A Palace Near the Wind by Ai Jiang: review

3/5 stars on Goodreads

A Palace Near the Wind by Ai Jiang

A Palace Near the Wind starts Natural Engines series (duology?) set in a unique secondary world. Liu Lufeng is fighting the windmills of modernity that threaten to destroy the habitat and way of life of her Feng (wind) people. It’s an uphill struggle on the home front too, as many of her people have left the habitat for the palace of the king for easier life and human technology.

To keep the king’s constructions at bay, one member of Lufeng’s family is sent to the palace every year to marry the king. Now it’s her turn, after which only her youngest sister is left. She’s determined to save her, so the only option is to kill the king.

At the palace, Lufeng, a creature of branches and leaves, has to adjust to wearing clothes, sleeping in a bed, travelling by engine powered contraptions, and eating meat. But she endures, so that when the marriage ceremony takes place, she can kill the king.

But the marriage isn’t what she believes, the king turns out to be not who she expected, and he’s not the enemy she thought. There’s a place of even more destructive technology beyond the palace, and those in charge there aren’t above cruel atrocities.

Killing the king would be useless, so Lufeng’s entire family has to flee. Easier said than done, when some of them are perfectly happy where they are, and others need to stay in place for the safety of the rest. But she’s not about to give up. With the help of a couple of friends she’s made, she acts on a hastily concocted plan. The book ends before we learn how that’ll turn out.

This was a short, straightforward story with a couple of twists to keep things interesting. The pace was fast, with no time wasted on secondary plots, character development, or worldbuilding, which was mostly a collection of interesting concepts.

I was especially disappointed in the Feng. As a plant-based life-form, they were such an interesting idea, but then the unique physiology didn’t play any role in the story. Even their element turned out to be wind, which I found really odd. I didn’t particularly like Lufeng either, but it would be interesting to see where she ends up from here.

I received a free copy from the NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.