Review: The Walled City by Ryan Graudin

From Goodreads: 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 ... 

My Rating: 3 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: Ryan Graudin’s The Walled City was a book that I picked up because I was in the mood for something action-packed. It certainly delivered in that regard because there were plenty of action scenes and Graudin’s setting was inspired by Kowloon Walled City, a densely populated, walled city in Hong Kong that was famous for crime. I think the book would have been even more exciting, however, if the danger aspect in the climax had panned out so that the book remained realistic. Imagine my disappointment to find out that Graudin didn’t take the gutsy route and kill a character that would have most likely died in real life!

Another reason that I lowered my rating of The Walled City was that the characters could have used more depth. I also wasn’t a fan of the romance because it seemed like the romantic interest was only attracted to Dai due to his physical features. Realistically, there was no reason for her to trust Dai and risk putting her life in jeopardy. 

The Walled City was released by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in November 2014. 

Comments About the Cover: It doesn’t really reveal much about the content of the book. I do like the tagline though.