Review: The Floating World by Axie Oh

Title: The Floating World
Author: Axie Oh
Series: The Floating World #1
Genre: Mythology/Fantasy/Mystery
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Publication Date: April 29, 2025
Edition: 358 pages, Kindle Edition
Source: Library
Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | BAM | Bookshop | Kobo | Powell's | 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Synopsis:

   Sunho lives in the Under World, a land of perpetual darkness. An ex-soldier, he can remember little of his life from before two years ago, when he woke up alone with only his name and his sword. Now he does odd-jobs to scrape by, until he comes across the score of a lifetime—a chest of coins for any mercenary who can hunt down a girl who wields silver light.
   Meanwhile, far to the east, Ren is a cheerful and spirited acrobat traveling with her adoptive family and performing at villages. But everything changes during one of their festival performances when the village is attacked by a horrific humanlike demon. In a moment of fear and rage, Ren releases a blast of silver light—a power she has kept hidden since childhood—and kills the monster. But her efforts are not in time to prevent her adoptive family from suffering a devastating loss, or to save her beloved uncle from being grievously wounded.
   Determined to save him from succumbing to the poisoned wound, Ren sets off over the mountains, where the creature came from—and from where Ren herself fled ten years ago. Her path sets her on a collision course with Sunho, but he doesn't realize she's the girl that he—and a hundred other swords-for-hire—is looking for. As the two grow closer through their travels, they come to realize that their pasts—and destinies—are far more entwined than either of them could have imagined.

From Axie Oh, the New York Times-bestselling author of The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, Final Fantasy meets Shadow and Bone in this romantic fantasy re-imagining the Korean legend of Celestial Maidens.

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To start, I really loved the setting of the book. I could really immerse myself in the world. I liked the characters, though it did take a bit for me to connect with them. I understood their motivations, but I didn't think they were very logical most of the time. Ren and Sunho often made really rash decisions (in my opinion). Granted, they are 17, so maybe it makes sense that they were like that. It has been a long time since I was that young, so I don't fully remember what it was like to be 17, or what my peers were like at 17. 

 

One character I was confused about for most of the book was Jaeil. When his character was introduced I was picturing someone much older than he ended up being after his connection to all the characters was revealed. He's, at most, 20 but I was picturing someone in their 30s. I was surprised at his connection to Ren, that was a twist I wasn't expecting. I didn't think he had a deeper connection to her at all. And I don't think it's a spoiler to say that she's the missing princess, I found that to be pretty obvious. 

 

 For part of the book, I felt that the plot got jumbled. Also, when Ren and Sunho are headed back to the Underworld, they traveled very fast. I don't know how long he had been on that train before he ended up in the field, but the timeline of their travels back to the city were vague at best. A lot was glossed over, which did lead to their eventual "I love you" to feel rushed. From the readers perspective they've only known each other for a day at most. But even if it had been a week, that's a really short amount of time to feel like you're in love with someone. But again, they are 17, so everything feels urgent to teens. 

 

The twist at the end was very unexpected, and I do look forward to reading the sequel. Though I am worried that things will be rushed. I assumed that this was at least a trilogy, but it looks like it's just two books, and I don't know  how everything will be resolved in just one more book. This is my first time reading from this author, so maybe it will be great, I hope so.