Stormdancer (The Lotus Wars, #1) in SpecFic Buddy Reads

Jul 07, 2016 Emma rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, steam-punk, ya, oriental-chinese-japanese

3.5 stars.
This book had a slower start than it needed to have due to the awful amount of information dumping in the first quarter of the book. After that, the story started moving.
Despite its Japan inspired setting, there was nothing terribly new here but it was still an enjoyable read. It is the same story to be found in Red Queen, Ember in the Ashes, Red Rising (not of all of which I have actually read, I must confess!)- basically rising up against the affluent and all powerful elite, with a y ...more

22 likes · Like · see review

Sep 26, 2018 Lindsay rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy

A young woman and a legendary monster fight against an all-consuming empire in this dystopian steampunk fantasy.

The Shõgun of the Shima Isles has a vision of an Arashitora, a storm-tiger, and dreams of becoming a legendary Stormdancer. At his command, the hunter Masaru and Masaru's daughter Yukiko set off with a flying ship to capture the beast. What follows is a detailed description of an empire on the brink of total environmental and social collapse because of the consumption of the polluting ...more

13 likes · Like · see review

Jul 30, 2018 Justine rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018-read

Interesting and fast paced story set in a steampunk world obviously loosely modelled on Japan. If you're looking for cultural accuracy, as some other reviewers have pointed out, you might have a few issues. If you can overlook those and read it strictly as fantasy, it's actually a good story.

I'm definitely planning to continue the series. ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Dec 26, 2021 Bradley rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, steampunk, 2021-shelf

This is a pretty solid YA Japanese Steampunk adventure, offering up a good deal of mythology and explanations (gotta love kitsune) and mixing it pretty hardcore with big revolution steampunk stuff with iron samurai.

It is exactly what you might assume it is. It's a very good example of the YA revolution genre, and it is a good example of what is so common in that YA revolution genre.

Of course, if this is exactly what you're looking for, and you have a big itch for samurai and nine-tailed-foxes an ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Sep 06, 2015 Sarah rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: audio

This was a pretty entertaining book for the most part but by the end I just wanted it to be over. At first I was enjoying the story, I just never felt like the story developed much depth. Definitely not going to finish the series.

Also, the audio added nothing. The narrator had about three voices available and you could only figure out who was talking because there were so few people in each scene.

8 likes · Like · see review

Apr 18, 2019 Carrie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 4-and-a-half-to-5-stars, fantasy, young-adult, steampunk, father-daughter, mythology-legends, alternative-history, japan

I wish we could rate with half stars because this would be somewhere in between 4.5 and 4.7.

Why not a full 5? The start was a little slow for me, but that could have just been me. I was really tired when I picked up this book to dive in. So in fairness the 5 star could be accurate.

I love Buruu. Also I want to see this made into an anime soo frickin' badly...Paging Studio Ghibli, care to make it? ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

May 06, 2012 Amber (Books of Amber) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This review was originally posted on Books of Amber

There has been a lot of hype surrounding this book since it first came out. I had been trying to hold off on starting the trilogy until nearer to the final book’s release, because I had a feeling that I wouldn’t be able to wait a year for the third book. Now that Endsinger is coming out in a month, I figured that now was the time.

Stormdancer took a little while to hook me, mostly because of all the terminology that was used in the beginning. Kri This review was originally posted on Books of Amber

There has been a lot of hype surrounding this book since it first came out. I had been trying to hold off on starting the trilogy until nearer to the final book’s release, because I had a feeling that I wouldn’t be able to wait a year for the third book. Now that Endsinger is coming out in a month, I figured that now was the time.

Stormdancer took a little while to hook me, mostly because of all the terminology that was used in the beginning. Kristoff doesn’t take the time to slowly dip the reader into this world, he just throws them into it with full force and doesn’t take any prisoners. This was a little bit of an issue for me when I first started reading because I had no clue what any of the characters were saying. After about fifty pages, though, I did get used to it and I felt fully immersed in this world.

Stormdancer masters the perfect blend of description and action. It kept me on my toes the entire time, and instead of plodding along it felt as though I was sailing through it. The world is beautifully described and the characters are all intriguing. The action scenes gave me ALL THE FEELS because they played with my emotions and still managed to stay fast paced and thrilling. Fantasy lovers will ADORE this book once they get into it.

Obviously, I can’t review this book without mentioning the relationship between Yukiko and Buruu. I wasn’t expecting something as epic as that to come out of this book, but it happened and now I’m getting teary-eyed because they are beautiful. They are soulmates and very few of my fictional pairings can top them because they embody everything that I adore. I don’t really want to explain what those things are because I want everyone who is reading this review to go into the book with a fresh mind, but basically: Yukiko x Buruu = OTP.

I think everybody should read this book just so I have more people to fangirl with. From the Japanese-inspired fantasy to the FREAKIN’ THUNDER TIGERS, everything about this book is epic. I’m dying to know where this series goes because the ending of Stormdancer wrapped things up well without a cliffhanger, but at the same time left things very, VERY open for more. And the ending was very Spartacus, which leads me to believe that Kristoff (I’m still chuckling over this) is a) a fan of my favourite show ever, and b) up to things. UP TO THINGS. So I’m going to read Kinslayer this week (hopefully) so that I am ready for Endsinger’s release in November. EEP. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Aug 16, 2018 Helen rated it really liked it

I’ve owned this book for some years now. Initially I found it so-so, I almost put it aside thinking it would clash with my audio (Poppy War) but I’m glad I didn’t as it shaped up nicely. Plus who doesn’t love a Storm-Tiger?!

1 like · Like · see review