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Steel Crow Saga

(Steel Crow Saga #1)

Paul Krueger (Goodreads Author)

4.21 · Rating details · 1,333 ratings · 419 reviews

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 ...more

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Paperback, 528 pages

Published September 24th 2019 by Del Rey Books

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Average rating 4.21 ·

Rating details

· 1,333 ratings · 419 reviews

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Nov 05, 2019 Petrik rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Anime/Asian-inspired fantasy

Shelves: favorites, owned-ebooks, arcs-and-review-copies

ARC provided by the publisher—Gollancz—in exchange for an honest review.

4.5/5 stars

Multi-cultural, diverse characters & superbly character-driven narrative; Steel Crow Saga is a brilliant Asian/anime-inspired fantasy.

As an Asian who loves watching anime and reading mangas and SFF novels, Steel Crow Saga is a novel that felt as if it was written for me. Steel Crow Saga has been published for more than a month now, and I feel like I’ve sinned—Sloth—for postponing reading this book. Full Metal ...more

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May 29, 2019 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, netgalley-all, fantasy-all

This effing book broke me in half and made me soar!!

Just when I’m down about reading, I find a freaking gem! This book is like nothing I have ever read before and it gave me all of the feels!!

I love every single one of these characters immensely!

What reeled me in from the summary was the animal stuff. I mean those who know me could have figured that one out! But there is so much more to this story and it ripped my heart out.

The book is about family, war, vengeance, bonding with animals and ...more

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Sep 06, 2019 jessica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

pierce brown tweeted about this book, and his word is law as far as i am concerned, so i went and tracked down a copy as fast as i could. and you should, too!

many reviews are saying this story is pokemon meets avatar: the last airbender. and as i read this, i could sort of see where they got that idea, but i dont think really think the similarities are strong enough to pitch this story as such. this is wildly imaginative in its own right and hard to compare to anything else. its unique and quite ...more

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Aug 29, 2019 Zainab added it · review of another edition

Shelves: dnf

ARC provided by netgalley

Okay it's not bad but it's gotten extremely boring and I can't read any further. The starts great and all and I'm sure loads of you will enjoy it.
Maybe I'd try it some other time.

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Nov 23, 2019 Umairah | Sereadipity rated it it was amazing

Plot: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Writing: 5/5

Steel Crow Saga was an Asian-inspired standalone fantasy (also influenced by anime) with intricate world building and a well developed cast of characters that captured my heart. It was truly an unforgettable and worthwhile read.

Many fantasy novels focus on the events leading up to and during a great war but this book was all about the aftermath of a war. The countries Sanbuna, Shang and Dahal had revolted against the colonising power of Tomoda but there was ...more

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Aug 08, 2019 c, (½ of readsrainbow) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites, i-put-the-b-in-lgbt, let-s-talk-diversity, magic-and-fantasy, adult-lit, favourite-characters, lgbt, non-white-characters, 5-stars, aoc-et-al

If my people run from the horror of what we’ve done, in time we would forget. And if we forget, we might one day do it again. Your peoples do not have the luxury of forgetting how you’ve suffered.

On my blog.

Rep: Asian inspired characters and settings (China, Japan, and I think India, Philippines & Korea maybe), female and male bi mcs, lesbian mc, gay side character (fairly major), mlm trans side character (fairly major)

Galley provided by publisher

This is probably the best book I have ...more

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Aug 20, 2019 Alexa rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2019

ARC received from the publisher via Netgalley | Buddy read with my friend Melanie!

I had high hopes for Steel Crow Saga, considering the things I’d heard about it prior to picking it up, and I’m happy to be able to say that I really enjoyed it! This novel takes on the task of narrating the stories of four different individuals: a princess determined to earn her place as heir to the throne, a thief given a second chance, an exiled prince returning to claim his place on the throne, and a military ARC received from the publisher via Netgalley | Buddy read with my friend Melanie!

