Descendant of the Crane wasn't what I thought it would be.

He has managed to combine a lot of different elements into Hesina's story so that I was surprised to find something not quite the 'standard' fantasy I was expecting. Descendant of the Crane is a Chinese-inspired fantasy: part political scheming, part rebellious uprising and part courtroom drama.

There were some parts of the book that I struggled with.

    *    One of the biggest was the pacing which just felt very off to me. The books starts out with a lot of drama but then really sags in the middle as Hesina works through her investigations into her father's death and their country's past. There's a surge at the end and a lot happens, but it feels a little messy and rushed to a finish.

    *    There were a lot of 'twists' in the plot, but none of them really felt believably built up to and were almost immediately 'untwisted'. This happened a few times. The big 'end twist' (and the one which stuck) was one I'd seen coming from very early on, so fell sort of flat for me.

    *    There were several characters I'd have like to have seen more of. They were given very little time but seemed like they would have an interesting personality or part to play given the chance. Although there's nothing currently on Goodreads, it feels like the ending sets up for a sequel, so hopefully, some of those characters will still get a chance to shine.

Despite those problems Descendant of the Crane is an interesting read.

    *    The world-building is complex and vivid with lots of very unique elements. Hesina's characterization makes up for the lack of development on some of the others. She's complicated and messy and fascinating to watch. The blurb calls her "determined and vulnerable" which is a perfect description. She has moments of weakness and strength, of insight and wilful blindness. She's a great protagonist and I really enjoyed getting to know her.

    *    I also really enjoyed the complexity of the sibling relationships in the book. Hesina has a brother, half-brother, step-brother and step-sister and her relationship with each one is different and imperfect in their own ways.

For me, Descendant of the Crane was a bit of a mixed bag but was an enjoyable read.

Descendant of the Crane is an enchanting fantasy novel which centres around the murder trial of the King of Yan. His daughter, Hesina, will go to extraordinary lengths in order to solve the mystery of her father’s death whilst trying to prove her place as Queen and help fix her broken country. In a land where the magic soothsayers have been outlawed and are forced to remain hidden in plain sight, Hesina must battle against her Ministers, her family, her allies and even kingdoms in her quest for the truth. This novel was everything I look for when it comes to a fantasy tale. The plot was very well-developed and explained with intricate detailing and nods to ancient Chinese culture and heritage. Twists and turns came from everywhere and nowhere and left me wondering where this beguiling story could possibly end up. If you love a bit of political intrigue, betrayals and deceptions from every corner, a hint of magic and mystery all set in a stunning Oriental inspired world then you should definitely read this book!

What I liked:
- the depth and level of detail Yan and it’s history is described in.
- the characters were likeable and I was invested into finding out what really happened to the King.
- the plot is intriguing and full of twists, turns and suspense which hooked me.
- Hesina’s relationship with her mother and the way it was developed throughout the book.
- the folklore and background relating to the Eleven and the Tenets they created as society rules and regulations.

What I would have liked a little more of:
- For me, the ending needed slightly more explanation to balance it with the rest of the book – whilst I liked the Epilogue, the novel seems to be cut dramatically short, which would be fine if there was a sequel definitely announced but I’m not fully sure whether this is the case.
- The idea of the crane is quite prevalent throughout the story and there is a nice element of folklore surrounding it but I think this needed to be a little more explicit in the closing parts of the novel, particularly in how it relates to Hesina and her family especially seeing that it is the title of the book.
- I still have a few too many questions about characters and why their circumstances are the way they are and what may happen to them now that the novel has finished – if there were already a sequel definitely pegged in the works then I’d hope that the questions I’m left with would be answered.
- Not a little more, but a little less repetition of 'death by a thousand cuts' - I understand where it comes from and why it's there but I found it personally rather irritating.

If you enjoyed State of Sorrow, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns or simply enjoy well-written, intriguing and complex Asian-inspired fantasy stories then you are highly likely to enjoy Descendant of the Crane!

