Book Review: Steel Crow Saga by Paul Krueger

Steel Crow Saga, by Paul Krueger, is a book I had added to my reading list as it was making the rounds as one of the best books of the past year. While I hadn't heard about the author previously, the idea that this blended influences from Pokemon and Avatar: The Last Airbender greatly intrigued me. It was also clear from the start that this was a very character-centric novel, as you can see from the blurb below.

Four destinies collide in a unique fantasy world of war and wonders, where empire is won with enchanted steel and magical animal companions fight alongside their masters in battle.
A soldier with a curse
Tala lost her family to the empress’s army and has spent her life avenging them in battle. But the empress’s crimes don’t haunt her half as much as the crimes Tala has committed against the laws of magic... and her own flesh and blood.
A prince with a debt
Jimuro has inherited the ashes of an empire. Now that the revolution has brought down his kingdom, he must depend on Tala to bring him home safe. But it was his army who murdered her family. Now Tala will be his redemption—or his downfall.
A detective with a grudge
Xiulan is an eccentric, pipe-smoking detective who can solve any mystery—but the biggest mystery of all is her true identity. She’s a princess in disguise, and she plans to secure her throne by presenting her father with the ultimate prize: the world’s most wanted prince.
A thief with a broken heart
Lee is a small-time criminal who lives by only one law: Leave them before they leave you. But when Princess Xiulan asks her to be her partner in crime—and offers her a magical animal companion as a reward—she can’t say no, and soon finds she doesn’t want to leave the princess behind.
This band of rogues and royals should all be enemies, but they unite for a common purpose: to defeat an unstoppable killer who defies the laws of magic. In this battle, they will forge unexpected bonds of friendship and love that will change their lives—and begin to change the world. 

Read on for my full spoiler-free review.

Overall Impression
This is an interesting book with what appears to be a mix of a lot of cool, outside influences. Whether intentional or not, it nevertheless tells a compelling narrative of four characters joined together for a common cause, despite their initial differences. While the setting is imaginative, it's actually eclipsed by how interesting the individual characters and their relationships are. The plot is also very well paced and very satisfying in its conclusion.

Plot
The plot is fairly straightforward, starting slow and reaching a satisfying crescendo near the end. The main drive of the novel is to get the new prince to the capital so he can become the new leader (the Steel Lord) and sign the peace treaty. However, there are so many twists and complications that arise and all the intervening factions that intervene that it becomes quite an adventure. Everyone wants something different and you kinda end up cheering for whoever the chapter is about.

One of the only faults, however, was some clumsy attempts at foreshadowing or reveals early on. Perhaps the author was trying to balance an info-dump with a surprise development, but it probably could have been handled better. It ended up being that characters are saying X or Y can never happen, followed immediately by the next chapter having X or Y happening. Later on there is some good foreshadowing that I only caught in hindsight, so it can be done, it was just a bit clumsy in a few parts. The end of the book, however, is well done with some really good developments, an epic conclusions, and a touching (if somewhat drawn out) epilogue.

Characters
There are four main characters in the book and we see the world through chapters told from each of their point of view. Tala is a soldier, capable but hard on herself and struggling with her own demons; Jimuro is a prince, arrogant and sheltered but about to come to face with the harsh realities of the world; Xiulan is a princess and investigator, obsessed with detective novels and with working her way up in the line of succession; Lee is a thief, shunned for her heritage yet given another chance at making a new life for herself. Each of the characters is pretty interesting in their own right, but it's when they come together that you see some neat interactions and growth. I like them all, but probably my favorite of them is Xiulan for her dialogue and how she constantly refers to her novels.

Setting / World Building
This book has a very intricate setting borrowing somewhat from other influences (Pokemon and Avatar are referred to by many readers). While the world is fictional, parts of it feel drawn from real-world history. The main nation, Tomoda, is clearly Japan, while Shang is China and Jeongson is Korea. The others I'm less sure of. I originally thought Sanbu was meant to represent Hawai'i (which I was visiting at the moment I started this book), but then I realized it was instead the Philippines. The technologically crafty Dahali I believe may represent India. Regardless of the real-world counterparts, the setting revolves around the defeat of the Tomodanese empire and the restructuring happening as all these nations want both revenge and stability. It's also interesting to note that this is a very modern setting- there are trains and cars and guns, though not quite present-day as they don't have cellphones or airplanes.

In addition to all the politics, there is a lot of magic involved. The Tomodanese can metalpact, which means they can control metal in some fashion. Usually they use this to improve their aim or have swords that cut and burn, but they also have more practical applications- their cards effectively have no engines being powered in some fashion by metalpacting. The Shang and Sanbuna have shadepacting, which means they choose a single animal that they bond with and can summon as a mighty beast whenever they need to. The Dahali have some other form of magic with pure energy that we get to see glimpses of to. Most of the book, though, focuses on the details behind shadepacting which is why it's frequently compared to Pokemon.

Final Thoughts
This was a great book that was very fun to read. Very lively characters and engaging plot all set in a refreshing fantasy setting that breaks from the European tropes. The magic was exciting, yet not overbearing- at the end of the day the story is about the relationship between the four main characters and how that ties to the greater geopolitical struggles they find themselves in. The novel also wraps up very neatly making this a good standalone book, though I wouldn't mind reading other stories set in this world!