This is my first Ai Jiang book, but it won’t be my last. I loved how unique the magic and the world was and I’m totally hooked! Waiting for the next one will be so hard! Keep reading this book review of A Palace Near the Wind for my full thoughts.
Summary
Sometimes called Wind Walkers for their ability to command the wind, unlike their human rulers, the Feng people have bark faces, carved limbs, arms of braided branches, and hair of needle threads. Bound by duty and tradition, Liu Lufeng, the eldest princess of the Feng royalty, is the next bride to the human king. The negotiation of bridewealth is the only way to stop the expansion of the humans so that the Feng can keep their lands, people, and culture intact. As the eldest, Lufeng should be the next in line to lead the people of Feng, and in the past, that made her sisters disposable. Thankful that her youngest sister, Chuiliu, is too young for a sacrificial marriage, she steps in with plans to kill the king to finally stop the marriages.
But when she starts to uncover the truth about her peoples’ origins and realizes Chuiliu will never be safe from the humans, she must learn to let go of duty and tradition, choose her allies carefully, and risk the unknown in order to free her family and shape her own fate.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
The world of A Palace Near the Wind is something I’m not sure I’ll get over. It’s such a unique premise that I cannot wait to see more of in the sequel. There’s this interesting exploration of the destruction of nature and the pace of ‘development’, ‘industrialization’. What will we sacrifice, and how will we change, for the sake of the ‘future’. A Palace Near the Wind examines the personal, the community, and the world through this lens. What little pieces of ourselves, our culture, our community, do we have to sacrifice?
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It’s full of the careless and planned cruelties. The ways that our worlds are taken apart piece by piece. At the same time, A Palace Near the Wind asks us how we can find a way forward. If there’s a way our families, ourselves, and our cultures can move forward. And at what point we will decide that enough is enough, that nothing can be salvaged, and to look to ourselves. Find A Palace Near the Wind on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, & Blackwells.