DNF at 34%

I was so disappointed because I wanted to love this so much, but the synopsis was more interesting than the book itself.

First problem was that it was trying to be Game of Thrones. That can work for some, but it’s been done to death and the intrigue itself did nothing to keep me interested. Which leads to the second problem...

The characters are so bland. I only remember Hesina because she’s the main and her name is in the synopsis, but other than that I can’t name one other character. I know she has siblings, but they had no personalities to differentiate them.

Third, the world building was messy. This is set in an Asian fantasy world, but it reads as any world. I was excited for the new settings, because I’m tired of the traditional medieval inspired fantasy setting, so I was hoping for a new take on the world, but it was sooooo lazy.

I knew to give up when I got to the point where I realised I didn’t care who killed the king. I just wanted it to be finished.

If you want an Asian inspired fantasy setting, go read Yona of the Dawn. It’s amazing.

This book is really, really beautiful & I loved exploring the world (I’ve never read anything set in this setting & period before) so I’m obsessed with the whole atmosphere of it 🌸
It was more political than I was expecting but that wasn’t necessarily bad (just not the best thing when you’re in a reading slump 😅)
I also was not expecting the mystery thing but I kinda loved that as well (although, as always, there was a whole lot of chance riding on what happened 🙄)
And the romance was such. A. Slow. Burn. But I loved that as well & can’t wait for the continuation of the story 😉
But yeah I really loved going somewhere new with fantasy!

This book sounds amazing, and it could well be amazing, but the problem here lies with the fact I don't think it's the book for me. I wanted to love it, I wanted to be able to devour it but I just couldn't. There was something in the way it was written that just felt way too confusing for me. I might end up reading at a later date hopefully but for now i've had to DNF this book :(

The main gripe I have with this book is that the writing feels really confusing. I don't like not finishing books because I feel inherently guilty about it because there could be so many reasons for why it's not great. But I could feel myself loosing the will to read if i'm honest with you. So for now i'm going to shelve this as "Tried, but maybe later" because I don't know if I could read this book at the moment. I'm really sorry 😅

I’d never heard of the author before. I wanted to read this book because I loved the cover and I really like Asian/Oriental inspired Fantasy books. I’ve read a few and generally been impressed. This is a terrific book. I loved the world-building, rich imagery, folklore and settings really help the book come to life. The characters are great as well, especially s - Caiyan and Hesina. This is a beautiful book. I enjoyed every page. This is a debut and I can’t wait to see what’s on offer next.

Descendant of the Crane is a beautiful Chinese-inspired fiction about truth, loyalty, power, and betrayals.

After the prematured death of her father, Hesina, princess of Yan, is ready to do everything to find out who his murderer is, even commit treason. But will the price payed to find justice be worth it?

I started reading the audiobook, and it felt so great to a Chinese spearker narrate it. The immersion in the universe was even better this way than by just reading (and probably mispronouncing) the names and words in Chinese.

It took me some time to get into that book though.. The first half of the book is quite slow, it's nice to learn about the different countries and their faiths but it lacks action. Fortunately the second half picked up pace, and was very interesting. But I'm sad most of the action happened in the last 50 pages.
The ending is amazing, and I'm really excited for the next book, but I wished all the action and twists would have been better spread out throughout the book.
We finish the book with a lot of information and even more questions, which I hope we'll all be answered in the sequel.

I did love how everyone seems to be both hero and villain/anti-hero. Not everything is black and white, they all have to make hard decisions, they have to kill in the name of peace, to lie in the name of truth, to cheat in the name of justice. All the characters were really interesting, and I'm excited to learn more about them.

