Ok, so Stormdancer turned out to be harder to review than I thought and the rating was kinda iffy there for a while but I'm going with 3 stars. 
 So I read an ARC copy so I'm not sure if something's have been changed in the finished copy. There's a glossary in the back of the book but after a while I got tired of using it because it slowed down my reading. There are also a couple of maps in the beginning which are always a nice addition. I really like the covers for this book and I greatly appreciate the girl on the cover looking like she's actually Asian. Yay, thanks cover art people! 
 So there are very long world building scenes that after a while seem to drag and the first half of the book was a lot slower than I expected but there were a couple of interesting scenes throughout. The misuse of some Japanese words pulled me out of the story but half way through I was able to ignore them, mostly, so I could enjoy the story more. Another thing that took me out of this Japanese inspired world and made me feel like I was in London or something was when some characters used the word "bloody". Like "bloody this" and "bloody that". I was kind of like "huh?" Also the boy having sea-green eyes made it difficult to see him as an Asian boy in my head. Which brings me to the so-called romance of the book, which wasn't romance simply lust, it seemed pointless and could easily do without. I would have preferred to know more about the more important things going on in the story. 
 The brother/sister relationship between Yukiko and Buruu was one I was excited to read about and it was a great part of the story but... the switch from Buruu really disliking Yukiko to quickly feeling like her brother was too sudden for me. I didn't feel the switch, the emotional change... it was simply just there. Sure they fought together and walked around a forest but I was hoping for a little more growth, more scenes that made me feel they became as close as siblings. I did feel it later but not when it actually was supposed to happen, you know? But still I liked these too together and I think it's cool how their minds and behavior begin to influence each other. It'll be interesting to read how that plays out in the next book. 
 I liked Buruu. Yukiko was a like/dislike back and forth thing and I never felt connected to any of the other characters, but they were entertaining, I just didn't care too much on what happened to them, like Yukiko's dad. I just never felt any sympathy for him. I thought Yukiko was going to be a little more badass. I mean she's a hunter I expected a little more but it was mostly Buruu. And I expected what she figured out at the end to be something she figured out way earlier but...*shrug*. 
 The book was easy to put down at first. I wasn't running over family members to pick it up again because it was slow, but I liked the action scenes when they came and really enjoyed the story as it got closer to the end when it really picked up which is what I was waiting the whole book for. So I really enjoyed the end. 
 So despite its flaws and being iffy here and there I did enjoy Stormdancer. There are some very interesting ideas I'd like to read more about and see what else comes up. But hopefully something's are improved on in the next book. I probably won't be rushing out to get it on its release day but I do look forward to reading it. 
 Big Thank You to Goodreads, Thomas Dunne Books/St Martin's Press and Jay Kristoff for the chance to read Stormdancer.