Axie does it again! This is the fourth and first ARC book by Axie Oh. I thought The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea was incredible - with this new book right up there. The way Axie brings her characters together is so poetic.

Ren is a traveling performer who has secrets of her own. Sunho is a blade for hire who also has some secrets.
When a demon attacks & Ren’s uncle is poisoned, she feels as if she is the only one who can find the cure. In a chance encounter with a bleeding, unconscious Sunho, Ren knows she has to help him. They constantly have a push & pull dynamic where one falters, the other steps up. One of my favorite quotes is “He felt his dark thoughts receding, and he realized that twice now she'd pulled him back with just her words.”

I loved the light & dark aspects of this beautiful story. “Even in darkness, there is always light." I’m anxiously awaiting the second!

I already have this book on pre order and I just finished this e galley.

This is a beautiful reimagining of the Korean legend of the Celestial Maidens.

Axie Oh builds amazing worlds and has such interesting characters. The setting:The Floating World, the Underworld, and every where in-between in this book are detailed in description, unique, yet also familiar. Children playing in the streets, a favorite noodle house, buns being sold during a festival. It's all magical but also familiar.

The MC are both so likeable. Ren and Sunho were mature, brave, kind. Their friendship grew without drama from pettiness. It was refreshing and so healthy. The side characters were also likeable. Other than the bad guys that is.

Such a great book if you liked The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, Castle in the Sky, and Daughter of the Moon Goddess. You'll love this one.

I cannot wait for the second one. Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing for this egalley. I was not required to leave a review, all opinions are my own.

Overall. I think this was a decent YA fantasy novel. The world building is insanely beautiful and inventive. I love the different social systems and the Korean folklore aspects woven throughout the book. The way the different POVs are written are very smooth and offer a lot of insight into each character and their individual internal conflicts all while dealing with the external forces of both the environments.

Sunho and Ren are well thought-out characters with intricate backstories and strong personalities. My own qualm is that there dialogue reads a lot younger than seventeen. I found that they read a bit more like fourteen, especially at the beginning of the book. However, Sunho's internal trauma and military experience does age him a lot in his choices compared to Ren.

The supporting cast is strong and offer a nice mix of voices to accompany the main characters. The mix of fighting and art offers a nice and fresh tone to the genre while never straying from the fantasy genre conventions that many readers enjoy. The romance elements never felt forced and I appreciate that both Ren and Sunho stayed true to their characters.

The ending was engaging and didn't feel rushed. I look forward to reading more Axie's work in the future and even picking up the sequel.

I wanted to give this five stars so bad but nothing about Axie Oh’s writing is worth it. The story and the characters are all so intriguing but nothing about this writing draws you in. This entire book was an almost. The romance was almost good. The character arcs were almost well done. The side characters were almost well developed. That being said, I do think I am being too harsh. I am genuinely excited for the next book and I have full intention of reading the authors other works. This book was genuinely good, almost is still worth reading.

This world is lush and the story is definitely high stakes but it almost feels like our characters were not old enough or well equipped enough to handle everything thrown at them. It’s hard to critique a YA book for coming off as young, because that is the intent. However, I feel like the plot called for characters who were much less naive. I think this could still work for a much younger audience.

This was my first book by this author, and there were a lot of things that I really enjoyed about it! The world was interesting and felt really well developed in the physical sense, though I found myself wanting more from it as a whole.

There are some really interesting characters in this book, but all of the found family and character development elements felt a bit off. It was all happening super fast, and there wasn’t a clear depth that had been created to match the level of connection the characters were acting with toward each other.

The rushed feeling of the development combined with the speediness of the pace made this a bit jarring at some points. It felt as though there often wasn’t enough time to process the events and revelations that were happening before it was on to the next thing.

Overall I did really adore Ren and Sunho as characters, and I’m definitely curious to see where things go in the next book, especially with one of the last revelations we got!

A thrilling start to a new fantasy series from Axie Oh! I am already anxious to read the next book — Oh has built a fascinating world, and crafted characters that you can’t help but root for.

Ren is a traveling acrobat performing with her adoptive family. She has a mysterious magic that we learn more about as the story continues, and is warned against using it lest it attract the wrong kind of attention. Then a demon attacks, and she’s forced to wield her light magic to defeat it—but not before it does significant damage. She’s determined to find a cure for her ailing Little Uncle, and sets out into the mountains to find the source of these blue-blooded demons. But she doesn’t realize her light has drawn that attention, and she’s now pursued by mercenaries.

