Sad, passionate, in depth and suspenseful.

Trapped and running out of time, living in a walled city full of crime, with no hope of escape. Hiding and surviving the best way they could, Jai and Jin find a way to find her lost siblings and an escape from this dreaded place.

I was a bit shocked at the depth of crime, sex, drugs etc, but it does tie into what was happening. A bit claustrophobic, but inticing.

I like this one. Any book from Ryan Graudin has been quite good. The dystopian premise was interesting and caught my attention from the beginning. Some of the parts were "nail biting" for me.

thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this novel.

I received this free eARC novel from NetGalley. This is my honest review.

This has been on my TBR pile for so long, and I'm glad I finally got around to it. I really enjoyed the storyline and seeing the characters change throughout the story was a great character development. The plot was great and kept my attention. I'm glad I got the chance to read this and will be on the lookout for more in the future!

Dai has 18 days to escape the walled city. Needing help, Dai will have to infiltrate a powerful gang and steal for the leader — I’m sold! The premise really drew me in with an interesting plot and characters. If a “dystopian” feel is your go-to genre, this book is for you as the world feels dark and gritty (based off a real place!) However, if you need more action in your story, this may be hard to get into. The pacing was occasionally slow, having me start and stop reading several times.

Mood readers, this one is for you! (Aren’t we all mood readers?)

I requested this one in the aftermath of The Hunger Games and Divergent series. This book was just too slow-moving for me and didn't keep me as interested as either of those series did.

Teaching 4th grade, I can't really recommend the book to them, but....
I really enjoyed the book, Jin and Mei are two characters that really made me feel for them. There is so much going on, brothels and human trafficking, that I normally don't like to read about, but I was pulled in from the start. The book is quickly paced, and I couldn't put it down..
I really enjoyed reading this book and recommend it to anyone who likes young adult. I give it five stars.

I was given the opportunity to read The Walled City by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What a wonderful novel filled with 3 main characters who arrive on the scene and evolve as you read about their lives. I sincerely apologize for not reading this novel sooner. So much going on in this novel and a timely theme to be shared of friendship conquering all. Highly recommended.

Jin and her sister, Mei Yee, were taken and sold and then sent to the lawless Walled City to serve as prostitutes or slaves to anyone willing to pay. Jin managed to escape her captivity, but not the Walled City and she now lurks about, disguised as a boy and is trying to track down the brothel where her sister is still captive. Jin will work odd delivery jobs to earn a small bit of money and hopefully have a legitimate means of coming in contact with her sister's captors. This is how she meets up with Dai, a mysterious boy who has somehow managed to avoid running with any of the gangs in the city but he seems to have his own unusual connections, which Jon could desperately use if she has any hope of finding Mei Yee. But Dai has his own desperate needs.

The story is told from the different perspectives of each character and we do bounce around quite a bit as the chapters are generally short. This never bothered me, which is slightly unusual as often I find this technique to be distracting. But it works here because author Graudin has done a wonderful job of creating these characters uniquely and distinctly. Getting a view of this unusual city from three different points of view is really quite interesting.

The 'walled city' is Kowloon, which, according to Wikipedia:
Kowloon Walled City was an ungoverned, densely populated settlement in Kowloon City, Hong Kong. Originally a Chinese military fort, the Walled City became an enclave after the New Territories were leased to the UK by China in 1898. Its population increased dramatically following the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during World War II. By 1990, the walled city contained 50,000 residents[1][2] within its 2.6-hectare (6.4-acre) borders. From the 1950s to the 1970s, it was controlled by local triads and had high rates of prostitution, gambling, and drug abuse.
But of course this is more than an observation about an unusual city - this is a story of ordinary individuals caught up in the 'prostitution, gambling, and drug abuse' mentioned in the Wikipedia article.

And what is most odd (and gratifying) here is that Graudin has managed to write an engaging, informative story for young (high school?) readers about some rather disturbing issues without getting too graphic and without sugar-coating anything. It's a really fine line to toe, but Graudin has handled it skillfully.

I enjoyed this, and I would enjoy reading more by Ryan Graudin.

