Steel Crow Saga

June 3, 2019
Four cultures collide in this disjointed journey across a land reminiscent of post-colonial Southeast Asia. Iron Prince Jimuro of Tomoda, last of his bloodline, fights to make it to his own coronation, hoping to establish an unprecedented reign of peace. Bitter and remorseful Tala of the Sanbu Islands wears her anger like a shield, and ensuring the safety of Prince Jimuro is the only goal that spurs her on. Lee Yeon-Ji of the Jeongson vassal state of Shang, who lives by her rule of “leave them before they leave you,” is recruited into the powerful Li-Quan police force and sent to capture the prince. Princess Shang Xiulan vies for the Shang throne against her own sister by using the Iron Prince as an offering. Magic abilities pop up without notice as the plot requires, and the geographical staging and overlapping territories are confusing. Krueger (Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge) does little to develop the plot or the fantastical aspects of the setting, but the book teems with cultural references in the characters’ personalities. Readers with a taste for Southeast Asian culture will appreciate the backdrop, even if they are less than won over by the story itself. Agent: DongWon Song, Howard Morhaim Literary.

Starred review from July 1, 2019

The Tomodanese Empire has been defeated: the House of Shang and the new Republic of Sanbu both expect the Iron Prince to be crowned and negotiating a peace treaty for his conquered kingdom. Iron Prince Jimuro must use his metalpacting--steel magic--and his jailor Tala to get back home. Sanbu soldier Tala lost her family to the Tomodanese army; however, her oath to her general and her unique, and taboo, shadepacting magic require her to deliver him safely. Meanwhile, expert tracker and criminal Lee is given an offer she can't refuse: help her savior detective find the Iron Prince, and she can have an animal shade as reward, as Shang Princess-turned-detective Xiulan is determined to find Jimuro and secure her place in line for the throne. As each of the four discover friendship and love on their journeys, a force beyond all their reckoning leaves a trail of death and destruction in its wake, with their paths coming together in a final clash of magic and personal choices. VERDICT Krueger's sophomore novel (after Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge) is a heady look at postcolonial emotions, Asian cultures, and anime influences. His main characters are by turns endearing and maddening, living in a well-built magical world of warring factions. [See Prepub Alert, 4/1/19.]--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2019
In a fantasy world influenced by Imperial Japan, China and the Philippines in the 1940s, and the culture and media of South Asia, the use of magic is divided into three branches: steelpacting, the manipulation of metal common to the formerly dominant power of Tomonda; shadepacting, a bonding with the souls of animals common to the newly liberated Empire of Shang and the Sanbu Republic; and the inward-focused healing and hexing powers of the country of Dahal. Four characters pass through the flux created by the overthrow of the Tomodan Empire. Jimuro is the highly sought-after heir to the Tomodan throne, and his reluctant bodyguard Tala is a Sanbunan sergeant whose violation of the laws of shadepacting have come back to haunt her. Two of their pursuers are the pipe-smoking Shang Princess Xiulan, currently in disguise as a detective, and her partner, the Jeongsonese thief Lee, whose natural instinct to look out for herself is at war with her developing feelings for the princess. With a well-realized world and strong characters, many of whom are queer, Krueger's novel will feel as fast-paced and exciting as its animated influences and leave the reader longing for more. Highly recommended for any fantasy fan.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

Starred review from October 15, 2019
A post-colonial fantasy draws on Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Filipino cultures for a multinational tale of political intrigue. The nations of Sanbu, Shang, and Dahal have thrown off the colonial rule of the Tomodanese Empire. A Sanbuna troop is delegated to escort the captured Iron Prince Jimuro to the vacant throne of Tomoda so he can establish a new, peaceful, and presumably conciliatory relationship with the other nations. The plan falls apart when a splintersoul, a Sanbuna man with the frightening (and believed impossible) power to shadepact (i.e., bond) with multiple animal spirits and to steal others' pacts from them, attacks the ship carrying the prince. Only the prince and one of his escort survives: Sgt. Tala, who has hidden her own ability to forge shadepacts both to a crow and to her brother Dimangan--a bond considered taboo. Jimuro and Tala struggle toward the Tomodanese capital of Hagane, trailed by a group of Tomodanese noble rebels; the eccentric Shang princess and law enforcement officer Xiulan, who models herself after a fictional Holmes-ian detective and hopes that capturing the prince will lead to her own throne; Xiulan's new partner and potential crush, the clever but emotionally bruised Jeongsonese thief Lee Yeon-Ji; and the splintersoul Mayon, who has some strange and deadly motives of his own. Like some other contemporary authors, Krueger (Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge, 2016), who's Filipino American, eschews the tropes of high fantasy established in late-20th-century novels inspired by European cultures, set during conflict, and expressing a fairly dichotomous morality. In contrast, this Asian-influenced sociopolitical drama explores the complications that ensue after the war, when no one's hands are clean. Characters face the consequences of the choices they made during the conflict and consider whether it's possible to rise above deeply ingrained prejudices and forge alliances with former enemies. Such grave matters are leavened by amusing banter, solid action, and two charming nascent romances of opposites. As tasty as the mushroom adobo that appears in the book both as food and metaphor.

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