The Walled City

by Ryan Graudin

Disguised as a boy, Jin Ling searches for her missing sister, Mei Yee, who was sold into the brothels of the Walled City. It's a cut-throat world of gangs, drug-dealers and warlords and every day is a struggle to survive. Jin Ling relies on her speed and cunning but how long will her luck hold? When a mysterious boy, Dai, requests her help with a dangerous mission Jin Ling's inclined to say no - this is a world where no one can be trusted - but the mission offers her a vital chance to see inside the brothel where her sister may be being held.

Jin Ling and Dai join forces, but will either of them survive the mission? Is Mei Yee still alive? And how will any of them ever escape the stifling city walls?

With a fantasy setting inspired by Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong, Ryan's novel has a rich authenticity and an intense atmosphere, and its pace will enthral the reader from the very first page.

• ISBN10: 178062199X
• ISBN13: 9781780621999
• Publish Date: 6 November 2014 (first published 1 January 2014)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 5 March 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Hachette Children's Group
• Imprint: Orion Children's Books
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Pages: 448
• Language: English

Reviews

3,5 stars

"There are three rules of survival in the Walled City: Run fast. Trust no one. Always carry your knife."

   
In The Walled City, no laws exists and criminals run rampant. There's drug-lords, prostitutes, drug trafficking, human trafficking, gangs, murder, vagrants, street children and violence. The world in The Walled City, while fictionalised, is based on The Kowloon Wall City that used to exist in Hong Kong. The Walled City is dark, gritty and violent and it's atmosphere reminds me of Six of Crows and The Hunger Games. The world and its concepts are unique and interesting and provides a backdrop for themes such as survival and freedom. 

The Walled City is told through the POV of three characters: Jin Ling, Dai and Mei Yee. The characters are well-developed and have different reasons for being in the Walled City. The characters stories naturally intertwine, but the characters seem to trust each other too easily. Although the characters are well-developed, for some unexplained reason, I found them lacking. The POVs also bleed into each other because the characters sound similar, but their unique situations helps to differentiate their POVs.

A unique YA read with an interesting, dark, gritty, violent and dangerous world. I flew through the The Walled City.

"I've never been able to sit back and watch things happen. Not without a fight."

 

[ross91]

Some parts would have deserved 3,5*, others 2,5, so I guess 3 stars is a great compromise.
I LOVED the setting and I was really intrigued with the walled city's concept, that's why I was sad there weren't more in depth descriptions and insights about life and survival in this horrible place. I would have really enjoyed more details and more focus on this aspect.
I get this book is YA so everything needed to be toned down, but all the depravity and corruption and bad things, if not well explained even in their most upsetting and crude parts, seemed very off and unbelievable.
I liked the fact that prostitution, abduction, murder, addiction and starvation were topic the author wanted to write about, but they were too lightly approached and so they seemed fake, unrealistic and, sadly, stupid. Except maybe for Jin, the characters were the weakest part of the book: kinda boring and two-dimensional, none of them was interesting enough to hooked me up.
Lastly, I am so done with this trend YA books have to describe a character as a bad, dangerous person and then let you realize the guy is actually good and all the bad things he has supposedly done were actually not his fault. For once I would like to see a true villainous kind of guy or a true antihero. I don't think it's too much to ask for.
Anyway, good concept, mediocre realization.

[inlibrisveritas]

The Walled City is a standalone thriller that takes inspiration from history and brings it to life in the modern world. The Walled City itself is based off of the actual walled city called Kowloon City. It was an incredibly cramped area full of crime and people just trying to make it, and Graudin centers her story in a similar stifling and dangerous place.

The atmosphere in this novel turned out to be one of my favorite things. It feels like a hopeless place, with it’s small living space and poverty, and the imagery that Graudin included made it come to life. I could practically feel the cold, wet allies and smell the food from the street vendors…never in my life have I wanted a hot bun so badly. The plot is pretty intense and I loved having three view points to read from, it really opened up the story and made the tension that much thicker.

Dai, Jin, and Mei Yee are all fantastic characters and surprisingly I liked all three. It’s so rare that I legitimately like all of the main characters as much as I do these three. Dai is working to right a wrong from his past and it’s putting him in very real danger, and to do what he needs to do he needs help from a few others. He’s a strong willed character with a huge amount of guilt crushing him, both for the events of his past and for using people to ensure he can return to a normal life. Jin is a girl living in an area where it’s not safe to be one, and as a result she pretends to be a guy. She wants to find her sister who was sold, and the only way to do that is the put herself directly in the line of danger. Jin is an incredibly brave girl, who does so much just to stay alive in this city and continues to push herself through out the book. Not once does she allow herself to be weal, even when her body is telling her that she is. Jin is a beast. Mei Yee plays an interesting role. She seems sort of innocent and naive, but she has gone through so much that it would be impossible for her to truly be either of those. She knows a harsh reality, while at the same time she leads a sheltered and somewhat blinded life. Her chapters were calmer than Jin and Dai’s, but they were just as tense because of what she has to do in order to continue being ‘safe’. Mei Yee exudes strength of character. She’s kind and willing to forgive, but as she sees a way out of her current life she also becomes willing to do what she needs to in order to make it happen.