I had high hopes for Steel Crow Saga, considering the things I’d heard about it prior to picking it up, and I’m happy to be able to say that I really enjoyed it! This novel takes on the task of narrating the stories of four different individuals: a princess determined to earn her place as heir to the throne, a thief given a second chance, an exiled prince returning to claim his place on the throne, and a military sergeant tasked with the protection of said prince. Even though I tend to be partial to ensemble casts, it’s an undeniably difficult task for an author to juggle the multiple storylines and to alternate narrative voices in a way that is specific enough to be easy for readers to remember. Paul Krueger successfully accomplished this here, highlighting the individual experiences of Tala, Jimuro, Xiulan and Lee in a way that made it easy to tell them apart and giving them stakes and obstacles that kept me invested in all their stories. It helps that they happen to be a diverse bunch, both in terms of race, gender and sexuality (which also applies to the secondary characters).

Apart from the strength of his character portrayals, Krueger also manages to bring an extremely interesting world to life from the magical lore to the complex political ties between the countries (including the effects of colonization and revolution, which I found particularly interesting). He also succeeds in weaving together a series of plots and tropes that will be fun for any reader but will be particularly recognizable for any anime fans (and his storytelling is very much like that of a shonen anime too).

Honestly, I had so much fun devouring Steel Crow Saga and would certainly recommend adding it to your TBRs! (I also want to throw in that I particularly feel like if you enjoyed Fullmetal Alchemist, you might really like this, as there were elements and themes that reminded me of it.)

Blog | YouTube | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook ...more

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Aug 15, 2019 ☾ h a d e e r ☽ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2019, favorites

Hats off to what is one of the best books I've read all year. Let me tell you: I've been in a really weird slump where I'm reading things and kind of enjoying them but not really loving anything, and then came along this book. Not to be dramatic, but it literally reminded me why I love reading. There are some books you can sink into with such relish that you forget you're reading, and you're just along for the ride. Steel Crow Saga is that book.

plot & pacing

I was hooked from the very ...more

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Sep 27, 2019 TheBookSmugglers rated it it was amazing

ONE MILLION STARS

This book is so good, I am just sitting here quietly crying because it is over and I don't have more pages with these characters. THESE LOVABLE FOOLS.

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Sep 03, 2019 Sahitya rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy-and-scifi, lgbtqiap, 2019-read, 4-star

A solid 4.5 in my opinion but slightly fell short of a 5.

I don’t think I even knew about this book until about a month ago. I think stumbled upon it by accident in someone’s blogpost about upcoming Asian inspired fantasy releases, and I was immediately fascinated. And while it took me a bit to immerse myself in it, I am so glad to have discovered this book and gotten hold of the ARC.

The world building is one aspect that impressed me a lot. As the author is Filipino-American, I was expecting some A solid 4.5 in my opinion but slightly fell short of a 5.

I don’t think I even knew about this book until about a month ago. I think stumbled upon it by accident in someone’s blogpost about upcoming Asian inspired fantasy releases, and I was immediately fascinated. And while it took me a bit to immerse myself in it, I am so glad to have discovered this book and gotten hold of the ARC.

The world building is one aspect that impressed me a lot. As the author is Filipino-American, I was expecting some inspiration from his country and their culture, but I was pleasantly surprised to realize that each of the kingdom present in this book is drawn from a different Asian country, and it’s developed so well that we are able to distinguish them pretty well. I particularly loved that one of them was based on India but it’s also the one kingdom which is least talked about in the book, so I kept wishing for more.

The other interesting aspect of this world is the pacting (or their version of magic). The people of Sanbuna and Shang are capable of shadepacting with animals - which is like forming a soul bond with an animal’s shade and then being able to call upon their familiar to fight alongside them. The Tomodanese on the other hand pact with metals, which helps them in controlling their weapons or using it to power their vehicles. The people of Dahal use their power internally to enhance their personal capabilities. Jeongsonese are the oppressed minority who are capable of pacting but have always been denied the right to gain the knowledge to do so. This distinction between the use of magic across various kingdoms is very helpful in developing differing motivations for each of them, letting us as readers experience varying perspectives and probably finding our own favorites.

