Stand alone or series: A stand alone. Yes you heard me correct, a stand alone
Source: Public Library
Format: Print
Summary
730. That's how many days I've been trapped.
18. That's how many days I have left to find a way out.DAI, trying to escape a haunting past, traffics drugs for the most ruthless kingpin in the Walled City. But in order to find the key to his freedom, he needs help from someone with the power to be invisible....
JIN hides under the radar, afraid the wild street gangs will discover her biggest secret: Jin passes as a boy to stay safe. Still, every chance she gets, she searches for her lost sister....
MEI YEE has been trapped in a brothel for the past two years, dreaming of getting out while watching the girls who try fail one by one. She's about to give up, when one day she sees an unexpected face at her window.....
In this innovative and adrenaline-fueled novel, they all come together in a desperate attempt to escape a lawless labyrinth before the clock runs out.
Review
The Walled City was a impulse buy, or a impulse checkout I guess you could say (I checked it out at a public library). It was the first week it came out (which explains why I didn't hear much about it), and this book was one of the best impulse buys/checkouts I've experienced. And here are the reasons why.
One of the things I really loved about this book is how honest it is. It doesn't stray away from very important and sometimes very touchy topics , such as human trafficking and very, very brutal violence. And that is important because this book is based on a real place in Hong Kong and it really needs awareness brought to it.
Another thing I liked was the writing. Ryan Graudin's writing really immersed me in the world and I felt like I was actually there. The characters were real people and they didn't have magical powers or super senses. They were just like regular people and they still came out on top.
And lastly, I really loved how this book was a stand alone. Now these days, publishers are trying to wring out as much money as they can by making sequels to books that would work perfectly as a stand alone.
I would have rated this five stars but I gave it 4 because of two reasons, the first reason was the multiple POV's. Even though I liked seeing parts of the city through diffrent character's eyes, the character's narratives were not very distinctive and a number of times I had to flip back to the start of a chapter to remind myself of who's narrative I was reading and of course that caused a lot of confusion.
The second thing I didn't like was the length of the book. This book is 432 pages long and I think it could have easily been about 250 pages. And at about the 350 mark I found myself skimming the pages from time to time, which took a lot of the magic away from my reading experience.
But overall The Walled City is very action packed and will make you feel so many things. I highly recommend it.
Page count: 432 pages
Starred rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Publisher: Little, Brown books for Young Readers
This is not a sponsored review unless explicitly stated. All opinions expressed in this review belong to me and all products were purchased by me unless otherwise stated. All opinions are my own.
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