A Palace Near the Wind - Ai Jiang - ★★★.½

AUTHOR: Ai Jiang

SERIES: Natural Engines #1

GENRE: High Fantasy

PUBLICATION DATE: April 15, 2025

RATING: 3.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: A high-fantasy novella about a Tree-like girl seeking revenge against a human. The first of a duology. Grand world-building, okay character development, amazing themes, slow pace, lyrical writing. This could have been a single novel instead of a pair of novellas.

Plot Preview:

Liu Lufeng is the eldest princess of the Feng, nature-loving and tree-resembling forest dwellers. Because of her grandmother’s insistence on her duty, Lufeng is the next bride of the human king. The bridewealth of their proposed wedding is the only way to ensure a future for Feng by stopping the unbridled human expansion into Feng land. Feng has already lost four family members to the king. So Lufeng has a secret agenda – she will kill the king to stop his devious plans. But when she reaches the palace of the human king, she realises that there are many more secrets hidden inside its bone walls, and her earlier plan might not work. How can she save herself, her remaining family members and Feng itself from destruction?

The story comes to us in Lufeng’s first-person POV.

For a book of just 192 pages, it sure packs in a lot. With various types of character species, a number of characters, multiple distinct localities, allegorical themes, and ambitious worldbuilding, the novella collapses somewhat under its own weight.

The allegorical content is fabulous. In a very subtle yet impactful way, the plot covers the modern obsessions with commercialism, technology, and human development, all of which are often at the cost of the natural world. The limitless human greed, which doesn’t think twice about anything except itself, is depicted strongly.

The writing is equally excellent. The author’s prose is quite lyrical and vivid, so every single scene comes alive with richness. So much energy has been put in the worldbuilding! However, think of the world building as Google Maps without the ability to zoom in. You can see its immense scope but not the micro-level view of the characters and places except for a few hazy details. Maybe this is revealed in the sequel.

The imaginative characters are also the novel’s strength. The residents of Feng, also called Windwalkers for their ability to command the wind, are strange tree-like humanoids. I am stunned by how true-to-life they felt, which is such an odd thing to say about characters who seem like pseudo-Ents in their appearance.

That said, actually picturing these beings was a big challenge, especially considering the misleading cover art. The blurb clearly says: “The Feng people have bark faces, carved limbs, arms of braided branches, and hair of needle threads”, and this is further confirmed multiple times in the book. Now look at the picture of Lufeng on the cover and tell me if any part of this description matches the woman there. It is a stunning cover, no doubt. But it seems to indicate some exotic East-Asian fantasy, which this book isn't.

The pacing is very much on the slower side. It took me ages to get going as the worldbuilding was too dense, but I did go slightly faster towards the end. On the whole though, the content doesn’t allow you to zoom.

Throughout the book, there are plenty of whats and not enough hows or whys. I was hoping at least some of these would be clarified by the ending. But it is rushed, and it leaves us with too many questions. (Heck, I still don’t know why this series is called “Natural Engines”.) The core story arc is not complete by the ending; bad news for those who don’t like cliffhangers.

There’s no doubting the imagination and the writing talent of this author. I had first encountered her writing in Linghun, which was also an allegorical story. But unlike Linghun, this book is a proper high-fantasy. And as we know, high fantasy needs space to create the world and fit in its characters.

The biggest injustice to this plot was done by whoever decided to make it a novella duology instead of a single novel. Such a complex world and varying character types is too hefty for a short work to do justice to. This novella could easily been doubled in length, such that the plot, the characters, as well as the intricacies of the Feng and other worlds could have had more page space to be crafted in detail.

Regardless, I was still captivated by the core plot, the poetic writing, and the allegorical content. I also am curious to see how the story continues and reaches its finale. I’ll probably need to reread this first book when the sequel comes out as it is too convoluted to remember. I just hope the series does end with Book Two and there are no further extensions.

Recommended to high fantasy fans who enjoy lyrical writing and don’t mind a slow pace, unanswered questions, or a cliffhanger ending.

3.5 stars, rounding up wherever necessary for the fabulous allegory and the description of the Wind Walkers.

My thanks to author Ai Jiang for providing me with a complimentary copy of “A Palace Near the Wind” at my request. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.