Axie Oh always excels at creating a Studio Ghibli-type experience. This world is confusing at first, even as it is whimsical, but when it clicks into place is unique and interesting. My biggest complaint is that I wish we had been following different characters, due to the characters making this feel on the lower side of YA. I found it hard to connect with or care about Ren or Sunho. I think following adult characters might have allowed us to explore the parts of the world more, allowing the book to comment more on the political situations. I think I also wanted more of a focus on the action and tense moments, as they are resolved almost too quickly, and thus, it makes the moments in between feel slow and less interesting.

While I did enjoy this, I didn't love it, and I don't think I will continue onto the next installment. I do think those younger teens who want a unique introduction to fantasy and some romantic elements will love this.

Ren, even though on the run has lived a peaceful life with her Auntie, Big Uncle, and Little Uncle as a performer in their troupe. During their last performance of the season, a demon attacks the village they are at out of nowhere, Big Uncle sacrificing his life to save Ren, while Little Uncle is brought to the brink by a strange fever after he is scratched by the demon. Determined to find a cure for him Ren sets off on a journey where the village healers tells her she will find an antidote, her only instructions being that it's East of the Mountains. Along the way, she finds an injured young man, who is clearly more than he seems, and may just be the key to saving Little Uncle, but is it safe to trust this mysterious young man? And moreover, how will she evade the people searching for her when their journey will take her straight towards them.

Simply adorable. Yes, yes it was a high-stakes adventure but sorry Ren and Sunho were too freaking cute!

The story is a loose retelling of The Celestial Maiden and the Woodcutter, another favorite of mine, where after the Maiden retrieves her wings she goes back to the Floating World with her children. There she and later her descendants rule over those in the Floating World and the Underworld. Honestly, the Floating World and the Underworld immediately reminded me of FFVII, those in the Underworld are deprived of light and forced to work in mithril mines, which is extremely poisonous. While the nobility lives on The Floating World, which is exactly what it sounds like a floating city. It is definitely a conversation about those who have and have not but I don't feel like that's the main point of the story. Some of the side characters are definitely rebels but even the couple that we meet are eventually brought into Ren's fight.

The point that I found was that Ren and her mother and probably every woman in her line before them had their agency completely taken away not just by the greedy Woodcutter but by everyone around them. Ren is dragged into a fight she never asked for to rule a country she had no desire to rule. Her mother had her happiness ripped away from her to be what the nobility wanted her to be. And just when Ren finds a sliver of that happiness the machinations of others take it away. Even though their ancestor had supposedly gotten her wings back they were clipped back with each generation until they didn't exist any longer. I have a strong feeling we are going to discover there's something far darker at play here in book two.

Ren and Sunho are both excellent characters, both of them are running from pasts they fear while wanting to understand them. Ren doesn't truly realize how much strength and courage she has until closer to the end of the book, even though it's fairly obvious to those around her. Sunho fears getting close to others even though he doesn't know why (we find out at the end of the book). They are just the perfect example of light being drawn to the dark and vice versa.

The bad guy is kind of disappointing, he's very cookie-cutter. He kills Ren's mom to take control and then goes forth and conquers. His son, Jaeil, is also pretty cookie-cutter. Can't disappoint dad. I genuinely expected more out of him. I'd like to say that I'd like to see a little bit of a redemption story for him in book 2 but I have to admit that I saw him more as a plot device than anything.

This was just a really great fantasy adventure and highlights how well Oh can take a well-known story and make it her own.

As always thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group!

When Axie Oh announced she was writing a story of an amnesiac sword for hire in 2022 I was so excited! It's such a unique premise. When I started reading I found out the FMC is an acrobat!! Sunho and Ren team up and travel together, which is a storyline I never tire of, I especially love it with an Asian inspired backdrop. The Floating World was a great mix of Korean mythology and Final Fantasy.

Thank you Feiwel & Friends and Netgalley for the eARC.

