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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
A good book, it has a great plot, lots of details, a fantastic world building. Even with all of this it's still missing something. I can't quite put my finger on it, maybe I'm just not a big fan of his writing style. Either way if second book come out, I'm there.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Colonisation
Minor: Suicide
Boring, characters were unlikeable. Plot pace was much too slow
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
removed my rating and my review. more context here (cw: harassment): https://twitter.com/biancaxunise/status/1273036326397509632?s=20
4 Stars. The concepts and overarching plot are certainly worth 5 stars. HOWEVER, it was a bit poorly executed. I enjoyed the writing, but it was just wayyy too long and this felt more like a YA/New Adult novel vs an adult novel. These issues really dragged an otherwise really engaging and thoughtful addition to the genre.
DNF @ 44%
The general concept of the shadepacting, having an animal to summon, was very cool.
But….
This book just had too much going on. I am not even sure what the end goal or plot is other than we are all at war, racist, and so close minded/childish that nothing is getting done.
I simply cannot suffer anymore.
The pacing was abysmal. For the complexity of the nations and cultures a general overview or map would have been extremely helpful. An epilogue that stated the rules and state of the world would have been a nice edition as well.
We have the Tomodanese who are a people who metalpact. They consider animal souls to be equal to human souls and therefore are vegetarians. They also consider all shadepacters to be barbarians for forcing an animal into “slavery”. This the country that at the beginning of the novel has conquered the rest of the areas? (Are they countries? Provinces? I don’t know) Apparently okay with mass genocide though.
Then there are the Sanbuna of the Sanbu Islands. They head the revolution that eventually overthrows the Steel empire and begins the steps towards a “peaceful” coexistence. They currently have their soldiers trying to escort and protect the Tomodanese Prince so he can ascend the throne in Tomoda and ally with Sanbu. Tala, the only survivor of this escort, ends up getting the Prince to Tomoda just to be treated like trash for saving herself from an assassin. This is where I dnfed. Sanbu also shadepact and eat meat. Costal area.
Shang empire. They are who rules before the Tomodanese. They have apparently 44 heirs to the White Crane Throne and every single heir is doing their best to impress the King so they can ascend the Shang throne. Long - term, they expect to reconquer everyone now that the Tomodanese are out of power. Xuilan is a princess trying to catch the Iron Prince with the help of a Jeongnese theif in order to become Queen and create peace instead of war. The Shang shade pact as a rite of passage into adulthood. jeongnese are treated as trash, gutter rats, with zero rights. They are not aloud to shade pact.
Dahali is another region that uses magic from the soul in raw form to enhance or disable the body. No shade pacting. Apparently an ally of all three nations and assist the highest bidder.
Ontop of all of this information dump in 200pgs (btw)
We have every possible real world "hot topic" and issue crammed into the story. We have racisms, genocide, war crimes, transexuals, bisexuals, lesbians, gays, straights, bigotry, human trafficking, religious intolerance, and I’m sure more I didn’t even get too.
For such a serious story, with serious topics the characters also acted like complete children. . . All of the different topics just made the writing feel disconnected and incoherent.
The general concept of the shadepacting, having an animal to summon, was very cool.
But….
This book just had too much going on. I am not even sure what the end goal or plot is other than we are all at war, racist, and so close minded/childish that nothing is getting done.
I simply cannot suffer anymore.
The pacing was abysmal. For the complexity of the nations and cultures a general overview or map would have been extremely helpful. An epilogue that stated the rules and state of the world would have been a nice edition as well.
We have the Tomodanese who are a people who metalpact. They consider animal souls to be equal to human souls and therefore are vegetarians. They also consider all shadepacters to be barbarians for forcing an animal into “slavery”. This the country that at the beginning of the novel has conquered the rest of the areas? (Are they countries? Provinces? I don’t know) Apparently okay with mass genocide though.
Then there are the Sanbuna of the Sanbu Islands. They head the revolution that eventually overthrows the Steel empire and begins the steps towards a “peaceful” coexistence. They currently have their soldiers trying to escort and protect the Tomodanese Prince so he can ascend the throne in Tomoda and ally with Sanbu. Tala, the only survivor of this escort, ends up getting the Prince to Tomoda just to be treated like trash for saving herself from an assassin. This is where I dnfed. Sanbu also shadepact and eat meat. Costal area.