The writing style of this novel was also slightly different from what I’m used to but I’m unable to articulate exactly how that was. It is very introspective and we are subjected to many inner monologues of the characters - which I really enjoyed for the most part and helped me understand them better and invest in their development - but it also got long winded at times and may have contributed to the size of the book. I’m usually not a fan of dense writing, so the descriptive writing style should have put me off but I kinda enjoyed it and it made the settings feel more real. The main theme of the book is colonialism but despite the dark themes, there is also a very humorous undertone in the writing. The pacing is also a little slow throughout but it is relentless, with things changing quickly and the characters having to adapt and evolve all the time. This is also essentially a quest/ journey novel and those seem to be my thing this year, so it’s not a surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed this journey with the characters. And the best part was that the author managed to give very distinct voices to each of them, so we are never confused about whose POV we are reading. I’m currently unsure if this is a standalone or a series, but the author did a wonderful job ending it very satisfactorily, so I’m happy if this the actual end; but there are also multiple threads that can be pursued to further this story and I would be delighted to jump into this world all over again.

The characters are definitely the best and my most favorite part of this book, but I don’t wanna talk about them much. I think the beauty of this book is in discovering the various layers of each character and realizing what lays at the core of them. One thing common between all the POV characters is that they are real, flawed, pretty morally grey, not immune from being prejudiced and treating those different from them in a vile manner - but all of them go through a journey of unlearning all the wrong things, understanding others’ perspectives and building relationships with unlikely people. I felt very invested in knowing where the characters were going and what they might do next, so I never wanted to put the book down even though it was all a bit slow going. The characters do fall into familiar fantasy tropes like a grumpy soldier, an arrogant prince, a Sherlock inspired detective type character and a petty thief who gets roped into working for the other side - so it can feel a little predictable, but I enjoyed this slight predictability but also felt highly satisfied with the way things turned out for each of them.

Though the author chose not to be very subtle in discussing some important themes, it didn’t in anyway lessen the impact of what was being told through the story. The impact of colonialism is very brutally described, along with the blatant disingenuous reasons that power hungry nations can come up with to colonize and occupy another country. It’s very evident that whatever noble the initial intentions may have been, the reality of occupation is always ugly. But the most important point that I think the author tried to make was that even if the colonizer is defeated by a revolution, war always brings out worst impulses and it doesn’t take much for the oppressed to turn into an oppressor. The nature of war and it’s impact on soldiers, and the utter lack of direction and purpose that they might feel during peace time is also deftly talked about.

I also loved how the author decided to give equal weight to all kinds of relationships. The importance of family and sibling bonds, and how losing them can have far reaching consequences forms an important part of the character’s choices and the kind of people they turn out to be. I also enjoyed the way human/animal bonds are shown - while some people can truly treat their familiars as slaves and impose their will upon them, others form bonds based on mutual respect and it was wonderful of the author to show us both perspectives. The book is also very queer and I loved how normalized it was in this world. It was lovely to see lesbian, gay, bi and trans characters all be able to be their true selves without any judgement.

I guess I’ve gone on long enough in this review. Basically, all I want to say is I really really enjoyed this book a lot and I’m glad I got this opportunity to discover a new to me Asian author. As it has been marketed, if you like anime or Pokémon or are a fan of Fullmetal Alchemist, then this book might be for you, but I can’t vouch for it because I know nothing about them. However, if you do love reading about an ensemble cast of characters going on a physical (as well as metaphorical) journey to discover some hard truths about the world and find themselves changing accordingly, then this might be the perfect book for you. It also works very well as a standalone, so you should definitely give this a try if you aren’t ready to invest your time in a new series. ...more

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Jan 18, 2019 ♡ Dakota ♡ (Sarcasm is my middle name) marked it as to-read

Shelves: diversity, 2019-new-releases, fantasy, historical-fiction, kingdoms-and-royals

This sounds like an Asian Six of Crows and even though I haven’t read Six of Crows(put your pitchforks away) this books sounds like it will be amazing.

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Aug 29, 2019 Sarah rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, net-galley

I have to say- I was a little disappointed with this. I’ll be up front and say that the premise: Pokemon meets Airbender, is in no way my thing- so your mileage may vary. In my defense I didn’t see it marketed that way until well after I started reading it, but the comparison is legitimate enough, and the Pokemon part was a lot of fun.

However I couldn’t shake the feeling that the motivations for these characters and their countries didn’t always make sense. When the book starts we are with I have to say- I was a little disappointed with this. I’ll be up front and say that the premise: Pokemon meets Airbender, is in no way my thing- so your mileage may vary. In my defense I didn’t see it marketed that way until well after I started reading it, but the comparison is legitimate enough, and the Pokemon part was a lot of fun.

