Yoon Ha Lee truly is a master in writing space opera books with imaginative multi-faceted world-building, rich political intrigue, and layered characters. Moonstorm is a fantastic start to a new YA sci-fi trilogy that's high-stakes, fast paced, and unapologetically queer. I truly enjoyed the complexity of the political system, especially since there's quite a bit of deconstruction that our main character has to go through in this book and in future installments in the series.. Combined with advanced technologies, and ancient powers, the book paints a vivid and immersive setting. Though at times the pacing is a little uneven, and it gets particularly slow during in between the action scenes when there's a more in-depth exploration of internal struggles, I was totally locked on while reading this fantastic book. Can't wait for the sequel!

Well. Let's start off with the obvious: this wasn't for me. I thought it would be considering how much I loved Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao and how this was said to be similar, but it wasn't. And I'm sad about it.

Moonstorm had an idea I could absolutely get behind, with the main character, Hwa Young, being kidnapped as a child and growing up to want to be a lancer pilot for the people who took her from her family. Pretty standard kind of story, right? Especially when it comes to sci-fi.

Unfortunately, it just didn't hit for me. Maybe it was the way it was set up, maybe it was the pacing, maybe it was me. I wanted more out of it, and it wasn't there.

(I was reading The Hunger Games trilogy at the same time, so maybe my thought process was a little biased there, but man was I disappointed.)

I also just... didn't care about her? Or her friends? I kind of liked Bae, but that might have been because she was the romantic interest, and you're supposed to start to like her as Hwa Young does. She was kind of a bitch otherwise. Which, I'm pretty sure, was the point. Enemies to lovers and all that.

Anyway.

The plot itself didn't really hold my attention either, though the staples were there. I just didn't care. I think I would have liked it more if the robot bits (mecha? mecha.) happened earlier on, but they took a little while to make their appearance, and by then I was already droning through the story. Idk. At least the god empress thing was cool.

(There are some twists, but they're pretty easy to guess. If this weren't a spoiler-free review, I'd mention them, but they didn't do anything for me, honestly.)

Aaaand one final, SUPER nitpicky thing... why were all the nonbinary characters zir/zie/zim? I'd understand if some of them were but, like. No they/thems? At all? Why? That bothered me. Felt a little too constrictive for something that seemed to be representative otherwise. (And also maybe because I'm also nonbinary, but I use she/they. Like I said. Nitpicky.)

I won't be continuing this series, but I am considering picking something else up from Lee at some point. The worldbuilding was fun when it wasn't confusing me (and also being repetitive; maybe don't binge this in a few days if you don't want to notice that), and I'd like to see what else he has.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Thank you to the publisher, Random House Children's | Delacorte Press for this eARC to review. All thoughts are my own.

3/5.

Although I haven't actually finished this, I must submit my review as I do not know when I will be coming back to this story. Although the premise was great and I was excited for where the book was headed, I just couldn't seem to focus on this story or become attached enough to where my ADHD wanted to stay in line to keep reading. I do hope to come back to this story, though.

The concept is interesting, but the execution just wasn’t the right fit for me. Everything felt a little under developed and repetitive. I tried to keep in mind it was YA, but at some point I couldn’t use that as a justification anymore.

3⭐ rounded up
Moonstorm is a YA sci-fi set in alt universe of Joseon era (Korea inspired). The world building and Mecha description is admirable. 

We followed Hwa Young in her rebel moon resident, Carnelian, with her family when suddenly at attack from Imperial lancer burst through and she's the only survivor. The pilot of the lancer then took her to the imperial resident to join the academy militer where she might be a pilot herself. The moment Hwa Young saw the lancer, she wanted it so much. (Don't care the very same thing just destroyed her whole family and livehood. I found it very questionable bcs what's the motive??? She literally saw her family ripped to pieces then she want the power??? What was the background. It doesn't make sense that her first instinct is to switch loyalty). The first half of this remind me of Iron Widow, which I love, but lacking the intensity. It moved so fast we didn't get to understand why she wanted the power that annihilate her people surely for the sake of power. Why was that an imperial army wanted to take an orphan child of enemy's origin???
I wish there will be more build up on that matter. 

