So I finished this book yesterday and since then I have been pondering over how to write this review and what to rate the book. I was so conflicted whilst reading it and I just didn't know how to portray my myriad of thoughts in a star rating. If you're like me, it's the first thing you notice when reading reviews and choosing books, via Goodreads. I didn't want to be misleading or inaccurately portray my feelings, but I guess that's something out of my control and I just have to rely and trust that my review will be actually read, and that not just the star rating will be taken into consideration. And that is just the nature of the beast... 
 The star rating is a simple and well-known concept, but one I found impossible to adapt to this novel. I honestly don't think I have ever felt so conflicted when reading and reviewing before. If it an author's job to make us think then Mead can pat herself on the back. If it is an author's job to make us fall in love with her book, then I'm not sure she succeeded, in my humble opinion. 
 Let's start with the cover. 
 I know, I know: "You shouldn't judge a book by the cover." But, let's be honest here, don't we all to some extent? And the cover just didn't appeal to me...at first. The author's name appeared in larger font than the title, but after having not previously been acquainted with Mead's writing it was not that which sold it for me. It was the concept. I also don't normally find covers featuring photos of women on the front appealing as this is often an indicator that the interiors will be stereotypically fussy or romantic in plot. Nothing wrong with this at all, but it just isn't to my tastes. This cover, on closer inspection, went from 'romance' to 'kung fu film trailer' and all it took was a facial expression. I felt intrigued to read the book after hearing a brief synopsis, but it was the sense of power emanating from the women on the cover that compelled me to read it. It appealed to the feminist inside of me! this is no wilting flower, I thought. This is a warrior! Writing this now, I realize that the cover quite accurately depicts the story line. I might be reading a lot more into the cover than was intended but what is the point of a cover if not to attract the right sort of reader? I digress... 
 So, I began this book with exultation, exultation which quickly withered a few pages in. The story is set from the character Fei's perspective. She, and her sister, have lived their entire lives in a village which, due to avalanche and steep, rocky cliff faces, remains shut off from the rest of the world below. The earth is barren and their only hope of survival lies in mining metal and sending it to the land below, via zipwire, in return for food. 
 From the first line, I felt immediately involved in the story. Mead shows not tells the reader that the people of Fei's village are all deaf. This does not seem a source of contention for our protagonist, so I took from this that it was not a new or worrying occurrence - just a fact of their life. Fei's thoughts and worries are tied with her sister and her own plight. Despite the focus being on her sister, it also provided me with much information about Fei, herself. Where her priority and loyalty lay made her immediately likable and, from this instant kinship, it was not hard to continue to empathize with her ongoing plight throughout the story. A few pages in and I was anticipating a five-star read. 
 The next 50 pages or so I felt were very stilted. It had the simplicity and almost child-like story-telling quality of a folk or fairy tale. I'm guessing that this was a deliberate decision, given the Chinese folklore foundations for the tale and the author's own self-proclaimed love of mythology. However, I don't think it accentuated the tale but diminished from it. I felt the dialogue was very contrived and formulaic, as though it was created for the sole purpose of filling-in the reader on the backstory, and I felt that the story would have been improved with a more complex world-building substructure. This book is a pretty short one, at 300 odd pages, so I wasn't expecting epic high fantasy or a complex world but I did expect...something. I also expected that deafness itself could have been more complexly explored. With one sense missing, how did the village use their other four senses? How did the world smell, look, taste? I have no idea, the reader is never told and the innovative and exciting main concept of the book is never properly explored. The premise was promising but the execution was lacking: nothing felt real, apart from our protagonist. 
 As the story progressed I found I either got used to this writing style, or it got better. I am unsure which. All I know is that I was more involved in the story itself and less focused on the particulars concerning the architecture of it. The rest of the read was much like its roller-coaster start. There were moments of utterly beautiful storytelling, followed by moments of such little character construction or world building that I felt it hard to envision the events occurring. I did not, and still don't, know exactly how I feel about it. 
 So, maybe this review has gone some way to exhibiting the internal struggle this book has caused me? I can't say I disliked it. I can't say I loved it. I can't say I would recommend it. I can't say I slated it. I also can't say it's an average read because some parts were distinctly above average, whilst other aspects were sub-par. Take from this what you will.