However I couldn’t shake the feeling that the motivations for these characters and their countries didn’t always make sense. When the book starts we are with Dimangan and Tala, observing them as children running errands in the market. While there, they see the prince of the Tomodanese people jetting through the streets. The Tomodanese people occupy Sanbuna by force, and the prince’s presence in the street starts a riot.

The problem is: the Tomodanese view the Sanbuna and their shades (think Pokemon) as slavers and slaves respectively. The Tomodanese don’t eat meat and they don’t believe in utilizing animals for human benefit. Basically, they are PETA.

And of course, the Sanbuna don’t view it that way. The pact between them and their shades is an agreement, with give and take, not slavery. (They do eat meat though…) Cultural views on animals aside, obviously the Sanbuna are angry at the attempted colonization and occupation of their country.

Anyway- now that we’ve got that straightened out, what I don’t understand is what the other two cultures we are introduced to have anything to do with it. There are also the Shang, and the Jeongsonese. All of which seem to be against the Tomodanese, and then to top it off, the Shang, Sanbuna, and Tomodanese all look down upon the Jeongsonese, despite the fact that they don’t seem to have done anything.

Sound complex? It is. And I’m okay with complex.. but without knowing the motivations of the other two countries involved I wasn’t sure why the author felt the need to include them. It seemed needlessly complex and without knowing the reasoning behind it I couldn’t help but feel like it was added to give the world building an illusion of depth.

Does that sort of thing happen in real life? Yes. Of course. Is it right? Of course not. But I couldn’t help feeling throughout like Lee and Xiulan’s story really would have been better dedicated to a different plot and a different book, and being given the time it needed to establish how these cultures all fit together.

The characters aren’t terrible, but occasionally felt like cartoons and caricatures. Xiulan runs around in an all white suit, calls herself the “White Rat,” wears a fedora and smokes a pipe in an endless to homage to her childhood hero, a detective from a book, Bai Junjie. Lee is a morally grey thief character, rogue archetype. She’s always imagining how it would feel to pick so-and-so’s pocket, or slip a lock or infiltrate a palace. I guess my issue is they came off as very one note.

And to top it off… this book is long. Way too long. I think if it had been trimmed down to 300 pages and strictly followed Tala and Jimuro’s story, we’d have had a tightly paced plot with world building that didn’t feel flimsy and a truly unique take on fantasy. Lee and Xiulan’s parts in the story could easily have been removed without effecting the overall plot and end result.

But I don’t have all negative things to say about it. There is LGBT+ representation. The f/f romance actually felt much stronger and sweeter than the m/f romance. At least one of the main characters is bisexual, and there is a transgender side character. And it was all done without any of them being shunned or feeling ashamed.

And despite me not necessarily loving Pokemon or Airbender, I have to say, imagining the battle field running rampant with magical, mutated-animal creatures was lots of fun. Overall not a bad book that I think other readers will find more joy in than I did.

Steel Crow Saga releases on September 24th. Thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for providing an eARC for review.

...more

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Aug 15, 2019 ;3 rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, audiobooks, not-ya, lgbt

3.5

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Jun 22, 2019 Amber rated it it was ok

Shelves: advanced-reading-copies, high-fantasy, read-in-2019

The first major takeaway I have about Steel Crow Saga is that it’s unnecessarily long.

To steal a phrasing from one of the characters, it was a long walk to a very anime battle scene.

The way this book is written falls into very detailed descriptions. There’s not a lot of room for the reader’s imagination in way characters think, feel, or how the world works. Steel Crow Saga is written from four perspectives and by the time you reach the end of the book, you know pretty well how each of them The first major takeaway I have about Steel Crow Saga is that it’s unnecessarily long.

To steal a phrasing from one of the characters, it was a long walk to a very anime battle scene.

The way this book is written falls into very detailed descriptions. There’s not a lot of room for the reader’s imagination in way characters think, feel, or how the world works. Steel Crow Saga is written from four perspectives and by the time you reach the end of the book, you know pretty well how each of them thinks, multiple stories from their past, how they feel about their families, and their personal moral compasses. Regardless of how each flashback relates (or doesn’t) to the story… it’s all there. The wordiness in the writing style doubled with all this fleshing out made this a bit of a boring read for me.

