Thursday, November 21, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Steel Crow Saga by Paul Krueger




Steel Crow Saga is the recently published Epic Fantasy novel from Paul Krueger featuring a world inspired by a number of East Asian cultures (Krueger is Filipino-American himself).  It's a novel I skipped over at first, but one which I'd seen a number of people I trusted on social media hype up quite a bit.

And I'm glad they did, because Steel Crow Saga is very very good.  The setting is incredibly well done, with many peoples, magics, and cultures all feeling really well developed and real.  And the characters are excellent, resulting in a plot where you care about all four of the major characters and keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next.  Along the way we deal with themes of discrimination, of the effects of colonization and the cycles of war and conquering, and the aftermaths of those battles.  The result is an excellent stand alone novel that contains enough sequel hooks to make me hopeful for a sequel.


-------------------------------------------------Plot Summary--------------------------------------------------
Aided by their magic - metalpacting, which allows one to manipulate metal (including cars, bullets, and blades) - the armies of the country of Tomoda broke through the forces of its neighbors, Dahal, Shang, and the Sanbu Islands, and added them to Imperial Tomodanese rule.  Tomoda attempted to alter the cultures of those lands; but naturally, this only added to the conquered peoples dissatisfaction with their rule.  And, after uprisings in every country, the yoke of Tomoda was thrown off, its rulers all killed, with only Jimuro, the Steel Prince, heir to the Tomodanese throne, still alive - but in the custody of the brilliant General in charge of the Sanbuna rebellion.  And Tomoda itself finds itself ruled in tandem by its former conquered peoples.

But the new era is just as tenuous as the old one, especially with Tomoda's people now the oppressed and conquered.  So the Sanbuna General decides to return Jimuro to his throne to treat with every nation to form a new era of peace.....but not everyone agrees with such a plan.  Accompanying imuro is the Sanbuna sergeant Tala - a woman who lost everything to Tomodanese invasion and who carries a dark secret.  But hunting him is the Shang Princess Xiulan, a wannabe detective who hopes his capture can lead to her ascension to the Shang throne, and accompanying her is Lee, a young woman from an oppressed minority who gets by using her wits for thieving.  Each of these four has their own secrets and beliefs, which cause them to come into conflict - and that conflict could change everything.

And even worse for Tala, Jimuro, Xiulan, and Lee is the presence of a monstrous man - with an unheard of and immensely powerful magic - who seeks to hunt them down and has killed anyone who stands in his way, no matter the consequences for this shaky new world.....
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steel Crow Saga features a setting clearly derived from a bunch of East Asian Cultures in a world that feels like a magically altered version of post World War 2 East Asia (although no comparable country/culture exists to the Western World, I might add).  It's a setting in the aftermath of overthrowing a conquering force that tried to impose its own culture on many others, and as such the impacts of colonialism and issues of post colonial life are very present here - and even the aftermath of the war hasn't freed everyone.  In this entire setting we have a bunch of cultures that are really well done, with their own magics and cultures around those magics.

The two main magics are metalpacting and shadepacting, which are both fascinating (though there is one more magic type usd by another nation): Metalpacting allows Tomoda for example to use metal machines without the use of engines, while Shadepacting allows for humans and animal spirits to bond so that the human can call the animal spirit as an ally for fighting or other use - provided the human and animal can agree to a contract - though Tomoda considers such a practice to be barbarous slaving of the animal by a human.  And of course there are the non-magical parts of these cultures, such as one that is entirely vegetarian, one which surrounds shadepacting with a lot of spiritual mumbo-jumbo, etc. etc.  It's a really well developed world in terms of the cultures and magics present, to say nothing of how well the impacts of imperialism are on everyone involved - more on that in a bit.  I've seen some comparisons online between this world and say Avatar The Last Airbender, and I don't think that's out of line at all. 

I should add by the way that this setting is entirely LGBTQ friendly, with at least 3 of our 4 main characters being LGBTQ, and the inclusion of both trans and non-binary characters elsewhere in the cast.

In this well developed world comes our four main characters, all of whom are excellent.  In Jimuro, you have the prince whose family is all dead, who is terrified of the idea of ruling, and whose prejudices of the people around him blind him to other views until he has no choice - but whose good heart allows him to change and make choices that others would never suspect.  In Xiulan, you have the princess far from the throne who believes she would be best on that throne, who likes to play detective and is intrigued by the idea of doing so.  In Lee, you have the goodhearted thief used to doing what she needs to survive, who has refused to form attachments in order to avoid being heartbroken.  And there's Tala, the Sergeant who desperately fought Tomoda in order to avenge her family, who isn't sure what else there is for her left anymore besides fighting, and who carries a dark secret that she has kept since she was a child - a secret that may be coming back to haunt her miserably.

These characters are all tremendous, and their interactions with each other - first between the initial pairings of Tala-Jimuro and Lee-Xiulan, and later when they all naturally get mixed up - are really really well done.  The dialogue and events that occur throughout the plot really build up these characters in great fashions, in a great mix of humor (especially with Lee's chapters) and drama.  And the side characters are extremely well done as well, to give further rise to both this world and the conflicts each character faces.  The result is a tremendous plot, with some twists you'll see coming - admittedly some of the plot relies upon some classic archetypes - and others you won't, up till a conclusion that is fitting, if not completely happy.  And there's enough left for each of the characters still standing in the end for future stories as well.  All this in a story that, as you might imagine, deals with some heavy themes at times, such as the impacts of colonialism/imperialism, the endless cycles of war and hatred, and what it means to be truly a good ruler.

Yeah this reads really damn well, and a better reviewer than I could make a full essay out of it.  Very recommended.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)