“You are the light that makes my lantern shine”

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The Dragon's Promise is the last volume that concludes Elizabeth Lim's Six Crimson Cranes dilogy.
Princess Shiori's journey was adventurous, often sad and emotional. After finishing Six Crimson Cranes and having such an exciting ending, I was very curious to know what was going to happen. I am infinitely grateful that I had the opportunity to preview this book.

Spoiler about the book
What's up?
Shiori promised on her stepmother's deathbed to return the dragon pearl to her rightful owner, but this proves very dangerous. Then she goes on a journey with Seryu, finds in this incredible world where a lot of political intrigues between dragons and humans await us, trying in every way not to get the pearl stolen.
Despite the magic in Shiori's blood, the pearl is imbued with evil power, helping her princess but at the same time threatening to kill her, Takkan, and her family.
Shiori finds herself fighting to defend love, family and above all life.

What Shiori faces in this second volume, the challenges she faces her put a strain on her, not only physically, but above all psychologically and emotionally. It will not be easy for her to deliver the pearl to her owner.
The last few chapters have thrilled me a lot, I cried and it was a perfect ending to say the least.

I LOVED THIS WITH MY WHOLE ENTIRE HEART AND SOUL.

I adored Six Crimson Cranes and this sequel just smashed my expectations out of the park. I love all the relationships developed in this book (I will give no spoilers but I am SO IN LOVE with the developments and new character relationships!) I especially loved our new comical character!

I really enjoyed the gripping plot line and the cliffhanger ending has ruined my life.

I NEED MORE PLEASE!

This book definitely had a different vibe and strayed away from the fairytale vibes of the first book but I loved the route Lim took with this book and I cannot wait for more.

3.5 stars

I didn't like this as much as Six Crimson Cranes, and lately I've been seeing a pattern because Elizabeth's first books in her series are always the best one in comparison to the sequel for me. Her world building and character introductions in the first books are definitely what draws me in to the story and unfortunately I didn't really feel that in the second.

Her prose is still amazing. The world still feels magical, and reuniting with these beloved characters was certainly fun. I also really liked the romance between Takkan and Shiori like I did in Six Crimson Cranes. What I didn't really like was the messiness of the plot - I feel like there was so much going on especially with Shiori and they weren't fleshed out fully. I feel like I jumped from a storyline to another but sadly, because they weren't fleshed out it was very hard for me to actually be engaged for the plot and not just for the characters. I also feel like Shiori lacked the development that she has had in the first book as well.

One thing I can say about Elizabeth Lim's books: the main character can never catch a break in their second book.

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for the e-ARC.

ARC REVIEW

This book is the sequel to Six Crimson Cranes which I absolutely adored, and I couldn't wait to read it.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book too. The story was gripping and compelling and I think the plot was very well executed.

It was a little bit more fast-paced than the first book; it seemed like way more happened in The Dragon's Promise than in Six Crimson Cranes.

I liked the characters a lot, especially Kiki and Shiori, and I loved the parts that were about Raikama. I do wish there was a little bit more interaction with the brothers in the book, because they blended into one a little bit, but that's just personal preference.

I gave this book 4.5 stars (rounded up to 5 for net galley) and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy. I can't wait to read whatever Elizabeth Lim writes next.

This book was everything I expected it to be - a heartwarming and beautiful story. I loved it sooooo much and I'm so grateful that I got to read it in advance, I can't wait to recommend it to everyone haha. It was even better than the first book. Elizabeth Lim is such an amazing author and I love her work!

Dragon’s Promise

I had high hopes for this book, and I was not disappointed.

I really enjoyed the character building and the writing is just beautiful.

The Dragon’s Promise is a great sequel. It improves on the storytelling from the first book and I really enjoyed both the character and world building from and world building from Six Crimson Cranes.

Wonderful read.

What happened to the pacing in this one. Six Crimson Cranes was a pleasant enough book, a slow burn that found its pace in the second half but Dragon’s Promise seemed to meander off its path multiple times. I found myself wondering what the point of a certain dragon in book 2 was as he is barely mentioned and the ending felt almost, quick let’s put him back. I spent most of Dragon’s Promise wondering if we were getting a third only for it to end. It was enjoyable enough but I wouldn’t read them again.