I've been intrigued to read this book for years, ever since I first heard about it on twitter. The fact that it has a beautiful cover doesn't hurt, but the premise sounded so interesting too. And I'm so glad I've finally picked it up, it was such a gripping fantasy

We follow Hesina, the heir to the throne of Yan. Her father, the king, has recently died: no one suspects anything untoward, except Hesina who is convinced her father was murdered. She seeks the counsel of a sooth, a treacherous act as magic is now banned in Yan, to try to find out what truly happened to her father. This sets her on a journey to uncover centuries of lies and deceit to finally uncover the truth

I loved the setting of this story, and the set-up of the world. I found the whole concept of the Eleven (the mysterious deity-like people who established this kingdom) super interesting, as well as their connection to the destruction of the country's soothsayers. We get snippets from their laws at the beginning of each chapter, and it really helped to build the world

Hesina is an interesting protagonist to follow: a young monarch trying desperately to find out who murdered her father, while battling to keep her country together, and keep a hold of herself. This book was full of twists and reveals which meant that I read the second half quickly to find out what would happen to Hesina and Yan

DNF at page 305 (73%)
I wanted to DNF this book sooner, believe me. I kept on pushing through it, but at last I just couldn't do it anymore. I dreaded reading this book, it gave me headaches. But I still consider myself able to give a review since I read almost 3/4 of the book.

Chinese inspired fantasy book yes please! Book cover, beautiful! Description, interesting.
Princess Hesina of Yan, tries to find out who murdered her father, she gets help from a soothsayer, which is treason due to magic being outlawed for centuries in Yan. Who can she trust? She's not so sure anymore as she embarks on a dangerous journey.

If this was a c-drama then I probably would have loved it, because the plot is really like a lot of the wu xia, historical, royal c-dramas, and I really do love watching them. But as a book I really disliked it. And I feel really bad for not liking this book, because I really wanted to. I just really hate politics, corruption and betrayal.

I didn't really understand the magic system, because there isn't any, so I felt confused most of the time. Like what are sooths and what can they do? There's not that much world building, which to be honest is fine with me. The writing style is a little confusing at times, so I didn't understand what was happening and had to re-read those parts a couple of times. The book is really slow, and boring in the first half. Though we do finally get some action in chapter 15 which was nice.

As for the characters, I didn't care for any of them at all, and there is literally zero character development. Hesina is really annoying, dumb, naive and so so so slow. You would think that she would be smarter and could actually think for herself considering that she has been raised from birth to become queen. But sadly that is not the case, she is so oblivious, it's as if she doesn't even use her brain at times. I find Hesina quite selfish, I mean sure she doesn't want people to become injured or killed, or in trouble, but she doesn't really care about other peoples feelings except from her own, at least most of the time. Hesina just seems so ignorant to other peoples feelings. She is that kind of protagonist that refuses to kill the villain because she does not want to kill people, which leads to more deaths in the end.

As for the other characters, they are not memorable, though I do like Sanjing.
It's hard reading a book, when you don't care for any of the characters.
The word for meat in Chinese is rou so I couldn't help but think that one of the characters was named meat lol.

I wish that we could have been told clearly what the eleven are, what the tenet is and what the sooths are, instead of getting a little information here and there about those things, considering how important they are to the story.

The plot twists annoyed me .
Honestly this book is too long considering how nothing happens in the first half of the book.

I went to go read this book but for some reason it didn't work on my Kobo. I went to go try and download it again or even send it to kindle to find that the book had been archived.

I'm gutted but it's my own fault. I should have checked it on my Kobo when I downloaded it.

This book is incredibly descriptive and very hard to immerse yourself in. From what I read i was enjoying the content within this book. I have had to postpone the reading of this book due to other commitments, however, I will be picking this book up again soon.

IN SUMMARY: DESCENDANT OF THE CRANE plods along with boring characters and dull plot.

MY THOUGHTS:

In this Chinese-inspired fantasy where magic is forbidden, Princess Hesina of Yan opens an investigation into the murder of her father. But pulling one thread leads to unravelling a conspiracy that draws Hesina deeper into secrets about herself, her history and her kingdom.

I remember when this book was so hyped on Twitter. It has all the ingredients I like: diverse world, mystery, tension and forbidden magic. I didn't just want to like it; I expected to like it. But DESCENDANT OF THE CRANE was so extremely boring, taking its promising concept and squandering it.

