Kick-ass fight scenes, vivid characters and mythic creatures in a crazy alternate steampunk Japan that will ensnare you! 
 I find it really hard to portray just how radtastic of a read Stormdancer is. Steampunk is certainly all the rage right now but I haven't seen anyone do it the way Kristoff has managed. He didn't glorify the machines, instead he showed us the gritty dirty side to what a crazed machine age could do to the once beautiful and lush country of Japan. Cue the blood red bleeding skies, with air so choked with filth the populace can't even go about daily life without wearing a breathing apparatus. To bad the poor are stuck with just a rag over their mouths and noses. Who doesn't like a little grime and misery? 
 There are the expected airships and goggles that most people have come to identify steampunk with. However, what might not be expected was the awesome mechanized full body armor suits and chainsaw like weapons. 
 Yukiko and Buruu (the gryphon) were excellently crafted characters. Both of them displayed solid personal growth through the entirety of the book. Yukiko went from a young girl concerned mostly with her own feelings to a woman ready to fight for the good of the people. Buruu was just as interesting. He seemed very angry and closed minded in regards to humans but the way he thinks and feels changes gradually until he trust his very life to Yukiko. I've rarely seen the development of a relationship done so well with the slow progression of trust. 
 I don't want to give anything away but I must say there were a lot of twists in Stormdancer that I didn't see coming. I absolutely love it when I can't predict what is going to happen in a book. It has me foaming at the mouth to know what is going to happen next.