*4.5 stars*

At first I was a little unsure about this book. There’s a lot going on in the beginning, with getting introduced to this strange world and learning about various characters. But the more I read, the more invested I became in the story. It was amazing how many things ended up being interconnected, almost like pieces of a puzzle coming together. This world definitely had some dystopian vibes to it too.

Our main characters are Ren and Sunho, who each have something they are searching for and end up finding each other. I loved these characters and felt like they had a lot of depth to them. Their interactions with each other were something I really enjoyed. Some chapters also follow a 3rd character, which gave us another angle to see things.

The book brings up a variety emotions. There’s action and excitement, friendships built, and some really sad parts too. I especially enjoyed the mysterious feel it had. The book ends a bit dramatically with some questions still left unanswered and issues unresolved. I’m looking forward to the next book coming later this year, because I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Thank you to Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, Feiwel & Friends, and NetGalley for the ARC copy of The Floating World! All opinions in my review are completely my own.

"I won't let you lose control"
"And you...you won't let me fall."
. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ☆
thank you netgalley for the arc <3 this was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025!
"The Floating World" is the lovechild of many different pieces of media combined together: Shadow & Bone, Final Fantasy, Arcane (to me), and Castle in the Sky. The story follows Ren, a troupe acrobat, as she embarks on a journey to discover the secrets behind demons terrorizing her community. Sunho, a swordsman for hire with a hidden past of his own, will later cross paths with Red and find a common goal. There is another important character that his own POVs in the story: Jaeil. I quite liked these characters and it made the reading experience super fun. The romance was sweet and I was annotating their dialogue like crazy <3 sometimes the plot felt too predictable, other times I was surprised with some good twists that had me hooked for the rest of the story and then we got hit with a cliffhanger so...book 2 WYA
overall, this was a super fun ghibli style fantasy with enjoyable characters!!

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced readers copy

I read The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea and absolutely loved it so I was super excited for another fantasy book from Oh. I was a bit disappointed though. I feel like it fell a bit flat. I love the story, I found the characters likeable, even the "villians," but it was missing something to really grab my attention. I felt like the world building was good but could have been explained better (including a map or two would be phenomenal). The writing felt a bit choppy to me, as well. Some sentences sounded super awkward and threw off the immersion sometimes. I just felt the writing didn't live up to the writing in The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea. The story was very good, very compelling, the characters had great motivations, and I still look forward to reading the sequel later this year.

This is my first book by Axie Oh but it certainly won't be my last. At just under 360 pages, I flew through it. The Floating World is a re-imagining of the Korean legend of Celestial Maidens.

It's told through the POV of Ren, Sunho, and Jaeil. Sunho and Ren are great main characters and I liked their sweet and wholesome romance. Sungo is a lost ex-soldier who is stoic and emotionally closed off, while Ren is a bubbly and cheerful acrobatic. Although they have opposite personalities they find common ground. I enjoyed their journey together and seeing their relationship develop.

The world building was well done, with no info dumping. It was unique and different from books I've read before. The plot twists were great and kept me hooked. This was such a fun read, I honestly cannot wait for the sequel.

I like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me a read.

This is actually a pretty good story. I liked the quick-pace, the characters, and the story itself.

But why did I mark it down two stars? Well, you know how you watch a movie on VHS and there is a skip in the film and it causes the movie to jump ahead. Or when you listen to a cassette tape and the player eats your tape? You or your parent has to do surgery on it, it still plays but it jumps in the middle of places? That's what happened here. Sometimes I felt like I was missing a piece of the story or the action. Only to realize - no, it was the writing.

Another issue is the world building of this goddess / gods. Where did they come from, why do people believe in them, why does the world rely on them? Nothing. I can't care if I don't understand the issue.

Anyway. Stay for the loyal, adorable male with emotional trauma and his strive to protect her.

