There are three narrators. Jin, a girl pretending to be a boy, is just trying to stay alive and stay away from the horrible street gangs. She sleeps on the street and is starving most of the time. She only wants to find her sister, Mei Yee, who was sold into prostitution by their father.
Mei Yee is another narrator. She is confined to her house, which is owned by a ruthless drug lord. There is no escape from her predicament. She is "reserved" for one very powerful man, who has paid to have her exclusive services.
Dai has secrets. It isn't clear through most of the book why he's in the walled city. He seems to have plenty of money and communicates with someone outside the wall. He recruits Jin, because she is such a fast runner, to work with him to do drug runs for the owner of the brothel where Mei Yee is. He also befriends Mei Yee and asks her to spy for him.
The walled city is an awful place. There is no hope, no authority figures, and it's filthy and dark. It isn't clear why this city exists. Graudin doesn't explain why all these people are here. It seems there is no gate keeping them in. They are free to go to the beautiful, prosperous big city right outside. But they don't. It is clear why our three main characters are here, but in general, I didn't get a clear picture of what exactly this place is.
There is adventure and political intrigue. There are awful stories of drug addiction and beatings. The Walled City, fortunately, has a pretty upbeat ending that also seems realistic.
There is also information about the real walled cities that existed not that long ago in Hong Kong. I still wished for more information about how these cities came to be and what they were for. It seems they were just slums? I still don't understand.
The Walled City is fast paced and easy to read. Anyone who likes a suspenseful survival story would enjoy it.
Published by Little, Brown BFYR, November 4, 2014
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
448 pages
Rating: 4/5
I really liked this one, too. It had a little bit of everything and kept me totally riveted!
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