One of those mercenaries, Sunho, has been instructed to keep her alive—others are out to kill her. Sunho has many secrets of his own, but few memories, and throughout the story he slowly pieces more about his life together. Sunho and Ren meet by accident, and are drawn to each other despite Ren’s insistence on wearing her performer’s mask. They slowly begin to trust one another, Sunho not realizing he’s found the very girl he was sent out to capture.

I am really looking forward to the next book in the series, and seeing what is in store for Ren and Sunho, and the whole world, where the wealthy float above the rest of the land on their Floating World, and dangerous demons lurk beneath. Highly recommended for readers looking for a new fantasy action adventure to delve into—complete with a romance.

5 out of 5 stars! When I tell you Axie Oh knows how to write fantasy I mean it! The pacing was stead and the story webbed itself so nicely. Yes, the beginning is a slow start, but once it picks up you may not put it down until the last page. It's cliché, but I loved it

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 4.25 stars
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!
The Floating World is a story about two people who are brought together by chance. Ren, an acrobat traveling from village to village, and Ren, an ex-soldier and sword for hire.

“Remember that, Sunho. Even in darkness, there is always lgiht.”

I have been wanting to read this book for a while and was so glad I got the chance to read it a little early! I was intrigued by the prose and wanted to meet these characters!

I really enjoyed the opening of the book and how it set the tone for the rest that was to come! The writing style was lyrical and easy to follow, making this a quick read for me. I loved the attention to detail and how vividly the places were painted.

The plot is a bit predictable at times, but I still enjoyed reading the progression and seeing where the characters would go next on their journeys. It was also good that the book had three POVs to tell the story.

Ren is an interesting character; driven by the need to save her uncle and the love she has for those she holds dear. She is a fun character and both her and Sunho are easy to get attached to. Especially how they both just want the simplicity of live and spend it with those few loved ones.

I loved the romance and growing of feelings between Ren and Sunho! It felt gradual and natural and also appropriate for their age. The innocence brought a freshness to the book somehow.

The plot read easy and predictable, and I do believe the book falls a bit on the younger side of YA. At times the characters read younger than the 17 they were supposed to be, and I also think the last 15% of the book came across as a bit too rushed. Too much happened in a too short time, but nonetheless I’m expected to see where the sequel will take me!

Overall, The Floating World is a book with a captivating and gorgeous world with fun characters and amazing atmosphere.

Instant 5 stars. Pacing was steady, and the story came together really well. I loved the characters, even the ones that disappointed me. The character that disappointed me had me second-guessing myself throughout, which I loved! The world and the lore was so immersive and easy to read about. I really felt the Final Fantasy inspiration and loved imagining those aspects as I read. I love the two main characters with all my heart and I can't wait to see how they fair in the sequel. Phenomenal read, I can't wait for book 2!

A little slow moving to start, but it eventually picked up and it was fabulous! I loved the tension, the push and pull, the twists and turns. That slow burn between Ren and Sunho was beautiful, and the addition of Jaeil took everything up another notch. And that cliffhanger, can't wait for book 2!

“Even in darkness, there is always light.”

When Ren releases a blast of silver light that is seen, it sets off a hunt for her by those that want to use her or see her killed. Sunho does odd jobs and is hired to track down the girl that emitted the light. Him and several hundred others that were hired. When their paths cross, he does not realize that she is the girl that he’s looking for as they agree to travel together.

This adventure really felt like it started early and just kept rolling and going without pause! It certainly made for a fast paced fun read. I had to know what else was going to happen with Sunho and Ren. I absolutely loved the unique world, with the ones that live in the shadow of The Floating World— the Under World— the ones outside and then the world above. It actually makes me really want to stay in this story to lean more about it!

We follow three perspectives in the story, all third person, and I loved every one of them. I needed to learn more about Jaeil, but I did mostly love our lonely swordsman for hire and our hidden powers performer. I felt for both of them much more and wanted them to be happy and find their place.

If you do love fast paced, action packed, well written and unique reimagining based off a Korean legend of Celestial Maidens, then I believe this is the YA for you. I do love how it is solidly Young Adult as well and gives me nostalgia for those books and manga that I loved to read back in high school or college.

Thank you so much for the free eARC on NetGalley! Truly appreciate to have been able to read this and cannot wait to receive my copy!

The Floating World has all the classic elements of a great epic fantasy: a long lost princess, a dangerous but good-hearted swordsman, an evil empire, and a found family. It's fast-paced and full of adventure, with protagonists that feel like real people. I am particularly invested in the morally-grey third wheel to the main couple, Jaeil, who deeply deserves a hug and his own special person!