Behind the author’s particular style, there’s a uniqueness to this book. Steel Crow Saga definitely draws inspiration from anime, and that’s something you don’t see in your casual epic fantasy. The way character should-bind to their familiars (called “shades”) feels very similar to the anime fantasy relationship between heroes and their swords. The relationship between human and shade reminds me of a watered down, more mutually beneficial version of Naruto’s relationship with the nine-tailed fox demon trapped inside him.

Like I said, very anime.

And for that, I have to apologize, because anime really isn’t my thing. It’s my husband’s thing and my familiarity of it is limited to the bits and pieces of what I’ve seen of his playlists. Maybe Naruto isn’t the best choice, but that’s what I’ve got in my repertoire. As I said, it’s a style I haven’t seen before in this format and I respect that uniqueness, but I also have to acknowledge that for all the sappiness and drama and grand gestures, it’s not the style I personally prefer.

The plot itself took the scenic route, with a lot of partner-swapping and sidetracked conversations to give a better idea of the political climate and the various character backgrounds. This may all play into the series plot, but there was some much time between plot sequences that I honestly forgot what the point of the whole thing was about halfway through. Then, fortunately, the villain made a quick appearance somewhere in the 300s and reminded me.

In as far as the characters go, they were all developed and interesting enough in their own accord, but now that I’ve finished, I don’t think I was able to connect with them closely enough that they’ll stay with me now that I’ve finished. I never felt an emotional connection to the characters, who spent a lot of time in discussion and and flat inner monologues. Even the relationship between Lee and Xiulan felt forced and awkward.

The character I liked best was Tala. Even though she was a sergeant, Tala had the most emotion and it was easiest to care about what her character thought and felt. Her actions didn’t always make sense, but she was the driving force that pushed me through some of the rougher bits; this is the advantage to a book with multiple POVs.

There was one scene with Xiulan that stood out to me. It’s made abundantly clear throughout the book that Xiulan had some horrible, traumatic experience with mushrooms (explained near the end). At one point, Xiulan finds herself in a refrigerator essentially being mocked by a box of mushrooms and I’m not sure quite why, but the scene was a bit hilarious. The writing was on point there and I really liked that scene. I don’t want to say more about it and risk spoilers, but look out for the box of MUSHROOMS, y’all.

I think this book would be more memorable to me, personally, if it had been trimmed down by at least 150 pages and condensed more effectively. However, as it stands, I think there will be an audience for this kind of writing. I’ve heard a few people excited for Steel Crow Saga, and I hope these people love it! Unfortunately, it just wasn’t a fit for me and I won’t be continuing the series. ...more

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Nov 02, 2019 Clephiro rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites, fantasy, lgbtq, best-of-2019

Not the book I planned on reading at all, but one I'm super happy I did.

Steel Crow Saga definitely drew it's inspiration from Avatar: The Last Airbender. If not, then they definitely drew from similar sources, because as much as the material in Steel Crow Saga is darker, it still seems very reminiscent of Avatar.

I loved the characters, loved the setting, loved the book. I think that maybe there could have been some pacing adjustments near the end, just because I would have liked some more detail ...more

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May 29, 2019 Beth rated it liked it

Shelves: kindle, own, netgalley, random-house, ballantine, del-rey, september-2019

Meh, I struggled with this one. Another reviewer said it perfectly, beautiful written but it just went on and on. I found 1 page that caught my attention in about every 20 pages. Can you have too much, yup it was just way too much unnecessary stuff for me.

I received Steel Crow Saga from Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine - Del Rey. This is my honest and voluntary review. < b>Steel Crow Saga is set for publication September 24, 2019.

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Oct 20, 2019 Shealea rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: personal-biases, authored-by-filipino, has-filipino-rep, has-asian-rep, books-with-diversity, owned-physical-copy, has-lgbtqiap, has-poc, 1-highest-recommendation

Hello, this book made me cry a total of three times and I have yet to recover. But know that this is a new favorite of mine, and it has earned a special place in my fragile reader heart. Full review to follow.