I wasn't invested in any of the characters. Hesina was an Okay protagonist. Caiyan and Lillian and Sanjing and Akira were Okay side characters. Xia Zhong and others were Okay villains. They were all just okay, you know? Not written badly and well characterised but lacking in that spark, that charm, that makes me want to root for them and their stories.

I did actually like the writing a lot. He was creative when it came to word choice. However, it most definitely slowed the pacing of the book right down; not a lot felt like it was happening. The last few chapters were exciting as it gets but by then I was nodding off so badly that I had to skim read to get through it.

The ending makes it seem like there should be another book to come, but surprisingly this one is a standalone. Of all the books, this is one that I feel like needs continuation, because there are so many open holes left waiting, and having a little closure provided by a tiny epilogue was unsatisfying.

A big disappointment to be sure.

WILL I READ MORE BY THIS AUTHOR? Like I said, I liked He's writing style, but next time I'll read a sample before diving in.

I fell in love with the cover and then I fell in love with the book.
The world building is amazing, I loved the Chinese atmosphere and I loved how the writer was able to make everything fresh and lively.
The plot was engaging and entertaining, I was hooked since the first pages and couldn't put it down.
The characters are amazing, so fleshed out and well written, and with many so many facets to be realistic, a mix of good and bad.
An amazing read, a real page turner.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

What a beautiful read! I have so many things to say about this book but also my mind is like a void. The Asian style of writing doesn't stop from amazing me. Reading Descendant of the Crane was like watching a Chinese drama where you can see the beauty of their traditions: the ruqun, the hanfu, the koutou, the stunning gardens. One of the reasons why I chose this book is that I'm a big fan of Asian traditions.

Just looking at the cover you'll know that by reading this book you will travel to a different world. But don't think it's a place where you have a sassy, clever main character who nobody can fool. Nope! Hesina is a clumsy queen, she trust everybody who shouldn't and does big mistakes. But she is fair with everyone. And like Sayuri from Memoirs of a geisha, Hesina hides her thoughts beneath the rice powder.

I'm glad I had the opportunity to read this beautiful book and even if I can talk all day about it I will let you read it. But prepare yourself for dark secrets, twists and a cliffhanger. Thank you NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for an honest review.

This was OK. I enjoyed the characters, I enjoyed the world, but the plot was a bit lacking / hard to follow. The ending is great, full of all sorts of twists and turns that were unexpected for me. But getting there took a good while.

The first few chapters are particularly hard to get into, but after that it improves. I really enjoyed Hesina's character, and the relationship between her and her brother Jing, and their adopted siblings Caishen and Lilian. I actually wish we'd got more about their relationships, why Caishen and Jing hate each other, and a little more of Lilian's personality that would help explain what she does at the end. Things are tense between Hesina and Jing, but theirs is one of the most explored relationships throughout, though Jing being such a young military commander was a bit hard to believe.

Where the book really shone for me were all the scenes with Akira in. The trial scenes, especially. He was my favourite character - complex, interesting backstory, cleverness...definitely wish he'd been in it even more!

Hesina has great character growth, learning that as Queen she'll have to make difficult decisions. Throughout this book she is supported and betrayed, and there are plenty of revelations about those who she thought she could trust. Her investigation into her father's death is full of disappointment and surprise for her.

I actually think this book would have been a better adult book, where it could be darker, have more romance and detail. I am curious to see what Joan He writes in the future.

I don't know what category to even begin to place Descendant of the Crane in. A lot of the time it feels like a historical fiction, but then there's things that place it within fantasy. It's got some amazing courtroom drama moments, but it's also full of political intrigue. It's a mystery story, but also has some elements of romance in there too. There's so much going on in the book that it's hard to pin it down as anything other than wonderful to read. It kept me engaged throughout and I was always guessing as to what was going to happen next, or what twists the next next chapter would bring to the story.

