Review: The Walled City by Ryan Graudin

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Kindle Edition, 432 pages

Expected publication: November 4th 2014 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Source: From Publisher via Netgalley for review

From Goodreads:

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.

Aw, look, there I am! The black sheep of the reading world. I wanted to love this one. So, so much. I did celebratory dances upon its arrival to my Kindle.

First of all, I don’t think I exactly knew what to expect from The Walled City, which was probably part of the appeal. I knew it wasn’t dystopian, but was a standalone, and that it was set in some kind of alterna-Asia? I confess, I still don’t understand where or when this was set, but we’ll get to that. The book is based on this place, which is (terrifyingly) a real historical thing.

There was definitely a unique quality to this book, which is most certainly refreshing. The setting itself (a Walled City in Asia) is intriguing, to say the least.  So, since there were some aspects of the book that I really did like (and obviously, some I did not), I’m going to break it down:

What worked for me:

  • The world building of the Walled City itself was kind of great. I could definitely picture it, as awful and dismal as it was, and certainly felt immersed in the world.
  • The book moved along at a pretty good pace for the most part, and there was certainly a substantial amount of action.
  • The unique setting was pretty great, though I would have liked a bit more infusion of the Asian culture.

What didn’t:

  • The characters felt very flat. I didn’t feel like I “knew” them, didn’t feel any emotional connection to them. I felt like I’d been given these factual tidbits about them without any feeling behind them to make me care. They were in some truly horrific situations, but I didn’t feel the angst or the desperation that I expected to. Through the three POVs (Jin, Dai, and Mei Yee), the story unfolded, and I recognized the direness of the situation, but I never felt enough emotion behind them to care. I did thing Jin and Dai were a bit more fleshed out than Mei Yee, and I did gravitate to their POVs a bit more.
    Pretty much every character, from the protagonists to the villains, lacked substance. They were all incredibly two-dimensional, and I think that is why I struggled to have concern for their plights.
  • A lot of the book seemed very, very convenient. The resolutions to some of the plot issues were just too “easy” for me. And the ending, while I can see its appeal, underwhelmed me completely.
  • I found it quite predictable after a while. I think this goes back to the previous point, in part, because the convenience factor left me certain of how the next obstacle would be overcome. I wasn’t on the edge of my seat, because I just knew what was coming (trying to be vague and non-spoilery here!).
  • The relationship bugged me. Again, not saying much, just that I really didn’t like the way things played out.
  • What happened to the rest of the world? This wasn’t a case of the characters being trapped in this Walled City since birth, so they had to have some knowledge about the world around them. I seriously haven’t the faintest idea when this took place, or under what world circumstances. While the world building of the actual city was good, the rest of it was virtually non-existent.

Bottom Line: A disappointing book overall for me. But it is getting lots of love from other readers, so I am pretty certain I am going to remain the black sheep on this one. Baaah.

Posted October 16, 2014 by Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight in Review , / 6 Comments

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6 responses to “Review: The Walled City by Ryan Graudin

  1. That’s scary that this was a real place. Characters that I can care about are so important, especially in this kind of book. Predictable and too convenient… Yeah, I’ll pass on this one. The setting rather scared me to start with anyway. lol @ your sheep. It’s always nice to read multiple takes on a book. As always, good review! 🙂

    • Thanks! And I agree, how awful, right? I can’t even imagine! I feel like if I connected with the characters, it would have had more power to move me, but alas, I did not.

  2. Hmm. I haven’t heard much about this book, so I pretty much only have your review to go off of, but I don’t think I would like this book. I hate it when you can’t connect to the characters in a book, I mean characters are pretty much the most important part of a book! It also sounds like the world is a bit confusing, with not knowing when the book is set and what’s going on outside the city. I think I am Slightly regretting requesting this from Netgalley, but I suppose I should at least give it a chance, maybe you really are the black sheep. 😉

    Sorry this one didn’t work out for you! =)

    • I read some of the other reviews as I was cross-posting to Goodreads, and it seems like there are two camps: One that LOVES this book, and the (admittedly smaller) one that pretty much felt the same way I did. I am hoping you will be in the loved-it camp!

  3. Sorry you didn’t enjoy this one! I have it from NetGalley, so I’m hoping that I end up being one of those people who really enjoys it. Sometimes you just don’t connect to the characters as much as you want to – just happens and there’s nothing that you can put your finger on to tell you why. Oh well, better luck next time!

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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