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May 19, 2019 Emily added it

anime as fuck

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Oct 24, 2019 Liz rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, netgalley

Well, this was mind-blowingly good 500+ pages of extraordinary characters, non-stop action and intrigue. These are the kind of books readers want to crack open – filled with rich cultures, a bit of (supposedly) anime-like magic, with a good helping of political history and intrigue to keep the conflict interesting! I am not a fan of anime myself but many reviews mention anime so I will take their word on it… The whole experience, indeed, felt rather enchanted!

It’s the nature of life to gift us

Well, this was mind-blowingly good 🙂 500+ pages of extraordinary characters, non-stop action and intrigue. These are the kind of books readers want to crack open – filled with rich cultures, a bit of (supposedly) anime-like magic, with a good helping of political history and intrigue to keep the conflict interesting! I am not a fan of anime myself but many reviews mention anime so I will take their word on it… The whole experience, indeed, felt rather enchanted!

It’s the nature of life to gift us with clarity on the lives of others, while clouding our perception of our own.

Steel Crow Saga doesn’t slow down in pace, doesn’t make you sit through intense episodes of infodumps, doesn’t bore with dull characters. I mean, did you read the blurb? Sounds good, right? And it is! It’s a proper entertaining book; one filled with above-mentioned cultures of rich detail and bloody history. Animal familiars and epic fight scenes.

So, what is it really about? It’s about the usual ‘chafing’ in between countries and cultures and races. It’s about past crimes bleeding into present day… I can relate to that, every country can relate to that- their people being oppressed by another country for the sake of land and riches is something that will carry and echo through generations. At some point, however, the hate will have to turn into forgiveness. Or we’ll all end up blind, if you get my gist. It is such that 4 characters who by the preset norm should hate each other, end up coming together to defeat a common evil.

But the book is not just this big mission of setting aside cultural differences and beliefs for a better future.. there is more to the story than an adventurous journey from A to B, there’s the character development towards becoming – (I can’t believe I’m saying this!) – woke, that adds an extra layer of conflict and internal battles. It’s wonderful! The way Krueger has pulled all of what and who is interesting together and made each element bounce off each other in perfect harmony. It must have been complex to write about maneuvering the future of peoples whilst each character has their own ambitions and own hearts to take care of at the same time. It must have been difficult to write, but it pays off. Reading it is simply an enjoyment!

Steel Crow Saga will plate up relationships aplenty! F/f and m/f, incredible bonds in between human and animal by shadepacting, whilst putting to the test matters of loyalty and questioning authority. There’s a bit of magic involved in this story anyway, but the magic you feel as a reader- you’re just in tune with the story. When the fight scenes come to life in front of your eyes? Winning! When there’s heart and humour and grumpiness and character? Winning! When there’s a new, rich world opening up to you? Winning!

With this first instalment, a great job has been done with completely shaking the pieces off the chessboard to realign the status quo. One can only wonder and wait for the next stage for our lovable characters! ...more

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Feb 05, 2020 anna (½ of readsrainbow) rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1-fantasy, 2-lgbt, 2-sapphic, 2-mlm, 2-authors-of-color, 2-protags-of-color, 2-sff-non-western-world, 2-bi-pan-protags, 5-adult-lit, pub-2019

rep: Asian-coded characters and settings (China, Japan, Philippines, Korea & India), two bi mcs (female and male), lesbian mc, gay side character (major), mlm trans side character (major)

u know im gonna love a fantasy book if there's no homophobia in the world

main point tho, nice commentary on colonialism & occupation u have there

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Dec 23, 2019 Andrew rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A mix of pokemon and historical fiction

Absolutely loved this. Recommend it to anyone with a fondness for Pokemon, metalbending, and fantasy analogues to Asian cultures. There's a solid mix of politics, action, and comedy in here, as well as a couple solid twists.

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Oct 01, 2019 Adah Udechukwu rated it it was amazing

Steel Crow Saga is interesting. I like how all the awesome is compressed into a single novel. I am glad the novel is not a series. I love the novel how it is.

