Stormdancer
2012
- japan, fiction
- fiction, fantasy, general
- fiction, science fiction, steampunk
- fiction, dystopian
- young women
- fiction
- griffins
- shoguns
- revenge
- dystopias
The story
In this dystopian steampunk fantasy set against a backdrop of feudal Japan, warrior Yukiko captures a supposedly extinct (but crippled) griffin for the Shogun, then learns -- after meeting secretive Kin and the rebel Kage cabal -- of the horrifying extent of the Shogun's crimes, both against her country and her family. Returning to the city, Yukiko is determined to make the Shogun pay -- but what can one girl and a flightless griffin do against the might of an empire?
What it’s like
Lush, blood-warm prose full of lacquer, incense, smoke and rain-slick rooftops, with the Japanese setting rendered through textured sensory detail rather than tourism: paper lanterns, clockwork machinery grinding under cherry blossom, the metallic tang of iron and oil. The voice is lyrical and sharply first-person-close, shifting between tender, bruised interiority and kinetic set pieces where swords flash and the air hums with the thrum of mechanical wings. Its vibe is wistful and defiant, a tragic-epic mood with an undercurrent of grief and rage. It suits a long, unhurried evening alone, or a stretch of commuting when you want to be carried somewhere vivid. The pacing moves between quiet, aching stretches and bursts of rapid action, with the emotional arc following a damaged young woman hardening her heart and slowly finding fierce loyalty to a wounded creature. Violence is frequent and often graphic: swordfights, bloody deaths, and cruelty by an oppressive regime, with some gore and disturbing imagery. Romance is a faint thread rather than a focus. It is best for readers who love atmospheric worldbuilding, bold heroines and fantasy that doesn't flinch from brutality.
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