This is the sequel to Six Crimson Cranes and I was really looking forward to reading the next instalment. The story is still magical and does give somewhat of a good end to the duology but I feel like it was a disappointment when compared to the first novel. It has so much potential with new plotlines but everything seemed to be rushed and wrapped up so quickly it was hard to see how they impacted the story and I wanted more from them.

The Dragon’s Promise feels unsure of itself. It is not quite sure of the kind of story it wants to tell with elements ranging from a misguided love triangle, wildly changing landscapes, an undeveloped magic system and the worst culprit of all: a monolithic Asian culture.

The Dragon’s Promise starts right where we left off with Six Crimson Cranes with Shiori following Seryu into his homeland, the kingdom of dragons where Shiori promises to give the dragon’s pearl Raikama held to Seryu’s grandfather, the king of dragons. I’m not entirely certain why we even had this plot to begin with because Shiori didn’t even intend to hand the pearl over; she had made a promise to Raikama to return the pearl to it’s rightful owner. A series of unfortunate incidents happen where Shiori attempts to escape and is captured, escapes and is captured and finally, she is forced into a short-lived engagement with Seryu. The whole situation in the kingdom of dragons feels predatory and leaves a bad taste in my mouth. By this point, Seryu’s character has gotten fairly annoying: he’s no longer the charming magic mentor Shiori relied on previously. Instead, a strange non-love triangle is introduced where Seryu confesses his feelings for Shiori and she turns him down because of her love for Takkan. Things happen and Shiori finds herself back in Kiata, reunited with her brothers and Takkan. From there, another series of absurd events finds Shiori, Takkan and her brothers traipsing across the world from kingdom to kingdom to defeat Bandur.

This duology shouldn’t have existed. It should have stopped at Six Crimson Cranes because The Dragon’s Promise feels frustratingly repetitive. It’s tired, overdone and exhausted from running in circles. The atmospheric writing does nothing for how rehashed this plot is: girl fights big bad guy, big bad guy uses the love of her life as a weapon and takes away her power, girl is dejected, girl suddenly discovers something new or finds some new strength and the plot goes on. You know how this ends. At this point, The Dragon’s Promise feels like a mishmash of all the ideas that were developed during plotting lumped together in a giant novel to make up the word count.

The plot sees the characters running rapidly from place to place, never stopping long enough for any sort of meaningful worldbuilding to happen. I would have loved to learn more about Seryu’s homeland; the politics and magic of the dragons, even though unnerving was fascinating. Shiori and her crew also make a stop in Raikama’s homeland; it was an incredibly beautiful, poignant and meaningful trip but it was so short and it seemed more to serve the fast-moving plot than to create a connection with the characters.

Furthermore, none of the characters are particularly likeable. Shiori frequently got on my nerves; this is a character that has not learned anything from her past experiences. So, why write them in? She’s impulsive and not in the cool way. Takkan, as with all of Lim’s male characters, serves to provide the arm candy for the manic pixie dream girl main character and is boring. With the kind of political power Takkan has, I wish we had seen him grow into his royal shoes. Shiori’s brothers who were the focus of the first book are sorely underutilised here as well. Seryu, as I mentioned, grew insufferable. Maybe I could like Kiki more but she’s never been my favourite character; her sassiness seems forced in an attempt to give Shiori a cool sidekick. The Dragon’s Promise introduced a character who I guess was supposed to be funny and charming but did not match the atmosphere and felt out of place. There came a point when I sided with Bandur because I could not find any redeeming qualities in these characters.

I think my biggest issue with The Dragon’s Promise compared to the Spin the Dawn (link) duology is how the cultural representation is written from a Western lens. And, I don’t particularly like to mention or focus on authors when I do my reviews but it’s hard to do so when Elizabeth Lim is Asian herself. The culture in The Dragon’s Promise is incredibly monolithic and disappointing. It just reinforces the idea that Asian cultures are interchangeable with one another. In The Dragon’s Promise, they’re all lumped together from Chinese, Japanese and so on and a bunch of other fantasy-inspired elements. I can’t tell what’s Japanese, what’s Chinese, what’s North Chinese. Furthermore, none of the “cultural” elements introduced are unique to any one culture and screams Asian aesthetic to me from the royal courts, the monks, the gardens.