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Sep 19, 2019 Acqua marked it as dnf-lost-interest · review of another edition

“Pokémon, but make it ugly”
― this book, probably

DNF. The reason pretty much boils down to "life is too short to read boring books" and the fact that I just spent the first half of September reading a book I found boring hoping that it would get better, and it did not, so I'm not doing this again. Most of my feelings about this book were puzzlement about its choices in aesthetics and character design, so this didn't bode well anyway.
I am shallow, but I usually have something to say about the ...more

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Feb 07, 2020 amy ☂︎ marked it as to-read

“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.”

only one question: why the FUCK am i not holding this book in my hands right now

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Sep 18, 2019 Hiu Gregg rated it really liked it · review of another edition

You want action? This book has that. You want magical animal companions? This book has that. You want colourful characters that compliment and clash against each other? You guessed it, this book has that.

Much has been made about just how “anime” Steel Crow Saga is, and honestly, I can’t really dispute that claim. I’m not much of an anime fan myself (beyond enjoying Fullmetal Alchemist) but I am a fan of how Paul Krueger manages to pull from those influences to create an engaging and exciting You want action? This book has that. You want magical animal companions? This book has that. You want colourful characters that compliment and clash against each other? You guessed it, this book has that.

Much has been made about just how “anime” Steel Crow Saga is, and honestly, I can’t really dispute that claim. I’m not much of an anime fan myself (beyond enjoying Fullmetal Alchemist) but I am a fan of how Paul Krueger manages to pull from those influences to create an engaging and exciting story that stands apart from the books I’ve read before.

I love books that are unashamedly themselves. Those that celebrate their tropes and revel in them. So while I did admittedly find some of the dialogue to be a little cheesy, or some of the character’s reactions to be a little melodramatic at times, I didn’t really mind. Steel Crow Saga is proud of what it is, and what it is… is really fun.

And not “fun” in that damning-with-faint-praise kind of way. I mean this book is a riot. The characters are vibrant and full of personality and pain and longing. The world is modern, but imbued with a sense of magic and complexity that keeps you reading just on the off-chance that you might learn more about it. Steel Crow Saga may be fun, but that doesn’t mean that it’s simple. It goes into a pretty in-depth exploration of the effects of colonialism on people adjacent to it, for one thing.

And this, of course, ties into the characters. The blurb copied above does a great job of introducing them, but I want to comment on just how much I enjoyed how the history of the world, and each character’s individual background, ties into their worldviews. From the prince that doesn’t want to be a slave to his people’s colonialist past, to the impoverished thief trying to get over her innate distrust of her oppressors, to someone simply wanting to stand up for themselves against their family.

Krueger is wonderful at crafting these characters that are deserving of sympathy. You want to see them succeed, all of them.

But the catch there is that, a lot of the time, these characters are on opposite sides.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a big bad. But the complexities of the world mean that it isn’t as simple as just teaming up to fight a Pokemon battle against Team Rocket. There are politics and feelings and all sorts of other stuff in the way.

I love it when a world is that complex. But what I really loved about Steel Crow Saga is that it achieved that complexity without sacrificing its sense of wonder. The magic here feels magic. Whether that comes in the form of someone who can shape metal, or someone who can summon a giant animal to fight for them.

Steel Crow Saga is a book that will appeal to a lot of people. There are lots of high-action scenes, plenty of heart-to-heart moments between characters, and a whole lot of magic. There is so much more to this book than I’ve touched on, but honestly it’s a book best experienced for yourself. If you’re strongly opposed to a little bit of cheesiness, I’d maybe look elsewhere. But if you aren’t, and if anything else I’ve said sounds up your alley, I really think you’ll enjoy this one. ...more

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Aug 21, 2019 Silvia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ff-romance, favorite, pride-recs, rep-trans, rep-bi, own-audiobook, mf-romance, fffeb

WHAT THE FUCK THIS IS MY NEW FAVORITE

I'll be back with Thoughts but in the meantime please trust me and read it

(Okay I'll say this: f/f relationship!! queer m/f relationship!! ownvoices Asian inspired fantasy!!! pokemon-like battles!!!)

Pokémon + Avatar the Last Airbender + queer?? Hell yeah ...more

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Dec 18, 2018 Katherine Locke rated it it was amazing

I read this book as a beta reader and I am OBSESSED. It is so, so good. This fresh inventive world full of complex, fully realized characters. It made me laugh, it broke my heart, it mended it back together again. I can't wait for you all to get your hands on this.

