I have been wanting to read this book forever. When I got the second book for review, Kinslayer, it was the perfect incentive to go pick up the first book from the library. The beginning of this book was incredibly difficult to get through and then the rest of the book was more interesting.
Yukiko and her father are given the impossible quest of hunting down a thunder tiger for the Shogun. It is impossible because thunder tigers no longer exist. Still Yukiko and her father either must return with a Thunder Tiger or forfeit their lives. So they go hunting. During their hunt they do find a Thunder Tiger, but after capturing it their airship is struck down by lightning and destroyed. Yukiko finds herself alone in the Shima wilderness with only an angry and hurt Thunder Tiger for company.
The premise behind this book sounded awesome. It was described as a Japanese steampunk dystopia, which I guess it is. Still it sounds a lot cooler than it turned out. The only steampunk element in here really are the airships, there really isnt a steampunk flare to the story or talk about inventions.
The first 80 pages or so of this book are a major drag. There is just so much info dumping about the history, religion, terminology and world itself that it is overwhelming. Tons and tons of names are thrown at you as well and all of them are very foreign and hard to keep straight. With so much thrown at the reader out of context it makes it very hard to engage in the story. The writing is very dense and I constantly found myself having to go back and reread portions of the writing over and over. The writing flowed very poorly.
After that we are mostly following Yukiko and the story becomes more engaging. When we are in the wilderness with Yukiko and the Thunder Tiger we actually get a chance to meet our characters in more detail and the story gets more engaging. The Thunder Tiger is very sardonically humorous and I enjoyed the dialogue between him and Yukiko.
Even though the last 2/3rds of the book were much better than the first part, a lot of the elements were hit or miss for me. Yukiko is obsessed with a green-eyed samurai that she sees on the street. She thinks and fantasies about him constantly. I thought it was a bit weird and awkward, since this obsession doesnt really mesh well with the rest of her characteristics. Also its a strange idealization of a caucasian attribute in a proudly asian culture.
Also there were inconsistencies. For example a big deal is made about the Thunder Tiger not being able to understand what humans say out loud. Then all of the sudden he can understand everything everyone around him is saying. I think we are meant to believe he is growing in ability? But that is never really made clear and adds more confusion to an already confusing world.
The last portion of the book is all politics, as Yukiko gets involved with a rebel group. This all takes place back in the main city. So again there is a ton of unexplained terminology and lots of names to keep track of. It wasnt as bad as the first portion of the book, but it still wasnt all that well done.
The idea behind this story and world is interesting; I just didn't felt it was executed as well as it could have been. I do have Kinslayer to review as well, I am hoping that that book flows better than this one.
Overall interesting, but could have been done much better. There are just too many problems with how the writing flows, not enough description, and too much info dumping in the beginning. The beginning was very hard to read. The characters are okay but I never really engaged all that well with them, there are just too many distractions. There are also some inconsistencies throughout the story that added to the confusion. I personally wouldnt recommend this as a great steampunk or a great dystopian read. I have Kinslayer to review, so I will read it...hopefully it will be better than this book.
Yukiko and her father are given the impossible quest of hunting down a thunder tiger for the Shogun. It is impossible because thunder tigers no longer exist. Still Yukiko and her father either must return with a Thunder Tiger or forfeit their lives. So they go hunting. During their hunt they do find a Thunder Tiger, but after capturing it their airship is struck down by lightning and destroyed. Yukiko finds herself alone in the Shima wilderness with only an angry and hurt Thunder Tiger for company.
The premise behind this book sounded awesome. It was described as a Japanese steampunk dystopia, which I guess it is. Still it sounds a lot cooler than it turned out. The only steampunk element in here really are the airships, there really isnt a steampunk flare to the story or talk about inventions.
The first 80 pages or so of this book are a major drag. There is just so much info dumping about the history, religion, terminology and world itself that it is overwhelming. Tons and tons of names are thrown at you as well and all of them are very foreign and hard to keep straight. With so much thrown at the reader out of context it makes it very hard to engage in the story. The writing is very dense and I constantly found myself having to go back and reread portions of the writing over and over. The writing flowed very poorly.
