Ai Jiang’s intriguing novel, A Palace Near the Wind, ends on a cliffhanger so abrupt that I strongly recommend that readers wait until they can pick up the next volume in the series before they pick this one up. This book does a great job at setting up an unsettling conflict for protagonist Lufeng against the forces of rapacious industrial power but, overall, doesn’t do much more than that.
Lufeng has known for a long time that she will be expected to sacrifice herself for her people, the Wind Walkers. Her grandmother has been buying time for their unspoiled forest by bargaining with the neighboring king. Lufeng’s mother and three older sisters have all been sold to the king for a decade or maybe only five years. The unlucky brides have never been seen again and the king’s forces are pushing hard against their border. Once Lufeng arrives in the king’s bone palace, she discovers that there is a lot that her elders have been hiding from her.
The bone palace is a sinister place. For someone who has never worn shoes before, who is used to being able to feel the wind all around her, the bone palace feels like death. No one tells her what the rules are but there is an awful lot of insisting that Lufeng adapt to the ways of the kingdom. The way that Lufeng’s maid and the king’s officials simply refuse to take Lufeng’s noes for an answer got right up my nose. I would’ve been screaming and stamping in frustration before long; I probably would’ve bolted for the forest the first chance I got and found another way to save my home. Two things keep Lufeng in place. First is her lifelong training in obedience. She has to work for weeks to screw up her courage to make any kind of protest. The second is a shocking discovery that changes everything Lufeng knows about what’s going on. Unfortunately for Lufeng (and for us), very little of substance is revealed beyond this big discovery.
The plot gallops along once Lufeng’s marriage contract is completed. Before too long, we’re at the end of this episode in the series. I felt a little annoyed that so much is left up in the air. That said, I very much enjoyed the many peoples Ai Jiang created. I want to know more about the Wild Walkers and Earth Treaders and the Water Shifters and what the hell is going on in Gear and Engine, the mysterious cities hinted at in A Palace Near the Wind.