Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Floating World by Axie Oh Narrator: Eden Jun
Series: The Floating World #1
Published by Dreamscape Media on May 27, 2025
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy Romance
Length: 11 hours, 8 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: NetGalley
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Ex-soldier Sunho lives in the Under World, a land of perpetual darkness. Possessing just his name and sword, he comes across the score of a lifetime – a chest of coins for hunting down the girl who wields silver light.
Ren is a spirited acrobat travelling with her family. But everything changes when they are attacked by a demon. Desperate, Ren releases a blast of silver light and kills the monster – but cannot save her beloved uncle from grievous injury.
Determined to save him from succumbing to the poisoned wound, Ren sets off for the mountains, where the creature came from – where Ren herself fled from ten years ago. Her path collides with Sunho’s, but he doesn’t realize who she is. As the two grow closer, it becomes clear their pasts – and destinies – are more entwined than they could possibly have imagined . . .
A story set in a world where some live in a land floating through the sky, others live on the mortal plane and then some live in darkness, in the underworld. All these worlds collide in The Floating World when, Ren, girl in hiding from those who would kill her in the Float City, uses a power she didn’t realize she had to kill a demon. Sunho, a mercenary, has been sent to find her and bring her to the General’s son alive. Based on the Korean legend of Celestial Maidens, the first book of The Floating World blends great imagery for world building with RPG type fights and an engaging story of family and new friends.
Ren has lived a relatively sheltered life and in many ways is innocent to the ways of the world. She has trained as an acrobat and storyteller in a traveling trope and has been loved these last ten years after being found wandering and afraid of everyone. When a demon attacks the small village she is performing in and injures her little uncle, a boy barely older that her, she saves him by releasing a power she has been holding inside of her. But his injuries are lingering and Ren is determined to go into the underworld and try and find a cure for her family.
Sunho is a mercenary by trade, hopping from team to team and never getting close to anyone. He doesn’t have any memories past two years ago, but he remembers he has a brother and is desperate to find him. Sunho has a secret; there is a demon living inside of him. He keeps it at bay but it has added to his strength and healing, helping him in his current profession. Mercenaries have been sent to kill the girl who produced the light that could be seen from the underworld, the Celestial Maiden in hiding. Sunho has been hired by the son of the General to make sure he finds her and brings her in alive. In an interesting twist of fate, Ren helps Sunho when he is injured and he agrees to help take her to the underworld to find a cure for her uncle.
As they travel together, they build a friendship and bond of trust. Sunho doesn’t realize she is the girl he is supposed to find and deliver and Ren knows he is hiding something about himself. They journey to try and find a way to save some of the only family Sunho has left and discover that while the mask Ren wears is real, everyone wears a mask of some kind. Both Ren and Sunho become stronger together and start to remember their pasts and the people in them.
There are some things that really worked for me in this story. I loved the worldbuilding portions of it. The descriptions of the city, the imagery of the floating city, and the underworld are really well done. I like the beginning of the story and how it set up Ren’s love of the family who found her and made her their daughter and also gave us a few of the terror and damage a single demon could inflict. I enjoyed the slow build romance between Ren and Sunho as they become close to each other in their travels and slowly peel away the layers of themselves. The action and rollercoaster ride of the last thirty percent of the book with the reveals of both Sunho’s and Ren’s pasts were done really well.
While most of the story is devoted to Ren and Sunho, there is a small section for the General’s son. He was probably the most interesting character to me since he knew Ren when they were children. There is a tie between them, a friendship from the past, but he is torn on how to proceed. His internal conflict and interactions with his cohort were some of the most interesting to me since it is unclear if he will help Ren or deliver her to his father.
The things that didn’t work quite as well for me include the third person narration, which made it hard to connect to the characters in the beginning. The use of the term Little Uncle and Big Uncle also just felt weird to me, but that is probably a cultural choice the author went with. I have not read much Korean based lore so I was new to the language for some of the honorifics used in the story. I think the pacing in the middle of the book could have been worked out a little. There is a solid engaging start and then the book slows in pacing until the last thirty percent. These are minor issues to be sure and some are just my reading preferences.
Overall, this is an interesting tale that feels a bit Young Adult but has something in it for mature readers as well. I didn’t know the legend of Celestial Maidens but liked the telling of it in this story and was a little surprised by the ending revels. I look forward to the next book of the series to see how our intrepid heroes manage.
He had a thought that if she couldn’t control it, she might burn him. But he didn’t care. He would burn for her.
Narration:
Performance: ★★★★
Character Separation: ★★★
Diction: ★★★★
Pacing/Flow: ★★★★
Sound Effects: None
Eden Jun is a new to me narrator and probably a new to everyone narrator as this seems to be her first narration. She fit the age for Ren well and has a solid narration voice. Because this was a third person narration, sometimes it could be a little difficult to tell a few of the voices apart to know who was talking. The timber of her voice or accent was pleasant and overall I think she did a great job, but with a little more time and seasoning she should get even better as a narrator.
Listen to a clip: HERE
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Interesting!! I think Blodeuedd would get a kick out of this.
I haven’t read a lot of Korean inspired stories but my sister gobbles them up and really enjoyed it too.
This is a YA book, right? I have other books by this author in my library. So not surprised it seems like it is. Great review!