A 2019 LGBT Fantasy novel by Paul Krueger that has four destinies colliding in a world of war and wonders where battles are fought alongside animal companions.
The revolution has succeeded. After years of oppression and war, the Tomodanese Empire has been repelled to their homeland, and the freed countries are beginning to rebuild. As a show of good faith, the Sanbu Islands decide to send the hostage Prince Jimuro to be crowned as Steel Lord, hoping that his reign will stabilize the peace. Escorting him is Tala, a Sanbuna revolutionary left adrift without a war, who hates him almost as much as she is determined to complete her mission. In Shang, princess and Great Detective Xiulan gets wind of the plot, and decides to earn favor in the court by capturing Jimuro, recruiting thief and criminal Lee to help her. After Jimuro and Tala are separated from their delegation in foreign territory, and factions big and small start closing on the prince, all four will be pushed to their limits to succeed....or watch the fragile peace fall apart.
It was released on September 24, 2019.
The book contains examples of:
- Animal Motifs: All four protagonists have one: Tala's is a crow, Jimuro's is a cicada, Lee's is a dog, and Xiulan's is a rat.
- Appropriated Appelation: Xiulan's antagonistic older syster called her "White Rat" as an insult, so Xiulan adopted it, appreciating rats' tenacity and resourcefulness.
- Black Magic: While opinions on shadepacting are mixed, one thing all cultures have in common is that shadepacting another human is forbidden. Tala is hiding the fact that she shadepacted her brother, voluntarily, to save his life. Nonetheless, he isn't happy with the state of affairs and she is eventually forced to let him pass on.
- Boxed Crook: Xiulan rescues Lee from execution to get her help in her mission. Of course, Lee is a Justified Criminal at worst who was being executed for a rather minor crime, so there's considerably less tension than in most cases.
- Claimed by the Supernatural: The story has a consensual version when a human and an animal form a Shadepact bond: they both manifest a unique symbol at a random, identical spot on their bodies. Xiulan wears either a hat or her bangs over her left eye to hide her own.
- Cultural Posturing: Having been a political hostage of the Sanbuna most of his life, Prince Jimuro likes to go on and on about the superiority of Tomodanese culture and demean Sanbuna culture as barbaric, even claiming that their colonization was "civilizing" the Sanbuna. He starts growing past this the more he interacts with both cultures and realizes it was not as simple as he wanted to believe.
- Dating Catwoman: Xiulan, a detective, teams up with Lee, a criminal, for convenience, but slowly begins to fall for her.
- Deadly Euphemism: The Warden of one prison refers to her death row inmates as "guests". Lee, a prisoner who narrowly avoids execution, finds it a bit twee; nonetheless, the Warden is a Consummate Professional who shows no animosity towards the "guests" and avoids causing them any undue hardship.
- Escort Mission: The driving force of the novel is Jimuro being sent to become the Steel Lord of Tomoda, and the various factions who want to stop him from doing so.
- Extra-ore-dinary: The Tomodanese people have the gift of "metalpacting", infusing metal with their spirit at a touch. They can reshape metal, give themselves Improbable Aiming Skills with metal projectiles, make an Absurdly Sharp Blade, and drive metal vehicles without motors.
- Eye-Obscuring Hat: Xiulan often wears a hat tilted rakishly over her left eye. She likes the aesthetic, but it's mainly to hide the fact that her pact mark from bonding a Shade Familiar manifested on her eyeball.
- Facial Dialogue: Played for Laughs and Dramatic Irony when Jimuro tries to express to his friend that the woman pouring their drinks is actually a highly dangerous enemy agent who's holding them hostage. The friend is transparently confused by all the wincing.
- Fantastic Slur: The Jeongsonese are called "dogfuckers", since their religion reveres dogs.
- Familiar: The magic of Shadepacting lets a human exchange parts of their soul with a consenting animal, which gives them a Psychic Link, transforms the animal into a Dire Beast, and lets the human manifest and de-manifest it at will. It's been seen as sacred by the Shang and Sanbuna peoples and as vile slavery by the Tomodanese, and the human can in fact dominate the animal's will or pact with another human.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The cultures of the novel are very clearly inspired by and borrow art, names, languages, foods, and landscapes from various East Asian cultures, albeit with magic influencing their development. Shang is Imperial China, Tomoda is Imperial Japan, Dahal is India, the Sanbu Islands are the Phillipines, and the Jeongsonese are an ethnic minority with a Korean bent. The novel begins in the aftermath of Tomoda's attempt to conquer the others and their successful repulsion, much like Imperial Japan's attempt to conquer land in those countries during World War 2.
