If you are looking for a magical world, the Six Crimson Cranes series is for you. You can feel the magic in every word. A beautifully constructed world where the elements of Eastern myths and legends come into their own.
In the story you will find honor and loyalty, a world where a given word is not broken, where service is one of the most valuable bargaining coins and where love has many dimensions.
Book Review: The Dragon’s Promise
- Series: Book #2 of Six Crimson Cranes
- Author: Elizabeth Lim
- Format: 482 pages, hardcover
- Published on: August 30, 2022 by Hodder & Stoughton
- ISBN: 9781529356786 (ISBN10: 1529356784)
- ASIN: 1529356784
- Language: English
Folklore and magic
Everything about “The Dragon’s Promise” is refined, elegant and gentle. The dialog between the characters, the atmosphere and the setting have the feel of an Eastern culture. The magic is in the world, in the descriptions of the realm of the dragons, the guardian turtles and the swaying sea grass. I haven’t felt this much magic in the descriptions since my first encounter with Caraval by Stephanie Garber.
I found it interesting how Elizabeth Lim managed to take animals that appear in Chinese folklore, give them their characteristics and assign them to her characters.
Cranes symbolize loyalty and nobility. These are the most important qualities that the Shiori brothers display in the story. They don’t for a moment neglect their duties to sister, family and kingdom. Kiki, on the other hand, is the heroine’s most loyal companion and friend.
Dragons are powerful and regal creatures. The character of Seryu has the opposite effect here. As a young dragon, he looks very much like a human teenager, which in turn helped me to perceive him more as a human and not as the great, fearsome heir.
Dynamics of the plot
The plot of the book is very fast-paced. There’s plenty of adventure and action, and yet I didn’t feel like anything substantial was part of the main idea. Shiori is taken from one to another and to a third without the tension being slowed down or sustained, which is a minus by my standards. I like to worry, snap my fingers and feel goosebumps when the hero plunges into adventures, but not here. Nothing like that. Things happened far too quickly, but that’s not at the expense of the book’s length. Rather, what we have here is a thick book full of action.
The main conflict with the demon Bandur quickly escalated into something much bigger. I couldn’t really enjoy their confrontation because Shiori was preoccupied with something else almost the whole time. Apart from the ending of the book, which earned one star in my rating, I wouldn’t call ” The Dragon’s Promise” an exciting read. But the ending was worthy of a Chinese drama.
My review of “The Dragon’s Promise”
My rating for “The Dragon’s Promise” is 4 stars. The world is magical and well described, I found no difference in the characters. Perhaps Takkan stood out a little from the others. The young noble proved to be a brave and devoted betrothed who managed to push aside all the insults to his honor that Shiori threw at him.
I deducted one star from the rating because everything that happened to the characters was so messy. Still, I won’t put the book down, and I won’t forget Shiori’s adventures.
A journey to the kingdom of dragons, a star-crossed love, and a cursed pearl with the power to mend the world or break it…
Princess Shiori made a deathbed promise to return the dragon’s pearl to its rightful owner, but keeping that promise is more dangerous than she ever imagined.
She must journey to the kingdom of dragons, navigate political intrigue among humans and dragons alike, fend off thieves who covet the pearl for themselves and will go to any lengths to get it, all while cultivating the appearance of a perfect princess to dissuade those who would see her burned at the stake for the magic that runs in her blood.
The pearl itself is no ordinary cargo; it thrums with malevolent power, jumping to Shiori’s aid one minute, and betraying her the next—threatening to shatter her family and sever the thread of fate that binds her to her true love, Takkan. It will take every ounce of strength Shiori can muster to defend the life and the love she’s fought so hard to win.