After that we are mostly following Yukiko and the story becomes more engaging. When we are in the wilderness with Yukiko and the Thunder Tiger we actually get a chance to meet our characters in more detail and the story gets more engaging. The Thunder Tiger is very sardonically humorous and I enjoyed the dialogue between him and Yukiko.
Even though the last 2/3rds of the book were much better than the first part, a lot of the elements were hit or miss for me. Yukiko is obsessed with a green-eyed samurai that she sees on the street. She thinks and fantasies about him constantly. I thought it was a bit weird and awkward, since this obsession doesnt really mesh well with the rest of her characteristics. Also its a strange idealization of a caucasian attribute in a proudly asian culture.
Also there were inconsistencies. For example a big deal is made about the Thunder Tiger not being able to understand what humans say out loud. Then all of the sudden he can understand everything everyone around him is saying. I think we are meant to believe he is growing in ability? But that is never really made clear and adds more confusion to an already confusing world.
The last portion of the book is all politics, as Yukiko gets involved with a rebel group. This all takes place back in the main city. So again there is a ton of unexplained terminology and lots of names to keep track of. It wasnt as bad as the first portion of the book, but it still wasnt all that well done.
The idea behind this story and world is interesting; I just didn't felt it was executed as well as it could have been. I do have Kinslayer to review as well, I am hoping that that book flows better than this one.
Overall interesting, but could have been done much better. There are just too many problems with how the writing flows, not enough description, and too much info dumping in the beginning. The beginning was very hard to read. The characters are okay but I never really engaged all that well with them, there are just too many distractions. There are also some inconsistencies throughout the story that added to the confusion. I personally wouldnt recommend this as a great steampunk or a great dystopian read. I have Kinslayer to review, so I will read it...hopefully it will be better than this book.
In the Shima isles a world that is a cross between steampunk and feudal Japan, also with elements from Warhammer. Yoritomo the shogun, has a dream about himself riding on an arashitora into battle. A thunder tiger, like a griffin but has tiger hindquarters instead of lion hindquarters. So he orders Masaru to find one or else he will be killed. This is made more difficult since they are supposedly extinct.
Yukiko is the daughter of the hunter and drunk Masaru. She has the ability to mentally talk to animals. she must hide her ability or the machine worshipers of the lotus guild burn her for being impure.
As soon as there on the sky-ship they find and capture thunder tiger and mentally commuicates with is (who she names Buruu) like the dragon riders ¾ I mean the heralds of Valdemar ¾ I mean this unoriginal concept! Then the sky-ship crashes and then Yukino and Buruu are forced to survive in the wilderness on the journey back to Kigen city.
The setting does a good job A harsh polluted oppressive land. However, I feel that while the setting unique, the story itself just doesn't work. It feels done before and done better. The characters are somewhat forgettable. I might remember two or three of them. Yukiko comes off as a bland action girl that is flat. The only thing that is remarkable about her is that she has psychic powers, and thats all. Buruu starts out okay but its obvious he can't carry the story himself. Yoritomo is just one of those villains that are eye-rolled and groaned at. and afterword are pretty much forgotten.
While I find that this book has a lot of good ideas and concepts this story just wastes them. I will not be continuing is series. If you want to read this, get it from the library.
Yukiko is the daughter of the hunter and drunk Masaru. She has the ability to mentally talk to animals. she must hide her ability or the machine worshipers of the lotus guild burn her for being impure.
As soon as there on the sky-ship they find and capture thunder tiger and mentally commuicates with is (who she names Buruu) like the dragon riders ¾ I mean the heralds of Valdemar ¾ I mean this unoriginal concept! Then the sky-ship crashes and then Yukino and Buruu are forced to survive in the wilderness on the journey back to Kigen city.
The setting does a good job A harsh polluted oppressive land. However, I feel that while the setting unique, the story itself just doesn't work. It feels done before and done better. The characters are somewhat forgettable. I might remember two or three of them. Yukiko comes off as a bland action girl that is flat. The only thing that is remarkable about her is that she has psychic powers, and thats all. Buruu starts out okay but its obvious he can't carry the story himself. Yoritomo is just one of those villains that are eye-rolled and groaned at. and afterword are pretty much forgotten.
While I find that this book has a lot of good ideas and concepts this story just wastes them. I will not be continuing is series. If you want to read this, get it from the library.
