Book Review: Stormdancer

Griffins are supposed to be extinct. So when Yukiko and her warrior father Masaru are sent to capture one for the Shogun, they fear that their lives are over. Everyone knows what happens to those who fail him, no matter how hopeless the task.

But the mission proves far less impossible, and far more deadly, than anyone expects – and soon Yukiko finds herself stranded: a young woman alone in her country's last wilderness, with only a furious, crippled griffin for company. But trapped together in the forest, Yukiko and Buruu soon discover a friendship that neither of them expected.

Meanwhile, the country around them verges on the brink of collapse. A toxic fuel is slowly choking the land; the omnipotent, machine-powered Lotus Guild is publicly burning those they deem Impure; and the Shogun cares about nothing but his own dominion. Yukiko has always been uneasy in the shadow of power, when she learns the awful truth of what the Shogun has done, both to her country and to her own family she's determined to do something about it.

Returning to the city, Yukiko and Buruu plan to make the Shogun pay for his crimes – but what can one girl and a flightless griffin do against the might of an empire?

Stormdancer
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 452 (hardback)
Part of Series: The Lotus War #1
Purchased: Bought
Rating: 3/5 stars

REVIEW:
Phew..i just finished this one. It took me a while. I had my doubts about this book since it was steampunk and it's not my favorite genre, still i couldn't say no so i bought it.

I'll admit i had a bad start with this one and lots of problems. The original story though and the whole thing in general made me like it. I can't say it was one of my favorite reads but i'm really into reading the next one too.

To start from the beginning, my main problem was the details. There is a huge amount of details in pretty much everything and if you think that for the first 100 pages nothing really interesting was happening and the story wasn't really moving i almost gave up. Plus, the big amount of japanese weapons and  terms was confusing. There are just there, no explanation what they are. YES, there is a glosary at the end...but for god's sake..i don't check the last pages of the book, so i missed it entirely. So that was a big problem for me. For about 150 pages the book was more tiresome than enjoyable.
But when it started to grow and actually going forward it was more than interesting.

As for the characters i can't say much. They were pretty average and not people who stay with me after the book is over. I've seen them before one way or another.

In the end it was an interesting but quite average book. I'm willing to give a change to the next installment of the series.

P.S: I'm not entirely sure the words "sama" and "chan" were used properly. From the few things i've seen on manga and anime, the book version was a bit off and it seemed wrong.