Bcs the background is quite questionable for me, the experiences in the academy military was just okayish. The frienemy rivalry, classmates, best friends, second best is quite tropey. 

However, I love the action-packed fast paced it offered. I don't usually enjoy sci-fi but Lee's writing is on another level. It flew effortlessly and easy to follow. Even if it's predictable at parts, it's still enjoyable.

I love the idea of how the army each has their own speciality in combat. The team up builds. The color, etc. 

Challenge appeared the momen Hwa Young realized her first mission will be attacking her used to be homeland. As she struggled to reminded herself that she's empress child (it's become very repetitive it lost its significance), she went to the battle. As it goes by, she found the empress questionable (ofc) and the hidden agenda could destroy all. I'm not sure what to make of the twists, but I don't really invest in it and from the start Hwa Young feelings with her family is not clear. At one point she loved them, proud of them, then she hated them the moment she found out one of them survive?? It's your typical naive strong headed FMC.

The rep was great. Lee managed to blend the his own world without trying to hard and it's well written. 

Eventhough it might not be my favourite, I devoured it in just 2 days bcs yes it's page turning 😭👌🏼
I can see how the others are loving it. If you're into sci-fi, the family you chose, Mecha and action packed space battle give it a go!!!

Thankyou for the arc in exchange of honest review. I'm quite intrigued to read the sequel.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Interesting Story, but the Cover Could Be Better

Moonstorm by Yoon Ha Lee offers an intriguing and imaginative story with fascinating world-building and creative concepts. The author's ability to craft unique settings and characters is impressive, and the plot had moments of excitement that kept me engaged.

However, the book cover didn't quite do the story justice. It felt a bit underwhelming and could definitely be more eye-catching, especially given how vibrant the book's content is. Overall, it's a solid read, but a better cover design would have made it more appealing!

I'm something of an outlier in that I never finished the author's celebrated series beginning with Ninefox Gambit. At the time, I found it too dense, militaristic and honestly, it made my head hurt. This one, being YA, is undoubtedly an easier read. Pretty tropey and not particularly inventive, but it's nice to read Space Fighter School Sapphics from a Korean-based space culture. Reminded me of Ocean's Godori and Some Desperate Glory, and yet, did not engage me emotionally the way those works did. I just couldn't get past how angry the protagonist is NOT at the Empire that literally destroyed their home and family and how easily she accepts her status as part of the empire, even aspiring to become a pilot of its machines. As engaging and easy to read this was, I never could get past that suspension of disbelief.

I have heard nothing but great things about Yoon Ha Lee's Ninefox Gambit and I am always looking for more YA sci-fi, so when I found out that he was writing a YA sci-fi trilogy I knew I had to read it.

Moonstorm is a fascinating mix of the hard science and complex worldbuilding that I have heard so much about in his Hexarchate books (which I will read someday!) and the first person narration that is so typical of young adult books.

The story follows Hwa Young, who was "saved" by imperial forces when they destroyed her home, which was host to a rebellion. The book starts with this event and then there's a time jump where we see that she has been indoctrinated into the imperial mindset and dreams of being a Lancer pilot for the empire. The plot is fairly simple, but I loved how Yoon Ha Lee showed us the extent of Hwa Young's indoctrination and then showed us how holes started forming in her allegiance to the empire.

While I didn't love this as much as I wanted to, there is a lot to love about the book and I would be interested in seeing where the rest of the trilogy goes.

Moonstorm by Yoon Ha Lee offers an imaginative sci-fi adventure with a richly constructed universe. While the book’s intricate world-building and complex plot may appeal to fans of the genre, its pacing and character development might not resonate with all readers. Overall, it provides a thought-provoking experience but may vary in impact based on individual preferences.

It was the comparison to Iron Widow and the beautiful cover that persuaded me to request this novel from NetGalley.

