“The storm trees behind us shifted in tortured twists. If the natural gods could hear me, I questioned why they continued to make us sacrifice.”

Envisage a race who can walk on the wind, who have bark-like skin, branches as limbs and needle threads for hair and you will see the inhabitants of Feng. For countless years the threat of the destruction of their homeland has hung over them and the only way to hold it back is to sacrifice a bride to the King. Lufeng is the eldest daughter of Feng royalty and like her sisters before her, she too is now bound by tradition and duty to leave Feng, enter the Palace and marry the human King. As part of the marriage negotiations Lufeng will bargain to save Feng from the Palace’s expansions for a certain number of years but to stop the destruction altogether and save her younger sister, Chuiliu, from also becoming a sacrificial bride, Lufeng plots to kill the King.  

Blending sci-fi, fantasy and a touch of dystopian together, A Palace Near the Wind by Ai Jiang is a beautiful haunting story that is both strange and fascinating. This is a novella which reflects upon the conflict between our natural world and the industrial world with poignancy and inventiveness.

The vivid imagery of nature vs technology and life vs death was a strong occurrence throughout and one which I wholly appreciated. The Feng race, or The Wind Walkers as they are called, live as natural beings, among the soil, the animals, the trees and the wind. Their whole existence is for preserving the earth, for nourishing it and caring for all its elements. Whereas the King inside his Palace and the other humans who work for expansion such as Copper and Zinc, strive for progression, for the use of machines, I mean even their names are that of cold metals. We fully experience this once Lufeng is inside the Palace and she encounters Travelers made of bone and fur which she must ride to carry her across distances, clothes she must wear, meat she must consume, and items such as photographs, comscreens and egg-shaped pods which are completely alien to her. The contrast with Feng is immense and the bewilderment and otherworldliness that Lufeng feels echoes through to our own reactions as we see the world through her eyes. Jiang packs a lot of strange concepts here which I found fascinating and gripping because the overall theme of industry taking over nature has always been important within the fantasy genre. Lord of the Rings is a prime example of this but even in our world today, humans are being replaced by machines. Don’t get me started on Artificial Intelligence. 

“If I had the power, if the wind ever allowed—though I knew the natural gods were never in favour of chaos—I would show the King what it was like to have his home threatened, to feel attacked, to be afraid. And I would mock his terror in silence.”

The story also has a strong theme of family and cultural identity. Jiang creates Lefung’s narrative voice to be poetic, melancholic with a mixture of grief and anger. Her motivation throughout is always to preserve her homeland, rescue her sisters and her mother and to prevent the same bride-fate from happening to her youngest sibling, Chuiliu, who she holds most dearly. Lufeng is a strong character, one who I felt I completely understood and sympathised with. She begins to realise some of her sisters do not share her devotion to preserving Feng and it seems the influences of seeing another way of life, a life of more luxury and conveniences have allured many of the Feng race into seeking a life in the city and even changing their names. The prospect of eradicating the culture, beliefs, customs and way of life for an entire race is a haunting notion, one that understandably causes Lufeng much distress. Though even Lufeng begins to change as she becomes accustomed to certain things like eating meat and wearing shoes, she resists the appeal though and never allows anything to diminish her love for Feng or her family. As more revelations of what is really happening in this new world become revealed, Lufeng knows more than ever that it must be stopped before her people are changed irrevocably.

A Palace Near the Wind was certainly a novella which impressed me. Jiang delivers a tale featuring many twists and turns, with inventive worldbuilding and a main protagonist who will go to any lengths to save the ones she loves. 

ARC provided by Bahar at Titan Books in exchange for an honest review – thank you for the copy!

A Palace Near the Wind will be released 8th April 2025 but you can pre-order your copy HERE