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hedgebones 's review for:
Steel Crow Saga
by Paul Krueger
Holy shit. Without giving any spoilers, this is one of the best books I have read in a very long time. The perfect combination of fantasy, adventure, and anime, it is a beautifully written story about family, responsibility, and cultural identities. From the very first line, Paul Krueger expertly pulls you in and doesn't let you go, as it's almost impossible not to devour this novel as quickly as humanly possible. The characters are all perfectly and uniquely brought to life with vivid description and heart-wrenching insight not just into their roles in the book, but into who they are as people. And that there are LGBTQIA+ characters! Openly, blatantly, happily!
But the crowning achievement of this book is not just the characters, who I fell in love with immediately, but the incredible worldbuilding. The countries, unique enough to distinguish them and recognizable as their real-world influences (and on that, the fact that these countries are clearly Asian-inspired, instead of the boring ass whitebread medieval Western Europe that's been beaten to death in fantasy); the magic (the metal- and shadow-pacting, OH MY GOD); the food! But it's impossible not to recognize the imperialism, the colonialism, and the nationalism present in this story, and exactly how Krueger has expertly woven in the realities of it and the real life experiences of what people go through. There is an importance to this book that cannot be understated.
tl;dr : You won't find a better book if you're into anime, food, Asian-inspired fantasy worlds, and brutally honest looks at why accountability is not the same as forgiveness. This book is super important, Paul Krueger is an awesome guy, and we need to show the publishing world exactly why books like this should be supported and promoted
But the crowning achievement of this book is not just the characters, who I fell in love with immediately, but the incredible worldbuilding. The countries, unique enough to distinguish them and recognizable as their real-world influences (and on that, the fact that these countries are clearly Asian-inspired, instead of the boring ass whitebread medieval Western Europe that's been beaten to death in fantasy); the magic (the metal- and shadow-pacting, OH MY GOD); the food! But it's impossible not to recognize the imperialism, the colonialism, and the nationalism present in this story, and exactly how Krueger has expertly woven in the realities of it and the real life experiences of what people go through. There is an importance to this book that cannot be understated.
tl;dr : You won't find a better book if you're into anime, food, Asian-inspired fantasy worlds, and brutally honest looks at why accountability is not the same as forgiveness. This book is super important, Paul Krueger is an awesome guy, and we need to show the publishing world exactly why books like this should be supported and promoted