Stormdancer [Paperback]

It is hard to find fault with this novel. All the elegance of 'Across The Nightingale Floor' with the epic spirit of something like 'Princess Mononoke'.

The story is set in an alternate Japan, where a toxic industrial revolution has produced huge technological leaps but dire environmental costs. The 'arashitora', the griffin, is the mouthpiece of the story's environmental theme - even paraphrasing a famous Native American saying at one point - but the theme is never overly-polemical nor didactic.

Kristoff's prose is clever and evocative, if occasionally a little too-over describing. His steampunk Japan is highly imaginative, with samurai warriors armoured in robotic suits and wielding chainsaw katanas, and airships filling the sky. Most menacing of all are the Guildsmen, the brains behind the technology, permanently encased in their suits and described as insectoid beings. There are obvious links with Japanese mecha here, but Kristoff has produced a story that transcends such roots.

With all this fascinating invention, one of the main characters - the arashitora - is almost eclipsed. But his character is quite delightful, all his animal mannerisms captured. He reminded me of Toothless from 'How To Train Your Dragon' in more ways than one.

A truly accomplished debut novel, and one that I think and hope will go far. My only problem with it in fact is the front cover - so bland! The blurb gives away the griffin, so why not display it in all its glory on the cover?

Sometimes, I think there must be something wrong with me. When I sit looking over the myriad - well, 36! - glowing reviews for an over-hyped novel such as Kristoff's 'Stormdancer', I'm left feeling utterly bemused.

Let's start by saying that - surprise! - I didn't enjoy this novel. It is in fact remarkable that it comes across as so intolerably dull, despite blending feudal Japan with steampunk, mythical beasts, and a tantō-wielding heroine capable of telepathy! That, surely, is a recipe for unbridled success. And yet, no! From the very first chapter onwards, I found 'Stormdancer' to be tedious to the extreme.

For one, it is not very well written. Kristoff labours his prose with great lashes of description, endless paragraphs, which, standing on their own, might come across as well structured and occasionally lyrical, but are instead piled one after another, bogging the story down to such an extent that it takes over 100 pages before we meet the griffon, Buruu, who's character is secondary only to Yukiko herself. From this point on the story does pick up, though it's got to be said that it counts for little, given its prior level of sloth. I honestly think 'Stormdancer' could have done with being around 200 pages long. One needs a really good reason to tell such a limited story in more than that; Kristoff's reason is that he's long winded and indulgent.

And as for characterisation... Urgh, Yukiko is so uninspired. She might have special powers and a thundertiger as companion, but that's about as far as Kristoff goes towards making her interesting, let alone likeable. There has long been a problem with fantasy heroes/heroines being overtly liberal, often laughably unsuited to the medieval-esque societies in which they've supposedly been brought up. Authors often get away with it, and I don't usually mind too much. Yukiko, however, has got to stand as one of the most anachronistic characters I've ever come across. She is clearly of our 21st century world, concerned with climate change and the the lives of those less fortunate. I found this aspect frightfully jarring. If this wasn't enough, she is furthermore simply dull. You can rely on her to do the right thing, and think the right thing. She was for the most part entirely two dimensional. Also, providing Yukiko with a love-interest in the shape of Lord Hiro, seemed quite beyond Kristoff. It's been a while since I've come across such a bungled and unneeded 'romance'.
Other characters are actually slightly better. Buruu himself is very likeable, if out and out nicked from 'How to Train Your Dragon''s Toothless. The best written and most interesting character was Yukiko's father, Masaru. He is wonderfully flawed and I found myself caring for him most of all. Actually, the story told from his perspective would possibly have been superior.

I found the world building itself to be limited. The actual concept is, I think, a great one. Who wouldn't want to read about a steampunky feudal Japan? It's not altogether original, and certainly not to the extent some readers have made it out to be. A lot of it, for instance, is directly lifted from Japanese mythology. (In fact, Kristoff actually seems a little smug on occasion, insisting on having his character 'tell stories' to one another in order to reveal his knowledge of Japanese culture!) As for the rest, it was mostly fairly generic. There's the Empire's capital, and then an obliterated land scarred by the nation's addiction to technology and the 'lotus' fuel on which it runs. All the usual tropes of a steampunk world abound, from gas masks and flying ships, and samurai in clockwork mech suits. It should come across as wonderfully indulgent, and, I admit, there are occasions when it does. But personally I never found enough originality to anything. It was all strangely familiar, with content lifted from countless other sources, particularly anime and manga.

