to find out that he gave it all up just for her. In his father he learned forgiveness and sacrifice. Her father once said to her, "One day you will see that we must sometimes sacrifice for the sake of something greater". And her father do held to this until the very end.

Kristoff's Stormdancer is my first steampunk. It reminded me why I love reading in the first place. It's because I want to feel so much, I'm going to be so close to exploding. It's because I want to be mindblown and I want to be transported into a completely different world that only amazingness awaits me.  GAWD. JAY KRISTOFF remember this, if I see you someday I will...cry. YOU ARE JUST...My heart just bursts with admiration for you.

It's been a long time since I fell madly in love with a book, I'd sell my right kidney just to..I don't know..spread the love? It's packed-full of adventure with solid characters and important and relevant themes. It was about everlasting bond and friendship, unconditional love, sacrifice and reconciliation, and family. It was incredibly outstanding, marvelously superb and everything in between. It was love.

If I had a love jar, I would certainly be broke by now. But yeah, I still want my own Buruu. Dibs.

Cupid's Verdict:

5 Cupids

An advance copy was provided by the publisher at no cost via Netgalley.