- Food Porn: Food is often used as a metaphor for crossing cultural boundaries, with Cultural Posturing over the greatness of their own cuisine transforming into appreciation for others' cuisine. The more the character appreciates it, the more lavish the description becomes.
- Forgiveness: The novel's Central Theme, as it begins after the Tomodanese Empire is overthrown and the characters have to deal with the aftermath and with forging a lasting peace between it and the nations it once conquered.
- Great Detective: Xiulan is one of the greatest detectives of her country.
- Hiding Behind Your Bangs: Xiulan hides her left eye with either her bangs or her hat because her Shadepact mark is on the eyeball.
- Hot Blade: Metalpacters can heat metal red-hot with a touch, which they use in combat to enhance their bladed weapons. Their powers also maintain the blade's strength and let them hold it safely.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Metalpacters can infuse a firearm to shoot with incredible accuracy. It's first demonstrated when Jimuro shoots through the rope of an overhanging crate on a foundering ship in the middle of a pitched battle, to Tala's grudging amazement.
- It Has Been an Honor: When Prince Jimuro is forced into an Enemy Mine situation with Tala and believes they're about to be killed in battle, he sincerely thanks her for everything and says she has "a prince's courtesy and gratitude". They survive and end up Fire-Forged Friends.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Xiulan is driven to show up her antagonistic older sister Miuzan and supplant her as heir to the throne. When Lee meets her, Miuzan bluntly points out that Xiulan has a lot of potential but doesn't yet have the maturity to rule, and Lee is forced to concede the point.
- Ki Manipulation: The Dahali "focus their magic inwards" in the manner of this trope. Their Supernatural Martial Artists enhance their bodies to be stronger, faster, and tougher, and an elite few can throw hexbolts of destructive or healing energy.
- Last-Name Basis: Lee almost exclusively goes by her family name, or by the family name of her current alias. In a candid moment, she admits to a stranger that it's because she misses her family despite their estrangement.
- Living MacGuffin: While he has considerably more agency than most examples of the trope, Prince Jimuro is the key to the post-revolutionary world due to being in line for the Tomodanese throne and the conflict is driven by the various factions trying to crown, kidnap, or kill him.
- Mundane Utility: Metalpacting has many deadly combat applications, but is far more often used to open and close metal doors and to operate metal vehicles. When other nations import Tomodanese automobiles, they have to add engines.
- Must Have Caffeine: Tala is stranded deep in hostile territory with only an enemy prince for backup. The absence of coffee — the locals prefer tea — is what takes the situation from bad to dreadful in her estimation.
- Mutually Exclusive Magic: According to common propaganda, it's impossible to learn another culture's magic. The splintersoul Mayon shows how wrong this is, and Tala and Jimuro both learn the other's magic at the end.
- Non-Heteronormative Society: Homophobia seems to be non-existent in the world and there is complete gender equality. When Jimuro learns that his childhood friend and potential betrothed has transitioned into a man since he saw him last, his only reaction is surprise and it's never treated as an obstacle to a royal marriage.
- No Place for a Warrior: Tala is struggling in the aftermath of the revolution, and takes up the job of escorting Jimuro to have something sufficiently exciting to do.
- Old Friend, New Gender: Jimuro is quite shocked to realize that the man who's kidnapped him is his childhood friend, who came out after he was captured.
- Political Hostage: Prince Jimuro, the Living MacGuffin who was captured in the Sanbuna Revolution and now has to be escorted back to Tomoda to reclaim his throne and lead to a lasting peace.
- Proud Peacock: The royal family of the Shang Empire famously take only white peacocks as Shades.
- Tastes Like Friendship: One of the first signs of Jimuro's development is him making adobo for Tala, a Sanbuna food. While he does posture over how his version with mushrooms is superior, Tala notes him preparing a food from her culture to comfort her is more respectful of her and the Sanbuna than he has ever been before.
- Tragic Monster: The Splintersoul is a terrifying, nigh-inhuman One-Man Army who uses the setting's most feared Black Magic... because he's desperate to regain the missing piece of his soul, which causes him unbearable pain ever since Tala stole it from him.
- Undeath Always Ends: Dimangan's shadepact is severed in the final confrontation, allowing him to pass on in peace. Tala is devastated, but it's heavily implied to save them both from a painful, untenable situation.