Perhaps, the one redeeming quality it has is that it’s so readable. Or perhaps it’s because I wanted to get through it so badly that I just freight-trained the whole book. I’m only giving this three stars because I can’t find anything truly atrocious and it may just be a matter of opinion.

Conclusion: Did I Enjoy It?

I don’t know. I liked reading it but I often felt as if I was reading an entirely different series. The Dragon’s Promise did not seem to keep with the themes and worldbuilding it introduced in Six Crimson Cranes and it’s a shame because there was something quite magical about it’s predecessor.

*2.5 stars, rounded up

Six Crimson Cranes was magical in all the right ways, and it made me expect great things from The Dragon's Promise. After all, wouldn't Shiori be travelling to the fabled underwater realm of dragons, the "most beautiful kingdom in the world" that made "Gindara look like a decrepit old village" (in Seryu's words)? Despite my reservations regarding the first book, I had no complaints about the plot itself, so I envisioned a similar engaging plotline in the second.

What I got instead was two disjointed stories failing to unify as one complete plot. The first fifteen chapters dealt with the promise Shiori had made in the first book: that she would bring the pearl to Nazayun, the Dragon King. Without this one throwaway line, these fifteen chapters would not even need to exist, since they served very little purpose within the greater plot of the novel. Their connection to the rest of the story was tenuous at best: a little knowledge regarding the Wraith and half a mirror shard were all that really carried forward into the sixteenth chapter onwards. Elang was never seen again. Ladies Solzaya and Nahma were never seen again. King Nazayun was never seen again. Seryu was never heard again, a fact that greatly disappointed me considering how he didn't feature much in the first book either. Gen stayed—for another fifteen chapters—but he didn't really do much save give Shiori some information that she could have found out in any other way had the underwater adventure never existed.

The issue here is that this underwater adventure was the only part of the book I liked. The dragon kingdom lived up to my expectations of it, filled with bright color and glamor and sinister motives underlying them both. It helps that I'm particularly biased towards Seryu, a fun-loving character who showed in this book that he has a serious side, too, and is ready to fight for what—and who—he believes is right. Shiori and Seryu get along well, even without the added romance subplot, which made me wish he'd been around for longer, even if it meant clashing with Takkan directly rather than simply grouching about him to the princess. Once the two said their goodbyes, the main plot began—and little of it was engaging. It did not succeed in gripping my attention the way the plot in its prequel did, and for a good portion of it I felt like I was reading simply to complete the book, not to see how the story unfolded.

While the novel itself is pretty medium-paced, the characters are constantly in motion. As soon as one problem is resolved, another must immediately be tackled. This may help avoid lulls in the story that would make a reader lose focus, but they also create a fast-paced atmosphere that tires one while reading. Even seemingly serene moments, like Shiori baking cakes in Sundau, don't last for longer than a few paragraphs before some new calamity befalls the cast of characters. I know this pace mimics Shiori's own nature, but she isn't as impulsive now as she was in the beginning of the duology, so maybe the reader should also be given a break sometimes, right?

If the book had revolved more strongly around the kingdom of dragons, this could have been a wonderful sequel. As it was, it felt unnecessary, and made me wonder if Six Crimson Cranes would not have been better off as a standalone, a few chapters longer than it is currently in order to tie up loose ends.

my rating: 4/5 stars

Thank you so much to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for providing a copy of this e-arc in exchange for my honest review!

I really love Six Crimson Cranes so I was really happy when I got approved!! <3 I have a high expectation of The Dragon's Promise, and I have to say I was a little bit disappointed by it. The Dragon's Promise starts right where Six Crimson Cranes ended.

Here are what I love about The Dragon's Promise:
- The setting! Just like Six Crimson Cranes and The Blood of Stars duology, Elizabeth Lim really did it with writing the setting and the atmosphere!
- The backstory of a certain character! I just have one word to say about it. OMG!
- The characters! We meet again with some characters from Six Crimson Cranes and I love to see their character development! Also, I was really surprised with one specific character from The Blood of Stars duology that I love dearly!
- The ending for me is perfect!

What I don't really like:
- The plot and storyline were kinda all over the place. I really enjoy the setting and Shiori's adventure in the dragon realm, but it was just for the first 20% of the book. Wish we could see more of the dragon realm.
- I don't really understand why it is necessary to put the love triangle thing to happen. I think it would be fine if Shiori and Seryu stay as friends, but thank goodness the love triangle doesn't really continue until the end of the book.

