As a mega fan of Axie Oh, you know I had to read The Floating World. This fantasy is one of a divided world, magical powers, and bounties. I am so excited for the sequel which comes out later this year! Keep reading this book review of The Floating World for my full thoughts.
Summary
Sunho lives in the Under World, a land of perpetual darkness. An ex-soldier, he can remember little of his life from before two years ago, when he woke up alone with only his name and his sword. Now he does odd-jobs to scrape by, until he comes across the score of a lifetime—a chest of coins for any mercenary who can hunt down a girl who wields silver light.
Meanwhile, far to the east, Ren is a cheerful and spirited acrobat traveling with her adoptive family and performing at villages. But everything changes during one of their festival performances when the village is attacked by a horrific humanlike demon. In a moment of fear and rage, Ren releases a blast of silver light—a power she has kept hidden since childhood—and kills the monster. But her efforts are not in time to prevent her adoptive family from suffering a devastating loss, or to save her beloved uncle from being grievously wounded.
Determined to save him from succumbing to the poisoned wound, Ren sets off over the mountains, where the creature came from—and from where Ren herself fled ten years ago. Her path sets her on a collision course with Sunho, but he doesn’t realize she’s the girl that he—and a hundred other swords-for-hire—is looking for. As the two grow closer through their travels, they come to realize that their pasts—and destinies—are far more entwined than either of them could have imagined…
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
The Floating World is intriguing from head to foot. It will leave you wondering as Oh creates a masterful duology mixing fantasy and mystery. This world is one that I continually was in awe of for the dichotomy and the misconceptions they each have about the other. In the beginning, there’s a bit of a learning curve and with the dual POV, we are thrown in headfirst. But as you get used to it, we can see the ways in which the POVs almost mirror each other. For Sunho there’s this distinct sense of becoming a weapon, an arrow poised to kill. And for Ren, her power could force her to become yet another arrow.
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Reading The Floating World felt like slowly watching someone put puzzle pieces together. There’s this sense of the characters orbiting each other, getting closer together. And then all of a sudden there’s this added layer of secrets, not only from each other, but also in their world. It is quickly poised to become about a world, and forces, of rebellion and suppression. Of figuring out what doing the right thing might cost us. Especially for the ones we love.
Find The Floating World on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop. org, & Blackwells.