Title: The Walled City Author: Ryan Graudin
Series: -
Genres: YA, Dystopian
Publisher: Little, Brown
Source: Audiobook
Pages: 424
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BLURB: 730. That's how many days I've been trapped.
18. That's how many days I have left to find a way out.
DAI, trying to escape a haunting past, traffics drugs for the most ruthless kingpin in the Walled City. But in order to find the key to his freedom, he needs help from someone with the power to be invisible....
JIN hides under the radar, afraid the wild street gangs will discover her biggest secret: Jin passes as a boy to stay safe. Still, every chance she gets, she searches for her lost sister....
MEI YEE has been trapped in a brothel for the past two years, dreaming of getting out while watching the girls who try fail one by one. She's about to give up, when one day she sees an unexpected face at her window.....
In this innovative and adrenaline-fueled novel, they all come together in a desperate attempt to escape a lawless labyrinth before the clock runs out.
THE WORLD: Very very dark. And this is an understatement. So basically the story takes place in a walled city, yes the city surrounded by walls and ruled by brotherhood aka a gang. Frankly, I found it a bit confusing to determine what year this was in, I mean they had brothels and the whole writing style felt like Assassin's Creed games but then there would be hints to today's things and I would be all whaaaaat? So yeah, I have no idea in what time this is based. But other than that I really enjoyed the darkness.
CHARACTERS: There are three POVs in this book: Dai, Jin and Mey Yee. Dai is the older boy who got once in trouble and now is trying to make things right again. Jin is a girl pretending to be a boy and in search for her missing sister and Mey Yee is this missing sister who was bought by the brothel and is now forced to work there. So let's start with Dai. He was not my favorite but he was also not somebody I would hate, I felt like he was written pretty well and had all these good qualities of being loyal, smart and just plain good friend. Next we have Jin, again not a very special character. Frankly, I don't like girls pretending to be boys in books but here I had not a single problem. I really liked brother sister relationship Jin had with Dai and how they decided to stick together. And finally we have Mey Yee, a girl forced to work in the brothel. Now, this is a YA books so there is no sex or something like this but we do get to understand what it is like to be a sex slave. Frankly, besides the fact that Mey Yee story was the most interesting she was also my absolutely favorite. She was this little dreamy girl who never gave up and just I don't even know really why I liked her this much.
LOVE: There is both sister brother love as well as romantic. Also there is an epilogue that I absolutely adored, usually I am not a fan of them but here it was exactly what I needed because trust me you do want to see more of Dai and Mey Yee.
PLUS: The darkness of this book. This was like no other YA dystopian book I have read and trust me I have read many. Also there was absolutely no teenager drama. Whoop whoop!
MINUS: The only thing I can think of is the confusion with time that I have already mentioned before.
MINUS: The only thing I can think of is the confusion with time that I have already mentioned before.
OVERALL: Great book, highly highly recommend!
What do you guys think about THE WALLED CITY?
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