Overall I still think it's a good sequel for Six Crimson Cranes!

stunning conclusion to such a magical and beautiful story. I was desperate to read this after the cliffhanger from book 1. I dont think i quite loved this one as much as the first but i cant not love elizabeths lyrical writing <3. would defintley recommend

A slow start to the sequel, but it picked up the pacing and I found myself gripped by the storyline. I think this was the perfect sequel, with a relevant storyline that didn’t go old. I loved seeing more of Takkan and her relationship, and more of her brothers. Overall, a really good clean YA novel focusing on Chinese folklore that I would recommend to everyone!

Shiori is grieving, discovering her own magic and... On her way to the Kingdom of the Dragons.
From Ai'long to the birthplace of demons, Shiori's second adventure is fast paced and often dizzying.

The hotly anticipated sequel continues right where Six Crimson Cranes left us and takes the reader on a whirlwind adventure of dragons, demons and devotion. Shiori and her six brothers are willing to do whatever it takes to return the pearl and fulfil Raikama's final wish. But what will they sacrifice along the way?

I am forever grateful to Elizabeth Lim that the Takkan-Shiori-Seryu love triangle did not become a thing and that the romance between the betrothed couple only went from strength to strength. Takkan's dedication to Shiori is the constant in this rapidly changing plot line.

Of course Takkan is not the only love in Shiori's life. The emotion between Kiki and Shiori is gorgeous and both relationships had me crying like a baby towards the end. That paper bird really does pull on the heartstrings.

The final installment of Lim's latest duology really does pack a lot of adventure into a short space of time and that can be overwhelming. I did miss some face time with some characters outside of Takkan and Shiori but overall it was a good read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Elizabeth Lim for an advance copy of this gorgeous novel in exchange for an independent review.

There's nothing quite like the feeling of soul-crushing disappointment when the sequel to a favourite book ends up letting you down. Six Crimson Cranes was one of my favourite reads in 2021. I loved the characters, the story, the tropes, and the romance. It was that perfect storm of a book that made me remember why, in spite of how often I end up not liking YA fantasy, I keep trying it out anyway. I had very high expectations for the sequel, but unfortunately, this one completely missed the mark for me.

Maybe it's because SCC was leaning on an existing fairytale, whereas the sequel isn't. The plot feels all over the place. It's like there are three different stories all struggling for page time, and it never becomes a cohesive whole. I also never actually felt that the stakes were high, because, even though Shiori frequently lands herself in some kind of danger, she also frequently escapes without any consequences.

A lot of the drama of the story feels fabricated, to the point that characters appear to act outside of what is normal for them, just so the reader can have a few gasp-worthy moments. This is especially true for anything related to the romance--almost every moment of tension between Shiori and Takkan feels completely fake, and everything is also resolved very quickly. On the one hand, I'm happy that I got to skip entire parts of them pushing each other away for their own good because they actually communicated, but on the other hand, Takkan let Shiori get away with everything, to the point where it got unbelievable. The one saving grace is that we are spared a love triangle.

There's also a serious issue when it comes to consistency. Shiori starts SCC off as a reckless, selfish girl, who is then forced to sacrifice her voice and her hands for the sake of her brothers. You'd think this would have taught her to think things through a bit better, or be more considerate of others, or take a pause before blurting out the first thing that pops into her head, but nope. It's like the first book never happened, and she didn't go through anything.

The last things I'll mention are how flat all the characters felt aside from Shiori compared to book 1 (yes, even Takkan), and how random the magic system feels. I never got a handle on what exactly Shiori can do, because her abilities seem to evolve based on whatever is convenient to the plot at the time.

On a positive note, the ending actually managed to surprise me, but wasn't enough to redeem the overall experience.

I was very excited to read this as I loved the first book - 6 Crimson Cranes. However much like her Blood of Stars duology, book 2 suffers from second book syndrome. It lost a lot of the charm and tension of the first book.

I found myself feeling bored a lot of the time and pushing through just so I could finish it. Book 1 had this dark edge to it with high stakes and I just couldn’t feel that in this book. Shiori keeps throwing herself into one bad situation after another and dragging everyone else down with her. The whole thing with Serju was … 🤦🏾‍♀️. Takkan, Kiki and her brothers are just props to help get her out of trouble or let something slip to the bad guys. Even the bad guys are preposterous and improbable. At no point was I worried any open would die or that she wouldn’t be able to vanquish them.