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Dec 02, 2019 Travis rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Steel Crow Saga is a terrific book that balances plot driven and character driven elements really really well. Also the Steel Crow Saga is literally a book that speaks to my inner soul. It is stocked with all my favorite tropes and elements that I love from a high fantasy story. I also really enjoy that even though there are hints of this being a series that Steel Crow Saga is in fact a self contained story. It does a wonderful job wrapping up the plot and all the characters have a clear and ...more

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Sep 27, 2019 Cindy ✩☽ Savage Queen ♔ rated it liked it

Shelves: netgalley, arc, asian-protagonist, lgbt

An interesting start...

There are some who will absolutely love this fantasy. Sadly, I am not one of them. And while I appreciate the tribute to the multitudes of Asian culture, something felt missing to me.

*Full review to come*

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Aug 30, 2019 Maddie rated it really liked it

Shelves: advanced-reader-copies

Steel Crow Saga -4/5 Stars
I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

Steel Crow Saga is a gorgeous novel that follows a cast of five incredibly well-developed characters living inside a politically chaotic fantasy world. That was a lot of words in one sentence.

Basically, this book was everything I love. It was so character-driven, providing amazing development, riveting backstory, and great banter. It also focused heavily on politics and the various, Steel Crow Saga -4/5 Stars
I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

Steel Crow Saga is a gorgeous novel that follows a cast of five incredibly well-developed characters living inside a politically chaotic fantasy world. That was a lot of words in one sentence.

Basically, this book was everything I love. It was so character-driven, providing amazing development, riveting backstory, and great banter. It also focused heavily on politics and the various, opposing cultures that make up this Asian-inspired fantasy world. The world-building was so well done, especially seeing as it was so complex. Throughout the course of the book, you'll find yourself wholly immersed into the world, its customs, and its cultures.

This book also has so much representation, and I'm not talking about the token side characters we're so used to seeing in fantasy novels. The cast of Steel Crow Saga is incredibly diverse, featuring gay, lesbian, bi, and trans characters--many of which are MAIN characters.

It's very evident that this book uses tropes popularized by anime. For example, the magic system has many resemblances to popular animes like Fullmetal Alchemist and Pokemon. I was not surprised to find out that the author has publicly cited those two shows as inspiration for his work on social media. Basically, if you're a big anime fan, you'll probably enjoy this one. If not, I don't think it's a problem. I'm somewhere in the middle, and I really liked the book.

The characters were definitely what made me love Steel Crow Saga, though. While the plot slowed down at times, my investment in them carried me through to the end. Dimangan, Tala, Jimuro, Lee, and Xiulian were fascinating to read about, and I loved their interactions with one another. One of my favorite things is when books force characters from clashing cultures to interact and settle their differences, and this one definitely did that. I also really enjoyed the author's focus on how war had affected people of different ranks in this world--from thieves to soldiers to royalty.

Oh, and the few romantic scenes that we did get were SO cute. I'm really hoping for a sequel that gives us more of that.

My big issue with the book was pacing. The plot did really slow down at times. I also didn't feel that the antagonistic "threats" were ever threatening enough. This takes place in a dangerous fantasy world; the stakes could've been WAY higher, and that would've easily made this a five-star read for me.

Overall, I think the type of reader you are determines if this will be the book for you. If you love character-driven stories that focus on slow development and interactions, I think you'll love this. If you're interested in a fast-moving, no-fluff story, maybe skip. If you're unsure, I'd recommend picking it up. I LOVED this book and reading it was such a fun experience. I can't wait to see what Paul Krueger comes out with next. ...more

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About Paul Krueger

Paul Krueger

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Paul Krueger is a fantasy author and lapsed Chicagoan currently living in Los Angeles. His bartending-and-magic debut novel, LAST CALL AT THE NIGHTSHADE LOUNGE, was published by Quirk Books in June of 2016. His next, STEEL CROW SAGA, is forthcoming in fall of 2019 from Del Rey Books.

His non-writing hobbies include cooking, D&D, karaoke, and collecting comics. He's also a musician, fronting the ...more