The story follows Hesina, a young woman who is not only having to deal with the sudden death of her father, but also with the fact that she now has to become the new ruler of her kingdom. Rather than just make the story about her grief over her father and all of the new trials and tribulations she as to contend with as a ruler Joan He makes things so much more complicated for her. Not only is the kingdom on the verge of war with one of their neighbours, but an investigation into the kings death begins, an investigation that turns Hesina's carefully planned life upside down.

Hesina thinks she knows how the world works, she thinks that she has an understanding of her kingdom thanks to the teachings of The Eleven, a group of revolutionaries that changed her country three hundred years ago and built a fairer, better society. Well, unless you're a Sooth and have magical powers, then you'll be slowly murdered on sight. Hesina thinks she understands how searching for the truth about her father's death will play out because of the laws put in place by The Eleven. But when she begins to see that despite these teachings, despite people seeming to follow this way of life, their are corrupt people not just in the world, but within her own palace, who will use this investigation to further their own political and financial ends.

The trial that comes from the investigation is one of the best parts of the book. The various accused that are brought in, who are all being framed by corrupt officials, must be defended by Hesina and her investigator Akira. Akira is a hugely interesting character, and its fun to learn more about him over the course of the book and try an figure out what kind of person he is, but seeing him in court was hands down my favourite thing. He approaches the witnesses and the evidence with a calm detachment, pointing out holes in testimony, and revealing false evidence with logic and deduction that made me think about Sherlock Holmes and his methods. Akira becomes something larger than life in the court, trampling over the fakery to reveal the corruption beneath, acquitting the accused with the undeniable truth. He's simply brilliant.

The rest of the story seems to play out somewhat like these court scenes. The reader is given something as fact, that Yan is a kingdom built on fair rules and order, but then reasoned and logical investigation begins to reveal that this is a false veneer, that what we, and Hesina, are led to believe is nothing more than a convenient lie.

Over the course of the book there are so many twists and revelations that just when you think you've reached an understanding of what's really going on you're thrown completely again. There's something that happens right at the end of the book that will leave you thinking 'okay, so this is how it ends', but then the epilogue throws some new light onto that and you'll come away thinking something completely different about one of the characters.

I'm strugglinging to really describe the book in any real, meaningful way, because I'm still trying to figure out what I thought of it. Oh, I know it was excellent, and that I loved the journey, but there was so much crammed into the pages that I kind of feel like I'm still catching up. It's like thinking you're going for a nice stroll in a garden, only to realise you've wandered into a hedge maze part way through. Suddenly there's more their than you expected, and you have to navigate the twists and turns to reach the end.

Descendant of the Crane was written as a standalone story, though it does seem like there's more to come, and Joan He has said on Goodreads that she's considered a companion book or two to go with it. I really hope that more books come out that carry this story on, as I'm desperate for more answers, to see more mystery uncovered, and to find out what happens to these characters. If there is no more, and it's just this one book, then it's a hell of a book, and there being no followup won't detract from my enjoyment at all.

Whether returning to this world, or exploring something new, I'm excited to see what Joan He does next. This book showed quite clearly that she's an author worth watching, one that can craft interesting and layered characters, an imaginative world, and a plot that will keep you hooked throughout. An amazing debut work from a woman sure to become a household name.

I’ve seen this book quite often and I was interested in reading it. The premise sounds really good and I went into this excited to read. Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy this as much as I thought I would.
The plot was okay, I was interested in seeing what would happen. I liked the court intrigue and the mystery of the death of the king. The romance didn’t really work for me and I think it wasn’t needed. The writing style wasn’t to my taste and I found I had to force myself into reading this. I will admit I felt a little bored in parts and found I skim read sections as the writing style was hard for me to read.
The characters were okay, but I could not connect to them or really care about them. The main character Hesina was a little annoying and I thought she made poor choices. Some of the side characters were interesting and I would have liked to read more about them.
The worldbuilding wasn’t very good and I wanted more. I wished there was more worldbuilding so that I could picture it but I just couldn’t picture anything with this.
Overall I am disappointed I didn’t like this more. I also admit I didn’t feel like reading much when I read this which might have affected my enjoyment.