The plot itself is very convoluted and the ending result also seems extra for no particular reason. The whole book felt like the equivalent of an over designed dress. It needed a very firm editing hand. Even now that I’ve just finished the book, I’m struggling to remember everything that happened.

Disappointing conclusion to the series for me. 2.75/5 stars.

While this book does have Lims signature style and prose, I found myself finishing it for the sake of it rather than for the enjoyment of the story. It felt lost at times and I feel shioris story could definitely of been a standalone

The cover is incredibly beautiful. I immediately fell in love with it. It is a beautiful feast for the eyes and draws all eyes in the bookstore.
The writing style is as fantastic as it was in the first volume. I was immediately drawn into the story again and couldn't put the book down. It is totally exciting and thrilling from the first page. The characters are individual and exceptional. I like their nature and personality. The author manages to create a world full of images. I can recommend this book to everyone. Read it!

The Dragons Promise is the sequel to Six Crimson Cranes and was just as magical as the first! In this one, Shiori spends time underwater with the dragons, trying to find the true owner of her stepmother's pearl. There's also more curses, demons and higher stakes!

The writing style, characters and worldbuilding were all as amazing as in the first book! Shiori is such a well developed protagonist and although she shined in the first book, her growth through this one was incredible. I loved her romance with Takken and her friendship with Seryu but my favourite relationship was Shiori and Kiki. There were so many emotional moments as well as courageous ones that made the story so beautiful.

The plot was action packed however I did feel the second half was dragged out a little. But overall it flowed well and led up to one of the most emotional endings I've read. This is a stunning duology that I highly recommend.

🐉 Should've stoped after the first book....

✨Genre: #Fantasy #YA #AsianFantasy #retelling

📚: 2/2

I really loved the first book #SuxCrimsonCranes . However I was super disappointed with this one.

Author has set up fairly high expectations ending the first book with a travel to another place/realm... In this book we are only getting 25% of that place and then the main character gets thrown from one place to another.

Main a of the story is to deliver pearl to its rightful owner, guess for how long we actually get to read about the owner? 1-2 chatpers...

There are interesting parts of this story, but they were not enough for me. I felt that there was a lot of repetitiveness. Authors seemed to run out of the ideas, because the legend of thousand cranes was brought back again.

We were introduced to new characters, but then we just have to forget about them.

A lot of water and events that in the bigger scale didn't mean anything.

Just my thoughts on the book... By the way it was also one of my most anticipated reads of the day.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 /4.5 stars
Thank you to the author for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The Dragon’s Promise is the second book in the Six Crimson Cranes duology. After obtaining the Dragon’s Pearl, Shiori has to bring it back to its owner, which isn’t without its dangers.

“A promise it not a kiss in the wind, to be thrown about without care.”

We learn a lot more about the world by traveling to Ai’long, the Kingdom of the Dragons! It was super interesting and amazing to read about this whole new part of the world and learning more about the dragons themselves. It was almost a shame we returned to the world of the living so quickly. I would’ve liked to stay longer in Ai’long hahaha. it was also a pity that the cast of characters changed quite a bit from before and after Ai’long. I really enjoyed reading the dynamics between Shiori and Seyru.

The plot was very fun to read. The book, just like the first, was more focused on the plot than on the relationships. Still, the relationships were an important foundation for the story to be built on. I liked the storyline a lot!
The characters are quite similar as they were at the end of Six Crimson Cranes. Shiori had become quite mature and she stayed that way during this book. She was determined to keep her promise and started to think for the best of her country. I also liked how Gen was added to the story. He was a fun addition to the cast we already met and knew. The villain was once again depicted quite beautifully and I loved the easter eggs and the connection to The Blood of Stars duology!

The relationships didn’t change much compared to Six Crimson Cranes. The familiar bond between Shiori and her brothers is still very beautiful to read, their sibling bond keeps warming my heart. I also liked how Shiori and Takkan evolved together. I was also really happy how a love triangle didn’t come about in this book! Their relationship was just really sweet and a bit like puppy love haha.

I liked how this book concluded and how the story ended. Both books are quite similar in my opinion, so if you’ve enjoyed the first, you’ll definitely enjoy this book as well!

Overall, it was a delightful duology to read with a satisfying ending to the story. It is a book that is an easy read and fun as well!