Looking for a good book? If you want a historical adventure, with plenty of interest and action, written for YA readers, then pick up Ryan Graudin's The Walled City. You won't be disappointed.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

It really really interests me that that the Walled City was an actual place and not a piece out of some dystopian imagination. I would have preferred more information about the city itself rather than this book, because I didn't particularly care about any of the characters or what was going on.

I had a hard time getting through this, as I was genuinely bored most of the time. Although I will say I liked the dark, gritty feel of the story and writing. I found aspects of the story, including the characters' relationships, to be flat and one dimensional. I kept wanting more out of it. Overall, I enjoyed it, but I wanted to like it more than I did.

A good dystopian read. I was amazed to discover in the writer's notes that the walled city was based on a real place! I can see why she used it as a setting for this type of novel. The stories of the alternating narrators come together beautifully to complete this story of love, loyalty, family, and friendship. Plenty of action. Recommend to readers of Hunger Games, Maze Runner, etc.

Darkness Settles on Roofs and Walls, but the sea, the sea in the darkness calls.

Wow. So I read this entire novel thinking that it was a really interesting twist on the dystopian story. Wrong.

Told from the perspectives of Jin, Dai, and Mai Yee, this story of what it was like to live in the Walled City is actually based on true events. Jin hides in plain sight posing as a boy in order to avoid being forced to work in one of the Walled City's many brothels. All the while, she searches for her sister, Mai Yee, who was sold into the sex trade by her abusive father when he needed a little extra cash. Jin's search has gone on fruitlessly for two years until she meets Dai, a mysterious street boy who tells her he can help her make money if they do drug runs for the Longwai (a local drug lord who runs the entire Walled City). Little do either of them know that Mai Yee has been living in Longwei's brothel the whole time.

I had a few moments in there where I totally teared up, though.

Like the moment where Dai realizes Jin is a girl and accepts her anyways:
The doctor's pronoun choices catch up with me. Barrel over, drill into my thick skull. 'She?' I realize my mouth is hanging open, but I don't care enough to shut it. She. Her. It takes another minute for the words to sink in.


Or the moment where Mai Yee finally realizes that even though she felt alone and unwanted the entire two years she was living under Longwai's oppression, her sister Jin was searching for her the whole time:
'Your hair,' I gasp, and laugh through the rest of my tears.
'I cut it.' She swallows and smiles, but her voice is shaky. 'When I first came to find you.'
'First?'
'I chased the Reapers' van when they took you,' Jin Ling explains. 'I cut my hair so I could pass as a boy. I've been looking for you ever since.'
I don't have words. I look at her--my fierce, fighting little sister--and tuck a strand of her hacked hair behind her ears. The thought of her cutting it all off and coming here to look for me is too much. Impossible, even though she's here now, saying it.

Jin Ling has come to the walled city of Hak Nam to find her sister Mei Yee who was sold into prostitution by their father two years before. So far she's searched every brothel except one: the brothel of Longwei, leader of the Brotherhood that runs the city. Meanwhile Dai has eighteen days to get information about the Brotherhood. Eighteen days until his past catches up to him. Both Jin Ling and Dai need to get into the Longwei's brothel, so they agree to work together. Dai stays behind while Jin uses her speed to make drug runs for Longwei. Little do they know but Mei Yee lives in Longwei's brothel. She dreams of escape, but she knows only too well what happens to girls who try to leave. When their paths finally cross, Mei Yee must decide if a chance at freedom is worth the possibility of a fate worse than death.

The Walled City by Ryan Graudin is a thrilling survival tale about two sisters who never give up on each other and a boy trying to redeem himself. Most of the story takes place in Hak Nam, a walled city that is based on the Kowloon, a densely-populated city in Hong Kong that was demolished in 1993-94. The city was a haven for criminals and the living conditions were very unsanitary--often with no running water or electricity. I visited Hong Kong in 1981 and remember seeing Kowloon from the outside, yet at the time, I could hardly imagine what life was like for the people who lived there. Graudin brings the city to life with characters that are imperfect, yet still determined to do their best and survive. This isn't an easy read, but readers who are looking for a gritty, intense story will enjoy it.

Will not be providing a review for this novel, sorry for the inconvenience, but thank you to the publisher for the opportunity.