The only issue I had was with Dai and Mei Yee, it’s not quite insta-love but it comes close and to be honest it was barely an issue at all. Their relationship is not a focus at all until towards the end, and romance doesn’t really factor into this story.

If you want a fast paced and beautifully detailed story that wraps up in a single book then find a copy of The Walled City and give it a try!

[kimbacaffeinate]

Five Caffeinated reasons to listen to The Walled City

• The Walled City is a modern day dystopian thriller based in part on the actual “walled city” of Kowloon. While, the author has taken some liberties she beautifully captured this dark city in Hong Kong. The writing is beautiful despite the darkness and at times almost lyrical. She beautifully captures the mannerism of the characters from personality to culture.


• The story is told from three narratives. We have Mei Yee, a young woman who is sold by her father into a brothel. Next, we have Dai, a boy from a family of wealth who hides within the Walled City and seeks a chance at redemption. The last voice and my personal favorite belongs to that of Jin Ling. The sister of Mei Yee, she hides in the streets of the Walled City as a young boy and searches to free her sister. Each character is fleshed out and as the story progresses we see a connection form and tighten between the three. It was brilliant and captivating. The narrators for the audio were superb and captured each character’s personality and emotions adding an extra layer of enjoyment.


• The Walled City itself is a living breathing character and reeks of brothels, drug lords, and poverty. Hunger and power rule here. It is the darkest aspect of humanity and one most turn a blind eye too.... to look almost painful. Graudin brought the city to life. I could see the buildings stacked as they robbing the inhabitants of fresh air and light to life. As I listened, I could close my eyes and see, taste and smell the city, the fear, and the desperation.


• There is a romance in the Walled City and it developed slowly and beautifully. It certainly was not the focus, but its tender threads weaved into the story giving the listener hope and a glimpse of something light. It felt genuine and had all the feels while being understated and richly satisfying.


• The storyline and the way in which Graudin weaved the three character's together held me captive. At ten hours and twenty-eight minutes in length, I could not seem to stop listening and consumed this in less than a day. Sometimes when dealing with multiple pov’s I find myself annoyed when taken from one and moved into the other, but with the Walled City each storyline carried weight and was compelling. The story was suspenseful, emotional and felt refreshing original in a sea of similarity within the genre. As their timelines intertwined the climatic scenes had me holding my breath.

Audio provided by publisher.This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer

[Kelly]

4½ Stars
http://www.divabooknerd.com/2014/11/the-walled-city-by-ryan-graudin.html
The Walled City was absolutely phenomenal. Based on the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong, where from the fifties until the seventies was run by the Triads that ran prostitution, drug and gambling rings. Now demolished, Hak Nam is the ghost of a city that thrived on crime, where the streets and alleyways were dark and it's inhabitants struggled to survive.

Courtesy of Google Images
The storyline follows three different points of view. Fourteen year old Jin who has hacked off her hair and poses as a boy, the alternative being a young girl sold into prostitution. She's lived on the streets with only a tarpaulin for shelter, a rotting blanket soaked with rodent urine, and mangy cat Chma are her only possessions. The day her father sold her sister to the Reapers, Jin left home at only twelve and has been searching the brothels within Hak Nam to find her. The brothel owned by Longwai of the Brotherhood is now her only hope of finding her sister alive. She's determined, tenacious and courageous, traits rarely seen within the walls.

Dai doesn't belong within the walls. He's an educated and well dressed young man that is searching for his own freedom. Banish by his father, his only chance at escape is to infiltrate the Brotherhood and obtain proof of their crime syndicate. He makes Jin an offer she can't refuse, access to the brothel where she believes her sister is being kept and the two begin working in a drug runner partnership for Longwai.

She's the girl that is fortunate enough to have the only window to the outside, but Mei Yee knows there's no escape. Kept to exclusively service the Ambassador, sold by her father into a meager existence. She's seen what her Master does to girls who escape, injected with Heroin to ensure their addiction keeps them loyal. But when a young man knocks at her window, promising the chance to escape in exchange for information on the Brotherhood, this may be Mei Yee's only chance at freedom and finding the sister she left behind.

The Walled City is a raw and emotional contemporary, rather than dystopian. A fictional storyline set amongst the seedy lanes of a very real city that was once the underbelly of organised crime. From the very first chapter, I was enthralled and emotionally invested in Jin's plight. The depth of not only the characters, but the imagined streets of Hak Nam are simply breathtaking. Ryan Graudin is a sensational author that has created a diverse and vivid storyline that will captivate readers and leave them wanting more.

Simply immaculate.

Thank you to Hachette Australia who provided this book in exchange for an honest review.