In this YA fantasy readers are introduced to Ren a young teenage traveling circus type performer and Sunho a sword for hire with a bad case of amnesia and a desire to reunite with his brother.
When Ren uses her carefully guarded secret magic abilities to defend her family from a demon attack, she comes under the notice of a tyrannical general who orders hundreds of mercenaries to hunt her down. Sunho takes the job to find Ren, but is quickly swayed to her cause to find a cure for her sick uncle and quickly becomes her guardian.
Thank you to NetGalley and Feiwel & Friends for the opportunity to read and review this book which I am giving 3⭐️.
I really enjoyed our two main characters and the friendship that developed between them. Ren is a good example of a pure, sweet and good hearted character done right without becoming overly saccharine and annoying. Sunho was a likable MMC with a strong sense of fairness and doing what is right because it’s right without becoming preachy or judgemental.
The world building in this book was done well for the most part. If you are a fan of the game Tears of the Kingdom the idea of a multilevel world will be appealing.
One issue I had with this book and what has kept it to only 3⭐️ was that it was ultimately way too predictable with plot points that a reader can see coming from a mile away. The other main issue I had was that everything happened so easily for the characters. If Ren was kidnapped by a bad guy she was saved less than a chapter later. Sunho was on a mission to find Ren at the beginning of the book and how lucky for him that he has the good timing to be thrown out of a train window and lands directly into her path. Nothing felt dire because every problem they encountered was solved immediately.

The Floating World by Axie Oh is a highly imaginative fantasy novel about Ren, who performs in a traveling trope with her adopted family and encounters a demon that attacks a village one night. She erupts in a blast of brilliant light and saves the village but her uncle is injured with a peculiar illness from the demon. She sets out to find a cure and runs into Sunho, a mercenary, who is hired to capture the lost princess of the Floating World. The pair end up fighting for their lives on an action packed adventure to the Floating World and Underworld.

I recommend this book for young adults and fantasy readers. The world building is fascinating and immersive, I also found myself fully invested in the characters from the beginning. Ren is a compassionate, courageous young woman who is determined to save her uncle. Sunho has forgotten his past but knows he needs to find his brother to piece together the truth to why he has supernatural strength and healing powers. Their stories collide in an adventure unlike anything I’ve ever read. The book is based on the legend of the Celestial Maidens of Korea, it’s quite clever how Oh merges the stories.


Thank you Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group and Netgalley for the advanced readers copy. All opinions are my own.

I’ve waited a long time to read this book. As soon as I found out the author was writing it. It was a different kind of book that I’m used to reading, but it was worth every time I spent reading it. I highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in this kind of genre. The author has a way with words and I love it.
10/10

Once again I have fallen in love with Axie’s writing! It has a perfect blend of the plot and romance. I liked how the story had multiple POVs. It helped not just to learn more about them individually, but more about what happened in the past, and secrets later revealed. At the end there was a twist that broke my heart. So now I really want to read the next one to figure out what happens next.

Axie Oh’s The Floating World is a mesmerizing fantasy inspired by Korean mythology, blending adventure, romance, and destiny. Sunho, an ex-soldier with no memory, and Ren, an acrobat hiding a powerful secret, find their fates entwined after she reveals her ability to wield silver light. As Sunho unknowingly hunts Ren, their journey leads to self-discovery and unexpected connections.

Oh’s world-building is captivating, with the dark Under World contrasting Ren’s vibrant traveling circus. Her lyrical prose brings an atmospheric tension, balancing high-stakes action with heartfelt emotional beats. The novel explores identity, belonging, and the idea that one’s past doesn’t define them.

Thank you NetGalley for this eARC for an honest review.

LOVE LOVE LOVE
I almost DNFed this book because it was a little slow for my tastes but don’t when you get to part everything gets so good!!! You get so must character development and lore ugh love. If you enjoy anything by Sue Lynn Tan you are gonna DEVOUR this.

Axie Oh is one of my favourite authors since XOXO and Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea—and naturally I was super excited for this book! And it didn't disappoint at all!!! The floating world immediately got me out of my reading slump by throwing me into a world that was so interesting (the under world and its divisions were so cool, and Sunho's first chapter had me hooked IMMEDIATELY) (plus the descriptions of the floating world itself were so cool and unlike anything I've read in traditional publishing, I loved that it felt like a video game). Early on in the book I had the issue where every time I read a POV, I only liked that POV—when I read Ren's, I didn't want to go back to Sunho's, and vice versa. But both characters grew on me and I absolutely ADORE them. I can't wait to see what Axie does with this world and the next book, because this was definitely a favorite of the year.

God I love Axie Oh! She writes THE most stunning books that are so reminiscent of a Studio Ghibli movie that I wish it WERE an animated film just so I can see it all play out in front of me. My mind is not enough! I loved everything about this and the worldbuilding was, as usual, 10/10 and the romance was so sweet.