But there's no tension. Until the obligatory cliffhanger at the very end, any challenge faced by the main couple, Ren and Sunho, is resolved within a chapter or so. She lies about her identity, he's too in love with her to care. He needs to break into a military facility, the guards are already in a drunken stupor. She needs a miracle cure for a mysterious illness, oh look there's a helpful evil scientist who just happens to have it in his pocket and would be glad to share. The story couldn't decide whether to be epic or cozy, so it didn't quite succeed at either in my opinion.

I wanted to love it. I kept expecting to love it, even as the pages sped by. I just didn't love it in the end. I'm not certain whether I'll read the sequel. If I do, it will be in the hopes that Jaeil finally gets his hug.

Thanks to NetGalley and Feiwel & Friends for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A boy seeking his lost memories and his brother. A girl hiding from her past and the responsibilities. And two worlds that are at odds that will force them together.

It takes a moment for the worlds and the characters to grab hold of the reader, but once the story gets going and the connections start falling into place, it was beautiful. The contrasts between Sunho and Ren, the flashbacks to their previous memories, their separate quests that brought them together, the stakes. I really enjoyed this book and am now kind of bummed that I'm going to have to wait for book two especially with that second-to-last chapter. Oof, talk about a stab to the heart.

Oh I love this author...... and this book includes so many reasons why I love her....... she can write a contemporary story and have it be amazing and then she can take you out of this world into a fantasy..... her characters are so real and her writing is so beautiful. I loved everything about this book. I had to purchase this book and I can't wait for book 2.

I would be lying if I said that I didn't struggle getting into the story. This is my first title by the author so I'm not sure if its the specific story or if maybe the overall writing style just isn't for me.

I felt like the pacing was incredibly slow, it took until over a third of the way into the book for the main character to even meet one another. I appreciated being able to see who they were separately and what their lives were like but at the same time it just felt like an awful lot of filler.

The world building felt really unique but I did struggle keeping different locations straight in my head - I usually don't have much of an issue doing that but with this story I constantly felt myself needing to double check where someone was or where a location was in relation to another location.

Sunho's back story and character interested my far more than Ren, Ren seemed very two dimensional and I found myself speed reading parts that specifically had to do with her.

The syntax felt strange at times, almost like the wrong words were being used? I'm not sure how to fully describe it but it felt how dubbed animes sometimes use a "synonym" for a word but it's not quite the right word despite being technically accurate. That's likely more of a personal issue than it is a book issue though - so take that with a grain of salt.

I can see the comparison to Shadow & Bone (with Ren's power and being hunted) but I felt like it was also similar in vibes to Demon Slayer and Five Broken Blades. The Floating World has some similarities in plot and world building to those which is always fun for fans.

Overall, it wasn't terrible but I can't see myself rushing to pick up another book by this author for a little while.

This was such a fun and well written book. I never heard of the author before but I will immediately buy anything that they write in the future. Such a great story. I very much enjoyed it.

The Floating World by Axie Oh is a beautifully written novel with a strong emphasis on atmosphere and emotional resonance. The prose is elegant, and the setting is richly imagined, offering readers an immersive experience. However, while I admired the lyrical writing and thematic depth, the pacing and plot development did not fully engage me. Although it was not a personal favorite, it remains a well-crafted story that will likely appeal to readers who enjoy quiet, introspective fantasy.

Axie Oh is becoming one of my favorite authors. Once again, she wrote a book filled with magic, adventure, and romance. She is skilled at building magical worlds and this one was no exception. I genuinely liked the characters and their development throughout the story. This is the first book in a series, so I'm hoping the magic will continue in the sequel without losing its momentum.

I loved Axie Oh’s Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, but something about this book just didn’t work for me.

The pacing was both simultaneously too fast and two slow. It felt like the story took too long to set up between the 3 POVs, and even with the time it took, it didn’t feel like the characters had any real solid motivations for being dragged together and from place to place.

I enjoyed the characters, Ren and Sunho are quite sweet and I love that they both look out for each other. But I wish I had more of Jaeil’s POV because he seemed much more intriguing than we got to see in this first book.

I was quite underwhelmed with most of the book as it felt like things I had seen before. That’s not to say that it was bad! It wasn’t! It just had to many similarities to other plots I’ve seen before. And then the book picks up a ton of speed and I finally felt invested only for the book to end, when it felt like the story was really beginning.

I enjoyed the high stakes action scenes, and how things began to play out towards the end, but I wish I didn’t have to wait so long for the plot to really hit. Given the way things are left at the end of this book makes me have hope that the sequel will kick up the action and raise the stakes, but it felt like this whole first book was just a set up for the real story to come.