Axie Oh does it again! I fell in love with the world and characters! Sunho and Ren are my babies and need to be protected at all costs. The FInal Fantasy vibes were absolutely beautifully well done, I can't wait to see what happens in book 2!

Read this if you love:
-Final Fantasy
-YA Romantasy
-Hidden Identities
-Amnesia Trope
-Inspired by Korean Legend Celestial Maidens

Thank you Hodderscape for the advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review!

I was completely enamored by THE FLOATING WORLD. The writing was intriguing, so was the worldbuilding and characters. Ren and Sunho were different, but made things work. I liked the Korean mythology additions which made it even more special. As someone who’s read Axie’s books, this was my absolute favorite. Huge thanks for the eARC!

Unfortunately this one wasn't for me.
I like the writing style and the wolrd seems very interesting. I also really liked the premise.
However, the story seemed predictable and it didn't really make me want to continue reading it.

This is my new favourite Axie Oh book. I knew when I first heard about The Floating World that it was either going to be exceptionally good or fail to hit the mark but I'm so happy that I had such a good time reading this one.

The Floating Worlds is inspired by Korean mythology and culture which I loved, having spend a good few years of my life immersed in Korean culture I really appreciated all the little touches throughout the book.

There is something about the way Axie Oh writes that draws you in, she has such beautiful prose and execution.
It is full of wholesome moments between the characters. Both Ren and Sunho are drastically different, Sunho with his closed off behaviour and Ren the storyteller.

The pacing was perfectly done, there wasn't a moment where I wasn't ensnared by this book and the worldbuilding was otherworldly. It never ceases to amaze me just how wonderful it feels to be drawn into another Axie Oh universe.

Yet another beautiful book I can't wait to recommend to all of my friends.

In her previous novel, The Girl who Fell Beneath the Sea, Axie Oh was inspired by the Korean tale of Simshong, here, her story is woven around a blacksmith and a doe. I like this idea, of tales, which allows the book to stand out from other novels inspired by Korean folklore and most often focus on creatures, like the gumiho. I also like this common thread in her fantasy work. The universe she imagines here, with this suspended world, really appealed to me. Of course, it takes a little time to set up all the parameters of this story, and to make us discover them, but it didn't bother me at all and I was never bored during my reading. I took the time to meet the characters, discover their secrets, and become attached to them. I enjoyed the romance that Axie Oh mastered, I know it, and I eagerly waited for the magic to unfold. But just like the previous one, I missed that little extra something to make it a favorite, and I sometimes rolled my eyes at some of the choices, a little bit to easy. Maybe I missed a touch of humor too.
The last chapters aren't necessarily my favorite ones, but I appreciated that the author offered us a conclusion to part of her plot while making us want to read on to discover the rest of her story.


Dans son roman précédent, la Fiancée du Dieu de la Mer, Axie Oh s'inspirait du conte coréen de Simshong, ici, c'est autour d'un forgeron et d'une biche que se tisse son histoire. J'aime cette idée, celle des contes, qui lui permet de se démarquer des autres romans qui s'inspirent du folklore coréen et se focalisent le plus souvent sur les créatures, comme le gumiho. J'aime aussi ce fil rouge dans son oeuvre fantastique. L'univers qu'elle imagine ici, avec ce monde suspendu, m'a beaucoup plu. Bien sûr, il faut un peu de temps pour mettre en place tous les paramètres de cette histoire, et nous les faire découvrir, mais ça ne m'a pas gênée du tout et je ne me suis jamais ennuyée au cours de ma lecture. J'ai pris le temps de rencontrer les personnages, de découvrir leurs secrets et de m'attacher eux, j'ai apprécié la romance qu'Axie Oh maîtrise, je le sais, et j'ai attendu que la magie se déploie avec plaisir. Après, tout comme pour le précédent, il m'a manqué le petit truc en plus pour que ce soit un coup de coeur et il m'est arrivé de lever les yeux au ciel face à certaines facilités. Et peut-être qu'il m'a manqué une pointe d'humour.
Les dernières chapitres ne sont pas forcément ceux que j'ai préféré mais j'ai apprécié que l'autrice nous offre une conclusion pour une partie de son intrigue tout en nous donnant plus qu'envie de lire la suite pour découvrir ce qu'il en est du reste de son histoire.

When I read Axie Oh’s The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea three years ago, I felt like the book resembled a lovely console game (e.g. Nintendo switch). Although Oh’s latest book, THE FLOATING WORLD, is completely different, it still left me with that feeling that this is a story I would love to see in game-format. It takes a bit longer to get into the swing of things, and the first 25% definitely had me re-reading parts of the world building to keep up. Speaking of which, once I understood it, this world was really cool, and vastly different from anything I’ve read before.
Recommended for readers who enjoy fantasy, some combat, secret royalty, and chosen family. Fans of Miyazaki films will likely enjoy this, too.

A beautiful story, engaging plot, strong characters, and perfect romance.