Shang empire. They are who rules before the Tomodanese. They have apparently 44 heirs to the White Crane Throne and every single heir is doing their best to impress the King so they can ascend the Shang throne. Long - term, they expect to reconquer everyone now that the Tomodanese are out of power. Xuilan is a princess trying to catch the Iron Prince with the help of a Jeongnese theif in order to become Queen and create peace instead of war. The Shang shade pact as a rite of passage into adulthood. jeongnese are treated as trash, gutter rats, with zero rights. They are not aloud to shade pact.
Dahali is another region that uses magic from the soul in raw form to enhance or disable the body. No shade pacting. Apparently an ally of all three nations and assist the highest bidder.
Ontop of all of this information dump in 200pgs (btw)
We have every possible real world "hot topic" and issue crammed into the story. We have racisms, genocide, war crimes, transexuals, bisexuals, lesbians, gays, straights, bigotry, human trafficking, religious intolerance, and I’m sure more I didn’t even get too.
For such a serious story, with serious topics the characters also acted like complete children. . . All of the different topics just made the writing feel disconnected and incoherent.
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
That was superbly atmospheric, and reminds me heavily of The Legend of Korra.
Set in a fictional, Asian inspired world, with four nations, all was peaceful until the fire nation atta....wait. Wrong intro.
The story takes place /after/ the war between countries (Inspired by Japan, China, Korea, Philippines, and I think India? Possibly others as well) is essentially over, and has a couple different plots going, with two separate pairs of people, all with baggage towards each other's countries. The aesthetics is solidly Jazz age, with firearms and automobiles.
In the end, the story is about learning to move past your prejudices and learn people for themselves. Moving through trauma to make a life for yourself again. And that in the atrocities of war, there's not really a "good guy" once you go past a certain point and attempt revenge.
The magical systems are fascinating, with the primary ones being metal bending (straight out of Korra), and Shade-Pacting (which reminded me of The Golden Compass). There is at least a third, but it isn't used by any of the MCs so goes into less detail.
Solidly and expressly Queer and Trans friendly.
I highly recommend it as a (standalone?) work of epic fantasy in an unusual setting. I think I may actually give this 5 stars...it sucked me in, was unusual, well written, and satisfying.
Pair with hot sake, tea, and Oriental Jazz age music--if you search Spotify, something comes up, at least for Chinese Jazz.
And I now need to make adobo.
[Cover of Steel Crow Saga by Paul Krueger. Black font on a swirly blue and white orb with animal figures on ]
Set in a fictional, Asian inspired world, with four nations, all was peaceful until the fire nation atta....wait. Wrong intro.
The story takes place /after/ the war between countries (Inspired by Japan, China, Korea, Philippines, and I think India? Possibly others as well) is essentially over, and has a couple different plots going, with two separate pairs of people, all with baggage towards each other's countries. The aesthetics is solidly Jazz age, with firearms and automobiles.
In the end, the story is about learning to move past your prejudices and learn people for themselves. Moving through trauma to make a life for yourself again. And that in the atrocities of war, there's not really a "good guy" once you go past a certain point and attempt revenge.
The magical systems are fascinating, with the primary ones being metal bending (straight out of Korra), and Shade-Pacting (which reminded me of The Golden Compass). There is at least a third, but it isn't used by any of the MCs so goes into less detail.
Solidly and expressly Queer and Trans friendly.
I highly recommend it as a (standalone?) work of epic fantasy in an unusual setting. I think I may actually give this 5 stars...it sucked me in, was unusual, well written, and satisfying.
Pair with hot sake, tea, and Oriental Jazz age music--if you search Spotify, something comes up, at least for Chinese Jazz.
And I now need to make adobo.
[Cover of Steel Crow Saga by Paul Krueger. Black font on a swirly blue and white orb with animal figures on ]
→3
Though this book wasn't perfect, it was a fun and quick read, and I'm happy that I picked it up!
Some of my favorite parts included:
-The characters! This book offered a great spread of different personalities, and I loved exploring everyone's different cultures and beliefs and watching them intersect as characters interacted with each other. Each character had a distinct voice as well, and I felt that they were all very well developed, with clear arcs throughout the narrative.
-On a similar note: I really enjoyed the relationships between characters (particularly the romances!) They felt both dynamic and natural, and they evolved in a way that made sense to me throughout the story without feeling unprompted or ridiculous.
-The dialogue is super snappy and witty, and it made me laugh out loud multiple times!