Finally, 'Stormdancer's plot was near enough to non-existent. Most of it is given away in the blurb, and from there it follows the generic fantasy outline of good versus evil that I won't bang on about. I waited and waited for a twist that might surprise me, trusting to reviews that I was going to be left gasping at some point, bowled over by a move I hadn't expected. But no. By the last chapter my cynicism was merely confirmed. 'Stormdancer' is a victim of fantasy's deadliest pitfall; predictability. Kristoff's utter banality wasn't enough to provide the distraction needed to make this novel either interesting or enjoyable. I can count on three fingers the number of occasions when I went, "Huh, that's cool." For the rest of the time I was slogging away, hoping and hoping, but only ever getting increasingly bogged down.

Before I really begin my review, I know that I'm going to come back to this book one day. I honestly saw tonnes of potential and at times I absolutely fell in love with it, but something just stopped me from finishing it. I delayed writing my review, I deferred reading because I thought I'll finish it, I'll read it, but I never have. This lead me to call this book a "did-not-finish" an "abandoned" which I truly abhor to do on every level, but I really couldn't connect enough. I think the problem I had were the long, lengthy flowery prose and descriptions that made up every section of Stormdancer. Everything was described in detail and laid down for me, leaving me to feel like my imagination was being cut off from being allowed to expand.

"The silken sokutai robe he wore was abominably heavy, layer upon layer of gold and scarlet, and he cursed again at having to wear the confounded thing in this heat."

I know tonnes of people have rated this book four and five stars and it rocketed to being one of the most anticipated novels of the year, but for me I just couldn't connect and I'm left feeling a little bit of an outsider to all the joy people found.

The one true element that I absolutely adored from the first moment and would undoubtedly just read about all day was Buruu. Admittedly, he was probably the sole reason I continued to read. If his presence hadn't been so entertaining, enlightening and simply adorable I would have abandoned this book much sooner. He brought an edge of humour and cynicism to the novel that had me laughing and giggling in delight. I genuinely adore the idea of Griffins as magical creatures and I think this only served to enamour me more and more with Burruu as I imagined him in my head. However, one character alone is not enough to sustain the novel for me.

"She would be a pet, it decided. She could atone for the insults of her pack with servitude. And if not, she could serve at the last by lining its belly."

And he only manages to get better...

"YOU ARE TALKING TOO MUCH TO HIM. TALK TO ME. Buruu nudged her with his beak, almost knocking her over."

And even better...

"MUST HAVE BEEN DIFFICULT. LITTLE THING LIKE YOU ENDING FIVE PIT DEMONS ALL ALONE."

The detailed descriptions may have pushed me away from this novel, but the Japanese terminology was probably a deal breaker. I don't speak Japanese. My knowledge of the Japanese culture is very limited. I don't want to pose such blatant ignorance, but it just flummoxed me to be reading about all these things I couldn't visualise, understand. There is a glossary, but it's at the back of the book and I was reading an e-book. Obviously my laziness is a factor in the fact I didn't want to turn every time there was a word, but when there are four or five words on a page, it soon becomes frustrating, so I just attempted to muddle through the best I could.

The scene setting and world building was really good. There was a lot of past history to the world and it seemed to extend in all directions to create a sustained world that is sometimes lacking in other novels. I think Kristoff has to be applauded for the creation and uniqueness of his ideas. I thought his development of the world was incredibly original and it offered so much.

Another issue I had with this novel was my lack of connection with the main character, I just couldn't find something relatable. I could appreciate her and I like her, but I lacked this connection to what she was doing and everything about her. I think this flummoxed me with the direction of the novel and prevented me from really devouring this novel.

I wanted to like this novel so much and I think there is so much for people to genuinely fall in love with, but honestly, I couldn't get into it or appreciate it. Hopefully one day I'll be able to appreciate the magic Kristoff is weaving, but somehow, I don't think this novel is one for me. Don't abandon it though, really you should give it a try.

* Quotes are taken from and uncorrected proof copy and may change in the final draft.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this in exchange for my honest review