Take a photo of a barcode or cover
valkyrisms 's review for:
Steel Crow Saga
by Paul Krueger
The review that got me interested in this book was: "A love letter to adventure anime." And it was so right. This was definitely an adult book (I see it recced as YA a lot, which?), but it brought back a lot of what I loved about watching anime and cartoons as a kid: the larger-than-life characters, the immense magical powers, and the great settings. I'm not the only one to liken it to Avatar: The Last Airbender or Pokemon, but really those are the two most accurate comparisons, and because they are two massive phenomenons that have imprinted themselves on our cultural consciousness, Steel Crow Saga feels like coming home.
Paul Krueger has done such a great job creating a three-dimensional world, heavily inspired by Asia and its various cultures. Each kingdom in this book has a detailed history, with each of them having a detailed language, culture, and type of magical ability. The novel deals a lot with post-war fallout between countries, and how nations can begin to rebuild themselves after being destroyed, and with this theme comes a conversation about international and individual forgiveness. The novel revolved entirely around breaking the cycle of abuse and choosing to be better than ones forebearers, and when our characters include a prince and a soldier, this theme can have resounding consequences. The Asian-inspired fantasy also has a great queer cast, with a f/f romance that is written with so much love its impossible not to root for the unlikely couple.
My only issue with the book is that is feels like its much longer than it needs to be. There are admittedly four different POVs that all need development, but the beginning of the novel feels like it took a really long time to find its footing. Once things got going, it was fine, but you do have to wait for the payoff a little longer than was probably necessary. But the ending is definitely worth it.
Much thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a digital copy of this book.
Paul Krueger has done such a great job creating a three-dimensional world, heavily inspired by Asia and its various cultures. Each kingdom in this book has a detailed history, with each of them having a detailed language, culture, and type of magical ability. The novel deals a lot with post-war fallout between countries, and how nations can begin to rebuild themselves after being destroyed, and with this theme comes a conversation about international and individual forgiveness. The novel revolved entirely around breaking the cycle of abuse and choosing to be better than ones forebearers, and when our characters include a prince and a soldier, this theme can have resounding consequences. The Asian-inspired fantasy also has a great queer cast, with a f/f romance that is written with so much love its impossible not to root for the unlikely couple.
My only issue with the book is that is feels like its much longer than it needs to be. There are admittedly four different POVs that all need development, but the beginning of the novel feels like it took a really long time to find its footing. Once things got going, it was fine, but you do have to wait for the payoff a little longer than was probably necessary. But the ending is definitely worth it.
Much thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a digital copy of this book.