-Lots of LGBTQ+ rep! (Including multiple bisexual main characters, a f/f romance, and a trans side character)
-This is a standalone book (I think), and the ending does a nice job of tying up all of the loose character threads in a satisfying way. The ending felt logical and natural, and it also answered many of the lingering questions I had as I neared the end of the story. Alongside answering these questions and following through on character arcs, it also left a little loose space for reader interpretation—which is something I always enjoy—instead of tying everything into a tight little bow.
Some things I didn't like:
-Though I enjoyed the multiple POVs and exploring the differing perspectives/beliefs of the the main characters, I did feel like Dimangan's chapters were completely unnecessary. I felt that the themes they explored were already covered in Tala's chapters and didn't add much to the story. They also didn't appear as frequently as other characters' chapters, so it was always a little jarring to switch to a character I hadn't been following for a while. They didn't add much for me, and I much preferred reading about him and his relationship with Tala in her chapters rather than his own.
-The worldbuilding. Though I loved the world, the detail it was infused with, and the magic system, I felt that a lot of the worldbuilding was conveniently info-dumpy. Some scenes felt natural as characters explored and commented on new cultures and environments, while other scenes felt like they were simply tools to feed readers more about the world. Though the full immersion in this world was a lot of fun, the constant large chunks of information slowed the pace of the story considerably, particularly near the beginning
-I also didn't enjoy many of the plot twists/information reveals. This was due to the fact that many of the reveals were for the reader only, not the characters. When important information was revealed, it was often something that the POV character already knew and had been holding onto until the moment where it was conveniently pertinent to the plot. I found it frustrating when new information was shared in this way, especially if it was something the characters had known for a long time. This trend was particularly common in Tala's chapters, but popped up in other places as well.
Overall though, this was a fun book, and one that I'm glad that I took the time to read. If you enjoy Pokémon, ATLA, playful banter filled with animosity, or fantasy with multiple main perspectives, then I definitely recommend checking it out!
Though this book wasn't perfect, it was a fun and quick read, and I'm happy that I picked it up!
Some of my favorite parts included:
-The characters! This book offered a great spread of different personalities, and I loved exploring everyone's different cultures and beliefs and watching them intersect as characters interacted with each other. Each character had a distinct voice as well, and I felt that they were all very well developed, with clear arcs throughout the narrative.
-On a similar note: I really enjoyed the relationships between characters (particularly the romances!) They felt both dynamic and natural, and they evolved in a way that made sense to me throughout the story without feeling unprompted or ridiculous.
-The dialogue is super snappy and witty, and it made me laugh out loud multiple times!
-Lots of LGBTQ+ rep! (Including multiple bisexual main characters, a f/f romance, and a trans side character)
-This is a standalone book (I think), and the ending does a nice job of tying up all of the loose character threads in a satisfying way. The ending felt logical and natural, and it also answered many of the lingering questions I had as I neared the end of the story. Alongside answering these questions and following through on character arcs, it also left a little loose space for reader interpretation—which is something I always enjoy—instead of tying everything into a tight little bow.
Some things I didn't like:
-Though I enjoyed the multiple POVs and exploring the differing perspectives/beliefs of the the main characters, I did feel like Dimangan's chapters were completely unnecessary. I felt that the themes they explored were already covered in Tala's chapters and didn't add much to the story. They also didn't appear as frequently as other characters' chapters, so it was always a little jarring to switch to a character I hadn't been following for a while. They didn't add much for me, and I much preferred reading about him and his relationship with Tala in her chapters rather than his own.
-The worldbuilding. Though I loved the world, the detail it was infused with, and the magic system, I felt that a lot of the worldbuilding was conveniently info-dumpy. Some scenes felt natural as characters explored and commented on new cultures and environments, while other scenes felt like they were simply tools to feed readers more about the world. Though the full immersion in this world was a lot of fun, the constant large chunks of information slowed the pace of the story considerably, particularly near the beginning
-I also didn't enjoy many of the plot twists/information reveals. This was due to the fact that many of the reveals were for the reader only, not the characters. When important information was revealed, it was often something that the POV character already knew and had been holding onto until the moment where it was conveniently pertinent to the plot. I found it frustrating when new information was shared in this way, especially if it was something the characters had known for a long time. This trend was particularly common in Tala's chapters, but popped up in other places as well.
Overall though, this was a fun book, and one that I'm glad that I took the time to read. If you enjoy Pokémon, ATLA, playful banter filled with animosity, or fantasy with multiple main perspectives, then I definitely recommend checking it out!