It took a while, but I finally found a copy of Descendant of the Crane! I put this book on my TBR list the minute I heard about it – I mean, how can I not put a fantasy inspired by Chinese history into my TBR list? Especially since I loved The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu.

Anyway, Descendant of the Crane is the story of Hesina as she ascends the throne. A change of power is always tense, and to make things worse Hesina, she suspects that her father was murdered. Her dedication to truth means that she pursues all avenues of investigation, even if that might result in the killing of a group of people she once thought were extinct – the sooths.

So let’s look at things in order. First, how was the worldbuilding, the part that I was most excited about? For the most part, it was great! I enjoyed seeing all the mandarin words in the text, and the world was clearly identifiable as sometime in Chinese history. My only nitpick (and this will not apply to most readers), is that because it’s not rooted in a specific period of Chinese history, it’s hard for me to picture the character’s clothes (and face! Makeup is only mentioned once or twice but it changes so much throughout the dynasties!). The author uses the word “ruqun” to describe the dress, but “ruqun” without any qualifiers is the same as using the English word “robe” to me because ruqun varied so much throughout Chinese history! Even if we don’t compare say, Tang vs Ming styles, the style of ruqun changed during Early, Mid and Late Tang and each time period would give a different look. Anyway, I googled it and apparently this is a generic Imperial China, so a consult with some friends suggested that I just take the pre-Han style of dress, since bixi panels were occasionally mentioned.

Next, the plot. For the most part, I really enjoyed the story. It’s definitely not a conventional murder mystery, although it starts with an investigation into a death, but I enjoyed all the twists and turns that the book had. I also appreciated that the book situated Hesina’s personal challenges within the political situation of that time. It heightened the stakes and made me more invested in the book.

Finally, the characters. I thought that this part was quite typically YA fantasy in that 1) Hesina is astonishingly naive for someone who was groomed to take the throne 2) the romance between Hesina and the convict Akira felt very implausible, given that she seemed more preoccupied with other issues for most of the book. Honestly, I think these two points are practically tropes in YA fantasy by now, so the fact that I didn’t quite like it was probably more of a me-issue than anything else.

Overall, this is a solid YA fantasy that I think will be welcome by anyone who wants to see fantasy set in a non-European world. I generally enjoyed the plot and the characters, and I think most fans of fantasy will too.