I went into this completely blind and absolutely loved it. I was getting studio Ghibli vibes, specifically howls moving castle (don’t expect the same!)

The plot is well crafted throughout, I was invested all the way through. We follow Ren, After a demon attack in her village leaves her uncle in critical danger she has to venture out to find a cure for him before it’s too late.
Along the way she meets Sunho, a swords for hire searching for a girl who was spotting wielding the light.

The floating world is a beautifully written story with a creative world.

I was hooked throughout, I prefer action and adventure over romance, and this book delivered both wonderfully, I really enjoyed the demons in this book and at some point they absolutely reminded me of Howl when he transforms into the bird/demon.

The ending wrapped up very well, I think it was a little rushed although as the sequel is coming soon I’m exciting to continue.

4 ⭐

A beautifully crafted story that feels like stepping into a Studio Ghibli film. The worldbuilding is rich and immersive, with folklore and fantasy woven together so effortlessly, and Ren is such an easy character to root for. The plot hits some familiar beats, but the heart of the story makes it feel fresh and special. I can’t wait for the sequel!

this book was so good!

this tory follows ren an acrobat, who after a demon attack leaves her family to look for a cure for her uncle. sunho is a mercenary who gets hired to find the girl who flared her light. they meet halfway without realising who each other are, but soon realising that they ,ight have a lot more in common than it looks.

I loved this story so much, I love this authors writing style, the entire plot felt so magical and whimsical, while also feeling dark and heavy at points as well. I really enjoyed the love story in this book as it was full of small and soft moments between the two characters.

In the the first instalment of this YA fantasy duology, we follow Sunho, an amnesiac sword-for-hire, and Ren, a theatre troupe performer as their paths collide and they discover that their destinies will change the fate of multiple worlds. Inspired by the Korean folktale ‘The Celestial Maiden and the Woodcutter’, this story is reminiscent of the steampunk world of Miyazaki’s ‘The Castle in the Sky’ ☁️✨

I have been looking forward to this duology since reading The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea! Dare I say, I think I enjoyed The Floating World more 😭 Unlike her previous fantasy world, this story had such dark undertones through the reoccurring appearance of demons 👹 I loved this unexpected plot line, especially as we unravelled the main characters backstories and the worlds they live in!

The characters and storytelling was just *chefs kiss* 🤌🏽 the multiple POVs were executed perfectly and facilitated the phenomenal pacing of events. I fell in love with every single character and am highly invested in what happens next! The Korean folktale ‘The Celestial Maiden and the Woodcutter’ was introduced in a way that was palatable for readers, like myself, who were unfamiliar with it.

All-in-all, I loved every moment of this and have officially fallen in love with Asian-inspired fantasy retellings all over again. I highly recommend this 4.5⭐️ read and am so excited for The Demon and the Light in early October!

Oh I loved this so much! It follows a formula that works so well in East Asian books and I pretty much inhaled it.

The characters were well thought out l, each with pretty high stakes and plenty for readers to fall in love with. I loved the plot itself and the world!

Loved, loved, loved, can't wait for book 2!

The way this quite literally felt like reading a Studio Ghibli movie!

Axie Oh has an incredible talent for making even the most imaginative readers (ahem, me) picture the most beautifully unique, immersive worlds absolutely effortlessly, and this shines through in spades in The Floating World.

This was a resplendent story filled with twists, turns and all of the tropes we love (I’ll always need more hidden identity books!). Ren absolutely stole my heart from the very first chapter. Sometimes YA books with strong willed main characters have me infuriated with their choices and decisions but, Ren? I was with her, backing her, every step of the way.

I can’t wait to read book two!

First of all, I would like to say thank you for the review copy, which was provided to me by the publisher. This fact does not in any way affect my personal opinion of this book. This post contains advertising, and the rights for the book belong to the publisher.

Of course, this is only my personal opinion of the book, and just because I give this rating to the book doesn’t mean that everyone will have that opinion.

Ohhh, I enjoyed this. I did not expect to be that hooked on the story, but here I am, waiting for the next novel!
The writing style was as good as I hoped after loving „The Girl Who Fell Under the Sea“ by the same author. It was flowy and dreamy, and I was instantly pulled into the story. The whole premise of the book interested me, and it delivered a few very nice reading hours.
The plot pace was good. Sometimes I found it a biiiiitttttt lacking and it was a bit much „from here to there and back“, but we also have to consider that this is a first book in a duology, so there has to be a bit of world building happening. After 20 %, I did not want to let go of this book and stayed up longer than usual to finish it.
I liked the characters, and I can see why it is compared to „Shadow and Bone“ character-wise. I had a few problems first connecting with Ren because I found her a bit naive for her age, but she grew on me.

Conclusion
Such a good start into a new unique duology!

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first Axie Oh book and I was very excited to read it with the mentions of Final Fantasy VII and Ghibli vibes. While it did carry through on those promises, I felt like some of it was taken a bit too heavy handed like how the introduction to Sunho felt too much like the Opening Bombing Mission in Final Fantasy VII.