The Dragon's Promise is kind of a collection of different stories. First, there is a story about the world of dragons and a princess who is ready to become a dragon's companion in order to save her family, the world and fulfill her promise to her stepmother. In the second story, the princess travels with her brothers, who have turned into cranes again, to a distant lonely island to fulfill a promise, but on the way there they also stop at the place where the story of her stepmother began. So here are two stories together. The fourth story is about demons and magic and paper birds brought to life by magic, and about giving magic back to people who themselves once imprisoned magic in the mountains with the demons. The fifth and shortest story is about the moon goddess and her guest who lives half the year on the moon and half the year on land.

All these stories are related to Princess Shiori and the Dragon Pearl. Each of these stories has some kind of wisdom or lesson, and together it's a fantastic story about magic and people's fears of the unknown, even though that unknown can help make their lives easier. I would have liked so much that there would have been an afterword by the author at the end of the book, which would have introduced the legends and myths that were used in the creation of this book, but even without it, it was a very exciting story.

I feel like I might have picked this up at the wrong time, or maybe it’s just that I didn’t want a sequel for this book. I enjoyed Six Crimson Cranes a lot, but I found myself speeding through this book, wanting to finish it more than I wanted to enjoy it. The writing isn't bad and neither is the plot, this book was just the wrong place, wrong time for me.

“You are the light that makes my lantern shine.”

I have been absolutely DYING to read this book, I pre ordered it the second it online. So, I was over the moon when I was fortunate enough to be given an ARC copy! So thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read it a bit earlier in exchange for a review.

The Dragons Promise picks up right for where we left Shiori in Six Crimson Cranes, as she finds herself diving into the depths of the sea, exploring the dragon realm Ai'long while she strives to complete her quest.

I will admit I was worried that this book would just be a big giant love triangle and not much else, and if you are anything like me, I HATE love triangles. Thankfully that wasn’t the case! Although there is a romance woven throughout the book, much like it was in Six Crimson Cranes, what is really at the forefront, is family and the love that Shiori has for everyone, her brothers, her stepmother, and her friends.

Shiori continues to make very questionable choices throughout, but she was fun to read about and I was really routing for her the entire time. My main criticism of the book was that a lot of characters I loved really didn’t get much page time which was quite disappointing and overall, the ending felt quite rushed. Though, did I cry like a baby at the end? You betchya!

Overall, a lovely ending to a very fun duology. I may have just hyped it up a little too much for myself, so it fell a bit flat for me. I still very much enjoyed reading, it’s perhaps just not as strong a book as the first but regardless of this I would easily give it 3.5 stars.

This book picks up where Six Crimson Cranes ended, with Shiori on her way to give the pearl to the dragon king. A bit like the mountain scenes towards the end of the first book I found a large chunk at the beginning of this book difficult to follow as Shiori was constantly captured and released in the Dragon Kingdom before finally making her way home.

Once Shiori returns to the palace and is reunited with her family I started to enjoy it a bit more. The growing relationship between her and Takkan is super cute and I loved Kiki just as much as I did in the first book. Unfortunately though her brothers’ personalities didn’t shine through in this book and there wasn’t the banter between them that we saw in Six Crimson Cranes.

Overall there were parts I enjoyed but I felt the magic of the first book was lost in this sequel and getting through it was a struggle to the point where I thought about giving up multiple times. Anything with Dragon’s in the title should not be this disappointing.

3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ rounded down

Thank you so much to Hodder&Stoughton and NetGalley for an e-arc of this book.

I did like this book, and would recommend however it just didn’t have the same magic for me that the first book did.

I think the characters weren’t are fleshed out for me as much, also almost half the book was in Ai’long with no real movement forward in the plot, so that things I felt should have had more time didn’t.

Shirori also wasn’t as compelling as a MC, I felt like things happened to her rather than her having as much agency.

I did really love the whole idea of the duology though, and would recommend it.

*Thankyou to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

I really enjoyed reading the first book of this series, so I was excited to get into this one!

The Dragon's Promise picks up right after the cliffhanger Six Crimson Cranes. The first 30% of the book was interesting and engaging, however, the other part of the story didn't hit the mark for me.

Whilst this sequel did encompass and continue the adventure, character development and world building from the first book, I found the actions of the main character disappointing, considering the growth she underwent in the first book.

Overall, this book was great to read, with some lulls and inconsistencies, but it was great to have the story reach its conclusion.