[lizarodz]

This review was originally posted on Reading With ABC

[lindsey]

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

There are three rules of survival in the Walled City: Run fast. Trust no one. Always carry your knife.

I originally thought this was going to be a dystopian novel, but I quickly discovered that it wasn't. It was much more raw and realistic, and after finishing the book I found out that The Walled City actually existed in the not-so-distant past. It's hard to imagine people living and surviving in places like that, and it made the story stand out even more for me.

Overrun by gangs and drug lords, the Walled City is no place for a young girl, but that's exactly where Jin finds herself while looking for her sister, Mei Yee. Mei Yee was taken by the Reapers, and Jin swore that she would do everything she could to save her. It's proving more difficult than she imagined, however, and she struggles just to survive each day.

She meets Dai, and what starts as a drug-running partnership quickly becomes friendship, though neither would admit it at first. Dai has his own mission, and he is just as determined as Jin to succeed. He's on a time limit, though - he only has eighteen days to complete his task.

The Walled City is a fast-paced and well-written thriller, and it kept me wanting to read just one more chapter. I couldn't wait to find out what happened at the end, and I wasn't disappointed.

[shannonmiz]

I wanted to love this one. So, so much. I did celebratory dances upon its arrival to my Kindle.

First of all, I don't think I exactly knew what to expect from The Walled City, which was probably part of the appeal. I knew it wasn't dystopian, but was a standalone, and that it was set in some kind of alterna-Asia? I confess, I still don't understand where or when this was set, but we'll get to that. The book is based on a place which is (terrifyingly) a real historical thing.

There was definitely a unique quality to this book, which is most certainly refreshing. The setting itself (a Walled City in Asia) is intriguing, to say the least. So, since there were some aspects of the book that I really did like (and obviously, some I did not), I'm going to break it down:

What worked for me:
-The world building of the Walled City itself was kind of great. I could definitely picture it, as awful and dismal as it was, and certainly felt immersed in the world.

-The book moved along at a pretty good pace for the most part, and there was certainly a substantial amount of action.

-The unique setting was pretty great, though I would have liked a bit more infusion of the Asian culture.

What didn't:

-The characters felt very flat. I didn't feel like I "knew" them, didn't feel any emotional connection to them. I felt like I'd been given these factual tidbits about them without any feeling behind them to make me care. They were in some truly horrific situations, but I didn't feel the angst or the desperation that I expected to. Through the three POVs (Jin, Dai, and Mei Yee), the story unfolded, and I recognized the direness of the situation, but I never felt enough emotion behind them to care. I did think Jin and Dai were a bit more fleshed out than Mei Yee, and I did gravitate to their POVs a bit more.
Pretty much every character, from the protagonists to the villains, lacked substance. They were all incredibly two-dimensional, and I think that is why I struggled to have concern for their plights.

-A lot of the book seemed very, very convenient. The resolutions to some of the plot issues were just too "easy" for me. And the ending, while I can see its appeal, underwhelmed me completely.

-I found it quite predictable after a while. I think this goes back to the previous point, in part, because the convenience factor left me certain of how the next obstacle would be overcome. I wasn't on the edge of my seat, because I just knew what was coming (trying to be vague and non-spoilery here!).
The relationship bugged me. Again, not saying much, just that I really didn't like the way things played out.

-What happened to the rest of the world? This wasn't a case of the characters being trapped in this Walled City since birth, so they had to have some knowledge about the world around them. I seriously haven't the faintest idea when this took place, or under what world circumstances. While the world building of the actual city was good, the rest of it was virtually non-existent.

Bottom Line: A disappointing book overall for me. But it is getting lots of love from other readers, so I am pretty certain I am going to remain the black sheep on this one.

*Copy provided for review

[pamela]

Obi Wan Kenobi said to Luke Skywalker "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." He was of course speaking of Mos Eisley, but these very words and what they represented could easily have been applied to Hong Kong's Kowloon Walled City. It is a fascinating place in Hong Kong's history, a place which grew up organically and was destroyed by governmental decree in 1987. In 'Walled City' Ryan Graudin documents the last days of the walled city through the eyes of its three teenaged protagonists, siblings Jin Ling and Mei Yee separated in the wake of their abusive upbringing, and Dai a young man who's past has exiled him to Hak Nam.

Graudin's plot is fast paced and involving. The characters are well thought out and believable, but clearly targeted to a Western audience. I could have been reading a dystopian western future rather than an Asian past. It didn't make the book bad, because it was full of twists and I was carried along with the story, but it certainly didn't feel very true to the culture or time from which it came. I got the impression that the setting was more an inspiration to the story rather than being a work of historical fiction. And that is ok. It never claimed to be more than that.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It has a complex plot, is fast paced, well written and just a really great read. It has equal elements of dark and light, it's more grim and visceral moments were described in sensations rather than gore, which was masterful in getting the reader to identify with the characters. If you're after an enjoyable and tense read you can't do better than this book no matter what your age.