I would like to thank Netgalley for approving this arc in return for an honest review.

I have really enjoyed all of Axie Oh's stories, and have been extremely excited for this one to come out. The pacing of the story and interchanging povs worked really well, I loved the different worlds we visit with the Under World and the Floating World. The combat scenes were intense and flowed with the story very well. I have to say my favorite character pov is Sunho, everything about his character arc expands so well in the story. From him not knowing what happened to him and not caring for others in the beginning, to him becoming more caring and fighting for his life he was willing to give up. I am really excited to see how his story progresses in the second book.

My only quip with the book is on the other hand I felt Ren was a bit of a flat character, not saying she isn't enjoyable as a character. But her goals and character progression isn't as exciting and also seems the same as how she was more so in the beginning.

The floating world does a great job with its wordbuilding and with the way the story flows so well that you get pulled into the narrative. A lot of people compare this to the world of Arcane and I can see the parallels there. I got invested in Ren's story and it sorta reminded me of Amelie Wen Zhao's work which is also just as intoxicating as this story was and I need more of this world!

Wow what a beautifully written book! Like with the first it takes a bit to get into and that’s because of great world building but also the way this author writes with extensive descriptors and emotion. Once it grabs you it doesn’t let go! The characters are great. Wish we got more romance (as always haha) but it was there and cute.

If you liked this authors’s debut then you’ll love this one as well!

I DNF-ed this book after attempting to read it three times. Maybe one day I will pick it up again and be able to get through it, but for now I don't want to force myself to read it.

With that in mind, I'm rating this a neutral 3 stars.

Axie Oh always hits for me, and this one is no different. I love the world-building and the character-building that is created throughout the story, and I cannot wait until the next book!

This was such a good story! I enjoyed the dynamic between the characters and the worldbuilding was interesting. Looking forward to the next book!

Sunho doesn't remember much. He knows he was a soldier, and he knows he had a brother. He lives in the Underworld now, dark from the shadow of the Floating World above them - but he doesn't know how he got there. His whole life now shifts on the axis of his brother - where is he? What happened to them? And what is the demon that hides in his veins? Does his brother know?
Ren, meanwhile, is content in her life. She works with her family as an acrobat, putting on traveling shows for anyone they can find, in the sun far past the edges of the Floating World. When a strange monster attacks and badly wounds her cousin, she embarks on a journey to find a cure and save his life.
Sunho and Ren find their paths intertwine. Suddenly Sunho's whole world becomes much wider, and Ren's narrows to a past she hoped to leave behind. There are things being asked of them that impact the whole world, including the one hovering above.

3.5 stars rounded up, because this left a really good taste in my mouth (no, I'm not eating the books, don't worry guys).
The romance was actually quite beautiful, and the plot was interesting, but something was missing for me. I think it was in the pacing; at times it was quite slow, and then something would suddenly feel really rushed. I wanted more on the world building side as well - I want to know more about the Underworld, and about the land outside of the Floating World's shadow. The human experimentation stuff felt a bit thrown in last minute (although tbf we were getting teased with it the whole time). I wanted to know more about the dynamics between Jaeil and Ren - Jaeil was actually really interesting, but his entire character felt a bit of an afterthought at times, partly because he was competing for page time with Ren and Sunho, and we weren't sure what his actual significance was for half of the book.
Overall, I wanted more from this, but I felt the author has real talent. Her writing is lovely, and as I said before, the romance was genuinely beautiful. Looking forward to the rest of the series, and would love to check her backlist as well. I would recommend this book for fans of SHADOW AND BONE and SIX CRIMSON CRANES.

i was immediately drawn by the premise and i was fully immersed in the worldbuilding for this book!!

I found this book to be interesting. I really enjoyed the world-building and how detailed the setting was; it really made it feel magical and vast. I enjoyed the found family aspect and the characters in the story as they were very intriguing, even though I didn't really connect much with them. Overall, the story was pretty interesting and I had a good time with it, although it was not my favorite. Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Feiwel & Friends, and Netgalley for providing this eARC in exchange for our honest review.