This was a rollicking, highly entertaining read. I clicked with the main characters almost immediately, and I loved the unique world and settings. There were plot twists and turns I did not see coming. I think this book will have big teen appeal and hook readers who might typically read manga. The writing was a little "tell," and not "show," which bumped me out of the book a few times. But overall, an entertaining read.

Emotion: 4
Characters: 4
Plot: 4
Pacing: 4
Romance: 5
Worldbuilding: 5
Prose: 4

Overall score: 4.25 rounded down to 4

I loved the magic and the worldbuilding in this. A light steampunk-esque fantasy with an interesting magic system.

Ren and Sunho's romance is so cute and tentative. They're just so soft for each other, it was sweet watching their relationships develop.

I would have liked more from Jaeil, but maybe we'll get that in the sequel.

AXIE OH IS LITERALLY OUR LORD AND SAVOIR. Because I don’t think I will ever read a book from her that I don’t like. Like, I think it’s impossible. Which is crazy, because I’m not a fan of most fantasy.

Axie slayed once again with every aspect. I loved the setting, the aesthetic, the vibes, the characters. Yes please!!

Drop everything because The Floating World is about to sweep you off your feet. Imagine Final Fantasy meets Shadow and Bone, with epic Korean legend vibes and a whole lot of WOW.

This book is pure magic, as expected since it’s written by one of my favorite authors OF ALL TIME. Gorgeous world-building, explosive chemistry with a slow burn that will be to die for, and twists that will leave you gasping for air😫 If you’re into high stakes adventure, swoon-worthy romance, and characters you’ll root for until the end of time, The Floating World will not only be your next obsession, but possibly the only book you’ll think about for days on end because I know I sure can’t stop thinking about it😭 if there was a word exceeding obsession that would define my feelings for this book.

The floating world had so many wonderful components. The world - with its design and its mythology - was vibrant and lively. The plot had intriguing components and a nicely paced arch. The characters were each so individualistic and so sweet, with even sweeter dynamics between them. And I would have loved it all so so much...if only I was given MORE.

Each of these components, while compelling, felt like they needed further expanding. I needed for dimension, more depth, more richness to fully bring it all alive. I think what needed the most work was the pacing of individual scenes. I felt like everytime something exciting or important would happened, the scenes were written through so fast instead of absorbing us into the moment.

Despite that, I still read through this book so fast and never felt like I needed to stop. The overall pacing of the book never felt like it dragged at any point, and I did enjoy my time reading it.

This book gave major Legend of Zelda vibes and I'm here for it.

The Floating World has been on my TBR ever since I saw the cover, and I was so excited to get an ARC of it that I read it almost immediately. It's a YA fantasy novel that takes place in one of my favorite settings: under and over worlds. There were admittedly a lot of other tropes that I found in this book that I adored as well, and if I wouldn't have been busy with schoolwork, I would've read this in less than a day.
Ren is a performer with a theater troupe, but she has a secret: she has magic. Sunho is a soldier, but he doesn't remember anything about his life besides his brother's name and that a demon lives inside him. After Sunho is hired as a mercenary to find Ren, their paths cross and their journeys become intertwined. The storytelling is extremely fast-paced, and while I called pretty much all of the plot twists, I never wanted to put the book down. My only complaint is that some of the plot points felt a bit convenient (characters just happening to show up at the perfect moment or saying something for the sake of advancing the plot), but that's understandable in YA. The ending engages with yet another one of my favorite tropes (though I can't say what for spoiler reasons), so I'm already excited for book two.
The characters are all incredibly loveable as well. Ren is such an engaging main character to follow because of her compassion and also her unique background and skills as a performer. I appreciated how her performer background helped her in a lot of unexpected scenarios. I loved Sunho because he's just a dozen of my favorite tropes tied together into one character, and his personality really complements Ren. I'm hoping Yurhee and Tag get more of a role in the second book because there were some early found family vibes. Jaeil is the only character I don't love, but he just feels a little too much like Chaol from Throne of Glass for my liking.
The Floating World is a the first book YA fantasy duology perfect for fans of Shadow and Bone and Legend of Zelda.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC!

4.25/5

*thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

Axie Oh has done it again—The Floating World is an absolute masterpiece. Lush, dreamy, and filled with aching longing, every page pulled me deeper into its world. I devoured it, floated through its beauty, and by the end, I was wrecked in the best way. This book is pure magic, and I already need to read it again.