Hwa Young was only ten years old when imperial forces destroyed her rebel moon home and killed her entire family. She’s rescued by a lancer pilot, taken to the Empire (you know, the one responsible for murdering her family), and raised in an orphanage. Lancer pilots are an elite group who bond with and fly giant martial robots into war – and Hwa Young is determined to become a part of that group.

Hwa Young, her best friend Geum, and several other characters are boarding school students who aren’t scheduled to graduate for a couple years – until tragedy occurs, and they’re needed immediately to fight for the Empire. Much of the story focuses on the students being sorted into various jobs and trained, with Hwa Young competing for a pilot spot against her biggest enemy, mean rich girl Bae. I was happy to see Bae isn’t quite the stereotypical character I’d initially believed her to be. The biggest conflict of the story is Hwa Young’s attempts to hide her previous identity as a clanner (rebel group) while she fights for the Empire to destroy or colonize the rebel worlds. After all, the Empress protects her children. But is the Empire everything it claims to be? Hwa Young is beginning to think it’s not.

Pacing is a little uneven, and it’s not difficult to guess the twist near the end, but this is a series I plan to continue. Recommended for fans of the chosen one trope, space battles, and underdog stories.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Hwa Young has been studying at an imperial boarding school when they are attacked and drafted into the imperial space fleet. Since this has been Hwa Young's dream, she's eager to become a lancer pilot. As they get further into their training, Hwa Young uncovers secrets within the empire and has to decide her future. Overall, there are many elements to this book that will appeal to readers, especially the concept of the lancers, but the relationships between characters fell a little flat. Interested in the next book to see if it fleshes out the character interactions a bit more.

Many thanks to Random House Children's/Delacorte Press, author Yoon Ha Lee, and NetGalley for providing me access to the eARC.

3 STARS

Hwa Young grows up in the clannish community that lives on the fringes of the empire and independent of its control. But imperial lancers come and obliterate her home and kill her people. She becomes grafted into the imperial culture, forging a new identity. Hwa Young pursues the ambitious dream of becoming a lancer pilot herself. She encounters dangerous combat situations but also dangerous truths about the empire.

I loved the mecha warfare technology and this Asian inspired world. The story started with such potential and intrigue. However, the majority of the book disappointed me. In my opinion, Yoon Ha Lee shortchanged characterization and relationships—to the point that I didn’t feel deeply invested in any of the characters including our main character. The writing style itself isn’t particularly emotive, and the inward dialogue is concise. Much of the book focuses on the action and somewhat technical descriptions, whose dry delivery pushed me to boredom.

Moonstorm is the author’s foray into the YA space, but I don’t think the pacing and readability level make it particularly appealing to the actual YA-aged audience. The bare bones of an exciting story exist here, but unfortunately, the delivery just did not excite me. It might work for you if the premise sounds intriguing. There really are some fantastic story elements and reveals along the way.

I had such high hopes for this book! It’s definitely not terrible, it has good potential for its sequels. I just didn’t care for anything that was going on. Nothing surprised me or excited me. I normally really enjoy sci-fi books but nothing caught my attention enough to make me love this.
What I will always appreciate when it comes to this book is the gender queer representation and making it a norm in this world. Any book that does this automatically gets points.
I also truly enjoy this authors writing, I’ve read the Dragon Pearl a couple years ago and thought the same thing.
Although I didn’t love this, I know many people will enjoy the awesome battle scenes!

I'm always excited when we get YA sci-fi, and I really love Yoon Ha Lee's writing so I was very excited for him to venture into YA with Moonstorm. I will say, this isn't my favorite book from him, even though I think there's a lot to like.

The ideas and the world are cool, I kind of wonder if this might be loosely tied to the universe of his Hexarchate books for adults, but I'm not sure. Hwa Young is your classic outsider protagonist- taken from her rebel family as a child and now loyal to the empress with dreams of being a Lancer pilot. But things go sideways.... I think this is a nice blend of hard sci-fi as a backdrop, with the first person POV of a teenager in a training academy that you expect from YA. I do think the author might have leaned into the YA elements a bit too much at times, because there were parts of the story that dragged when they should have been faster paced. But overall, I'm invested in the series and interested to see where things go!

