Book Reviews from the Moon: Stormdancer

Stormdancer: The Lotus War Book One, by Jay Kristoff, has been on my to-read or listen-to list for a long time. Prior to the book’s release, the book cover illustration caught my eye and I read the description. The idea of Japanese steam punk intrigued me in many ways. I’ve never pre-ordered a book because my list of books to read is already too long, but I did put it on my wish list.

After the book was released, I kept coming back to it but never quite found the time with so many other things going on—family, work, reading, writing, and getting through life in general. Anyone familiar with my blog or my reviews will know that I’m a big proponent of audiobooks. Part of the reason I like to listen to books is convenience, but I also just really enjoy the medium of storytelling. (Voice actors rock.) So I purchased my audiobook copy and began to listen, even though I was in the mood for crime fiction. I had just finished an excellent novel in that genre.

So when I began to listen to Stormdancer, the story was starting with a couple of disadvantages. The newness of the idea and my first impression of the book cover had worn off and I was really in the mood for a murder mystery or crime drama of some sort. The extended courtship of this book definitely paid off. Stormdancer is one of the best books I’ve listen to or read in a long time. It fulfilled my expectations and surpassed them.

As with many books of fantasy and other types of speculative fiction, I am often overwhelmed in the beginning by scene setting and world building. Perhaps it is because I read so many books that I have less and less patience for description. Now, that makes it seem like the description wasn’t good in Stormdancer, which is definitely not the case. Storm dancer is a vivid world that is built carefully and thoroughly. It meets one of my main criteria for fiction, in that I feel I can daydream there for extended periods of time. For this to work, there must be interesting and dangerous characters in addition to the world description.

Early in the story, the characters take life and the stakes they face increase steadily. Jay Kristoff kept up the pressure until the end of the book, and I found myself lost in the fictive dream. I eagerly look forward to the next book in the series and hope it can match the quality of the first.