The Floating World

⤷ Characters:

The Floating World has three POVs, but mostly two main characters: Ren and Sunho.

Sunho is a mysterious ex-soldier and current sword-for-hire residing in the Underworld, with hardly any memories from his past or knowledge about how he came to have strange abilities, like the ability to see even in pitch black or the darkness he feels inside of him.

Then there’s Ren: she’s lively, free-spirited, and part of a troupe of traveling acrobats formed by her adopted family and friends. She has the power to wield silver light, an ability linked to her emotions that she’s forced to keep hidden. It’s one disastrous day, in the fear and anger during a demon attack on her family, that she releases a blast of light, alerting the world to her power.

Finally, Jaeil is a military captain and the son of the general. He doesn’t get much page-time, but wow is he complicated! He gives a lot of the background about the political landscape in this world, and he’s also the one who hires Sunho to find a girl who wields silver light, in exchange for money and information about the past Sunho can’t remember.

The characters are definitely my favorite part! Ren & Sunho are so well written and loveable! There’s something about the way they are just inexplicably drawn together, and there’s so much mystery around their pasts, their magic, and how much their paths are entwined more than they can imagine. The romance is slow-burn, but also tender and sweet, in a story that can be rather action-packed and serious at times.

I was so worried there would be a major conflict between them over how Sunho was tasked with finding Ren, but there wasn’t, and that was perfection! I think some part of him already knew who she really was, but I absolutely adored the way Sunho came to love Ren, became fiercely protective of her, and fought for her and alongside her ❤️

⤷ Plot:

It took me a little while to actually get into the book, but once I did, it became unputdownable! There were so many plot twists and we kept learning more and more about the characters, their backstories, and how their paths all connected to each other…it was great!

⤷ World-building:

I expected a lot from the world-building, especially since The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, one of my favorite novels, is also written by Axie Oh. The setting in this book doesn’t feel as magical or immersive, but the world-building was still done well, and it was interesting exploring this new steampunk fantasy world.