Oh, this book was a very pleasant surprise. I’ve been having a rough time picking books that actually leave me satisfied.
Axie Oh for sure as quickly becoming one of my favorite authors in terms of her storytelling and her characters. I loved being able to follow Ren and Sunho on our journeys of self discovery and their romance blossom.
This book leaving off on a cliffhanger for sure was a bummer because I really wanna know what happens so I’m for sure. Excited for Book two.
Great characters, great storyline, and just an all-around great book that will hook you from the opening sentence till the last page is turned .
I like to thank NetGalley and Macmillan and publishing giving me the amazing opportunity to read this book. My review is an honest reflection of my feelings, and I am forever grateful.

The studio ghibli vibes were strong with this one. I definitely think the pacing was unique in that way. It felt slow and deliberate. It didn’t have the fast pace, constant motion of a typical fantasy novel. This felt more like how howl’s moving castle has moments of everyone simply existing. Things are always happening but they happen slower sometimes.

Anything by Axie Oh, I will immediately read. I was really interested based on the cover alone, but the description also called out to me. The different identities for the two main characters was interesting to me, that they were both so very different and coming from different parts of the world we are set in. And the way they come together is very natural, and I enjoyed that I could not exactly predict how it was going to play out. I imagined it would be different, but I feel like Axie Oh always surprises me. Regardless, this book was written beautifully. It was lovely being able to read something where it wasn't exactly the same as others of similar genre, but it wasn't so otherworldly that it didn't make sense or flow. I loved that every part of the story flowed naturally. Love love love this one.

Sorry this review is way late! But I liked this book wasn’t my absolute favorite ever but it was fun.

“Sometimes there’s a feeling inside you that’s too big to contain”…”you need to let it out, there’s no harm in that.”

This book is all of the best parts of YA fantasy, all the tropes and a nod to those who have gone before (*Ahem* Mithril references to Tolkien, anyone? It made me smile the first time I saw it.)
Ren is your typical protagonist and can come off a little naive, but it lends to the overall feeling of innocence in a dark beautiful world (Ghibli fans will feel the ties.) There is lots of emotional development, I also really enjoyed the lush worldbuilding and the writing style.

Overall, really enjoyed this one and am excited for the sequel!

Content: some language, violence and some darker themes but well executed

The Floating World was incredible! From the first page to the last, this is the most unique and engrossing story I have read in as long as I can remember. Axis Oh’s world-building is worthy of every writing award that exists. I have read Tolkien, Martin, Adams, Rowling (etc) and I wholeheartedly believe this is the best and most unique world-building I have ever read. I love the multiple POV structure and how the connections between characters is slowly revealed piece by piece like pulling back the layers of an onion. Book 2 comes out right after my birthday and I truly cannot get it into my hands fast enough!

I really wanted to like this book more than I did, but the pacing really kept me from being fully immersed in the story. It was very slow for a long time, and then sped up towards the end. I think an additional 50 to 100 pages towards the end of the book would have helped maintain the pacing that was established from the beginning. Alternatively, if the pacing from the beginning was not as slow, I think that the gradual buildup towards the fast paced, ending with not as jarring as it was for me.

While the world building was very intriguing, I, at times, struggled to connect with Ren and Sunho. I think part of it has to do with how long it took for our main characters to meet within the book and how naïve they both were at times. There was some tension and some suspense for our characters, but nothing that took them to the next level for the high-stakes that the book was trying to set up.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for allowing me to read and review this fantastic story!

If you want a new take on YA fantasy with endearing characters and a unique world, give this book a serious try! I have never had the pleasure of reading works by Axie Oh before, but I would love to track down more works by this author after reading The Floating World. I would love to have had just a little more build up with the characters and world, but overall this was a very wonderful read that ended too quickly! I can’t wait for the second one.