Brilliant & evocative storytelling! I immediately ordered a copy as the story inside is as gorgeous as the beautiful cover

Descendant Of the Crane is an intricate fantasy novel which is heavily laden with political intrigue, mystery and an understated but very powerful writing style. The novel follows Hesina, the heir to the throne, as she tries to unravel the mystery behind her fathers suspicious demise. With the help of a mysterious sooth, Hesina is guided towards a convict who is meant to help her, but hides his own dark past. The further she goes to seek the truth however, the less she is certain of. Until Hesina is forced to reconcile the fact that she may not have known her father at all, as well as those around her…

One of my favourite things about this novel as well, was the unrelenting tension and sense of political intrigue and danger. This novel felt like a game of chess where the pieces are constantly moving and for every move one character makes, there’s another character waiting in the shadows, anticipating their demise. I loved how Hesina navigates this world, a world which she has been shielded from up till now due to her doting father. She is given no reprieve and she makes decisions that could be considered foolish but that’s the point, it felt more realistic to me than her immediately being Cersei Lannister, you know? The tension feels so very real in this novel and you know that saying? fall from grace? more like plummeting. No spoilers but this took me on a wild ride for sure.

I also appreciated the unexpected, but very important exploration of Hesina’s relationship with her mother, who neglects her and is emotionally abusive. I thought this was quite profound and the parts where these two characters have a scene were so painful to read, at least for me, but I think that it added a lot to Hesina’s backstory and adds some more layers. I think this fraught relationship is even more striking because of Hesina’s comparably strong and loving relationship with her father, and the fact that her mother showers her brother Sanjing with attention. I read a post once which mentioned the complex relationships between mothers and their daughters and this novel certainly speaks to that complexity.



The writing itself is very pretty and there are quite a few bits I highlighted and found poetic so I enjoyed the way Joan He writes a lot. Particularly there are some bits about the moon that were A+. I also think He is great at concise, clear writing which I’m such a fan of, although I enjoy lengthy paragraphs as much as the next person, it just fits with the tone here for it to be more stripped back and have more clarity. I don’t know whether that makes a lot of sense but if you’ve read this book, perhaps you’ll know what I mean.

Overall, Descendant of the Crane is an excellent addition to the growing and incredible collection of diverse Y/A fantasy and it deserves all the love and kudos because it’s genuinely such a clever and well crafted piece of work. While the door is left open for a sequel, I couldn’t find any definitive proof suggesting it was in the works? Either way, I’m glad to have read it and will happily be recommending it from now on!

-Review to be posted on blog closer to release date-

DESCENDANT OF THE CRANE is a lushly drawn fantasy book, the world leaping off the pages. The world feels so real, the details woven through the story in such a way that you don’t notice the individual brush strokes because the painting is so flawlessly rendered. It was an amazing world to fall into.

The characters are a vibrant bunch, and I loved how a variety of sibling relationships were shown through Hesina’s siblings. Hesina herself has a determination to see things through, and gets herself into a fair number of scrapes following her heart. I loved Lilian, and the mischievous bluntness of her words. Akira is so mysterious I didn’t get a real sense of him, and he does rather splurge his backstory (which didn’t help me understand him any more).

The chapters begin with quotes from the tenets – a key part of the story. The contrast between the solemn tone of the first and the somewhat flippant response of the second made me laugh. Often these epigraphs don’t add to stories, or come across as slightly pretentious to me, but I enjoyed the injection of dry humour they gave.

The plot is full of surprising twists and turns to keep you on your toes, shocking and exciting in equal measure. I could not have predicted the plot at all, with all these elements cropping up and tangling together to move the story forwards. It is not your typical YA story, and I can see exactly why book twitter has exploded over it. However, some of the twists felt too surprising.

The final act caught me by surprise. It felt like it came out of nowhere, sending me into a confused tailspin for several chapter. I didn’t understand why the character behind it would do such a thing. Thank heavens for the epilogue (the very long epilogue) that actually explained what had just happened and why.