It's worth noting that while on its face this seems to be a story about the main character being loyal to a colonizing empire that harmed her family and becoming deeply integrated in the military of that empire, the entire novel is slowly poking holes in what she believes the empire to be and revealing its seedy underbelly so to speak. And the ending spins things in an interesting way. This is also the first book in a series, and the author is always interested in questions of power, empire, and resistance. It's just that this doesn't spell things out for the reader. Rather it trusts that teens can put the pieces together themselves- recognizing the problems with the empire and what it's doing, and what that means about the choices our main character is making.

I received a copy of this book for review via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this first book of a planned series about a New Korean Empire that stretches out to the stars and the last-minute, barely-trained coterie of (mostly) young people who both love and fight against it. The characters were interesting and unique, the plot was excellent and exciting, and the universe feels thoughtfully created and handled. There are a wide variety of races and gender and sexual identities, all given equal weight and importance in the story, and the issues between classes, political insiders and outsiders, and within power structures is beautifully worked. None of this is a surprise--Yoon Ha Lee is a superb writer, and this new book should bring a lot more readers to his work.

DNF @25%

I was looking forward to this one since it sounded like it would have such interesting worldbuilding, but unfortunately it has failed to hook me so far. I'm not invested in any of the characters, especially since they all feel so flat to me, and I'm not enjoying the incredibly fast pacing. While I'm not interested enough to continue reading, I'm sure fans of the space opera/sci-fi genre will enjoy it more than I did.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book!

Could be a 3.5 but I'm rounding up to 4 stars. I've always said I would read a grocery list if it's written by Yoon Ha Lee-that said, this book was fun! It's a YA space opera complete with sentient mechs, evil empire, etc. The beats are fairly predictable if you've read YA sci-fi, but I really enjoyed all of the characters and I just love to read any decently-written Gundam/Evangelion/fly in a giant robot with personalized abilities story. 15 year old me would have EATEN this up! There's nothing revolutionary (no pun intended) in here in terms of plotting or character development (I'm still a little unclear on how the gravity thing works as well) but if you go into it knowing it's YA, no reason not to pick this up if it interests you!

Thank you so Delacorte press and Yoon Ha Lee for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

High adventure, fast paced, action packed. While describing this book I would say "space top gun with semi-sentient planes". The battle scenes are exciting, you’ll fall in love with the characters and enjoy the interstellar world this book will take you to.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

Moonstorm follows orphan teen Hwa Young as she works to carve out her place as a Lancer pilot for the Imperial army, while also hiding her history as a daughter of a rebel moon.

Moonstorm was a fun read, but it felt incredibly incomplete. The world was interesting, the technology was interesting, the politics were interesting. What we learned of the characters was interesting. However, Moonstorm seemed to almost entirely lack any meaningful internality on the part of the characters, especially Hwa Young. Rather than feeling like a well-rounded sci-fi adventure, the experience of reading Moonstorm ended up feeling like I was watching a YouTuber give a comprehensive review of an action film; it was like I was being told things without getting to see them proven on the page. Because of this, Hwa Young's growth as a character -- the way she changes over the course of the book, and the way those changes influence her decisions -- didn't feel earned. It was like I was expected to believe she'd perform certain heroic acts simply because she was the hero, and not because of any specific or unique traits or experiences she had that formed her moral compass.

I don't want this to sound like I didn't like Moonstorm. I'd even argue that I loved Moonstorm! I thought the lancers were such an interesting sci-fi element, and I deeply wish I had learned more about them. It's a book that has great bones, and I think still has the potential to transform into a rich and beloved series. It just needs a significant amount of development, maybe 100 pages more spent inside our characters' brains and feelings, to really feel solid and complete.