The world and concepts were interesting and had me captivated but the instalove and constant conveniences the characters constantly found themselves in detracted from my enjoyment. There was a lot of, how are we going to get out of this tricky situation, oh, good thing we just happened to find this which is exactly what we needed!

Overall it was an enjoyable experience and I will be curious about the sequel which will hopefully wrap up the story well. I can't believe it's only coming out in another couple of months!

The floating world by Axie Oh has left me just as enchanted as her previous novel the girl who fell beneath the sea. The characters were charming, the plotline easy to follow but still leaving me eagerly turning the pages and by the end I'm desperate for the sequel. Thankfully, the sequel releases later this year!

Starting off with a thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for approving my request to read this gem in advance.

☁️ Am I reading or am I caught in an RPG? That's the question. There were lots of times where Axie Oh weaved her words in such a manner that made me feel as if I was either Ren or Sunho.

☁️ Many eyes, just one voice. I loved how despite the multiple POVs, Axie Oh chose to stick to a third person perspective. This offered me, as a reader, a better grasp on all the narrative threads and allowed the story to flow easily. It also successfully avoided awkward moments between me, the reader, and them, the ones being read.

☁️ Celestial maidens meet tech. The main reason why I even requested the title was the Asian myth behind the story, and then the mix with a soft the Final Fantasy sort of imagery. The result was nice.

After reading 'The girl who fell beneath the sea' I wanted to see where Axie Oh would take me this time and again she captivated me with her lively and colourful writing and world building. Again I'm in love.
The characters are well written and the novel is plot focused while connecting our main character with her potential love interest. This is what I like about Oh so much, the romance is not the main focus and the girl is not helpless. Every character stands on their own feet, but they still learn and grow with each other. Every time a new secret was unravelled I thought it couldn't get more interesting and surprising till we got to the next. Again and again we discover new truths about our main character and her past, but also about the past of the other characters.
Axie Oh tells us about a Korean Myth in a gripping and wonderful way. Her writing style improved even more and I can't wait to read the second book.

This was my first Axie Oh book but she was already on my radar. I’m glad I read The Floating World and can’t wait to read The Demon and the Light. This book was definitely for me: a student of the Korean language and culture, RPG lover, fantasy reader, and I’m weak for the found family trope.

That said, I usually read more adult than YA but have been really lucky to pick YA books that even though they are for a younger audience I ended up enjoying a lot (this book included, of course). Also, I tend to prefer just one POV, but in this case I really enjoyed having other perspectives and it gave a deeper insight into the world-building.

A list of things I loved:

- It’s darker than I expected (pleasantly surprised)
- Wasn’t expecting super soldiers either but boy I loved it!
- The slow-burn romance
- Found family trope (yes)
- Action-packed scenes
- The writing style
- Just give me a book with an underworld in it and I’ll devour it

I have three copies of this book on their way (please don’t ask, don’t judge). And I’m definitely checking the rest of Axie Oh’s books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodderscape for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I have fallen in love with this book! The world is so beautifully crafted and is so full of charm and life. The characters are all absolutely brilliant, with each one having their own, very distinctive, personalities and goals that drive them forward. I enjoyed how naturally Axie Oh manages to make their stories converge, to create a party of characters working together towards the same goal, whilst simultaneously continuing down their own paths.

Ren is such a bright, shining light of a character, full of so much love and determination. I really enjoyed the fact that ultimately, she wasn’t looking for a higher purpose, she just wanted a quiet life doing what she enjoys, with the people she loves. Her driving force is finding a cure for her uncle after he is attacked by a demon, she’s scared to go on this journey alone, but overcomes her fears for the sake of saving someone she loves.

Sunho is an ex-soldier who lost his memories of his life from before two years ago. As he grows closer to Ren he gradually regains more and more of his memories, and begins piecing together his past in hopes of finding out what happened to his brother. Sunho is such a wonderfully, protective character, without being overbearing and I love all the subtle ways he constantly looks out for Ren and steers her out of harms way. When they first meet, Ren refuses to remove her mask and it really warmed my heart how respectful he was of her wishes to keep her face hidden.

I could definitely see the Final Fantasy/RPG style influences throughout the story, with things like the government creating super soldiers with a mysterious compound, the classic story of the roguish swordsman protecting the girl with an ancient and world-changing power. So if you enjoy the stories to some of the older Final Fantasy games (I’d say IX and VII in particular) then I think you’ll really enjoy this story!

Thank you Netgalley and Hodderscape for the eARC. This is definitely a 5 star read for me, I loved everything: the characters, their development, the world building, literally everything. This book is a bit darker than her usual writing in my opinion, but it is full of hope and determination. My heart goes to Sunho and Rin, hope everything will be resolved in the sequel, I can't physically wait for it, I needed it like today. Bonus point: it's coming out in a few months which is another reason why why Axie Oh is one of my favourite authors. All the love to this series.