First off, thank you to Netgalley and Hodder Stoughton for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to read this having finished Six Crimson Cranes recently. This book picks up pretty much where the last book left off with Shiori and Seryu travelling to the Dragon Realm to present the broken pearl to the Dragon King.

I loved Shiori's relationship with Takkan in this book, though Takkan is so stupidly brave and endlessly patient. I would have liked more interactions with her brothers in this book, but they were great for the parts they were in.

The romantic scenes in this book were my favourite ones. This book had me crying more than I was expecting, particularly when it came to Shiori speaking about Raikama.

Bandur, the villain in this book was kind of annoying and quite disappointing when compared to Raikama in the previous book.

The dragon stuff at the start was interesting, though felt almost like a separate book to the rest of it. The rest of the book, with Shiori attempting to find the Wraith and defeat Bandur just seemed to drag in comparison.

The ending also just wasn't it for me, which is a shame. Just isn't how I like my books to end. The epilogue didn't fix it that much for me either.

The book was beautifully written, and overall I really enjoyed reading this. I have to say though, in my opinion Six Crimson Cranes outshined this book. Though having seen some other reviews, I may be in the minority there?

This is an excerpt of my full review, which can be found here: https://thebooksintheirhands.wordpress.com/2022/05/15/six-crimson-cranes-the-dragons-promise-elizabeth-lim/

The Dragon’s Promise rejoins Shiori in trying to fulfil a promise she’d made by Raikama’s deathbed in Book 1. Shiori will now return the broken pearl only to the dragon with the strength to make it whole once more. Once inside the Dragon Kingdom, Shiori and Seryu realise that a shard of the mirror of truth must be stolen from Lady Solyaza to find the long lost half-dragon (the Wraith) and return the pearl to him. From here, the plot forks out into multiple adventures: keeping the dragon pearl safe, finding the Wraith to return the pearl, and trapping the Wolf to truly prevent a demon uprising in Kiata.

I found that, much to my relief, the Shiori-Seryu-Bushian Takkan love triangle was dispelled almost as quickly as it was implied: whilst in the Dragon Kingdom, Shiori is almost forced to marry Seryu but refuses him by declaring: “I’m no concubine, Seryu, especially not yours.” I was really pleased to see that Seryu remained a respectful friend to Shiori after she had refused his hand, as this made their parting bittersweet.

In The Dragon’s Promise, Lim upholds the endearing romance between Shiori and Bushian Takkan which was set up in Six Crimson Cranes. Takkan is a respectful character with both the patience and strong loyalty to make his blind love for Shiori believable. It was definitely a suprise to see Takkan be unbothered by Shiori bringing an abrupt end to their betrothal for the second time, however, this makes all the more sense when you realise just how Takkan understood her intentions (she ran out of the wedding with him, not from him). Overall, I enjoyed the rosy shade of hope and comfort which their romance brought to the adventure. And I’m glad that Lim achieved this without overwriting the development of Shiori’s independent and headstrong personality.

The Dragon’s Promise, like Six Crimson Cranes, is rooted in all kinds of love: not just romantic but platonic, familial and even self-directed love. It’s love which is found in Seryu’s strong bond to Shiori, their great friendship put to the test when he plans for her success against the will of his own family in the Dragon Kingdom; it’s in Shiori’s love for her brothers, a believable motivation which propels the princess’ fight forwards throughout the story; and finally, it’s in Shiori’s paper bird, Kiki, with her huge presence and humorous comments which speak as if straight from her unconscious. Undoubtedly my favourite element of the story, Kiki felt like the most apt physical manifestation of Shiori’s own belief in herself and her power.

The Six Crimson Cranes duology strikes a perfect balance between imagination and traditional mythology. It was a thrilling adventure – I’d often found myself on the edge of my seat, wondering how Shiori would save herself from trouble (bless her reckless act-now, think-later mentality…!) Where the plot unravels into multiple differing quests, romances and identity plots, be assured that all threads eventually twist back together into a satisfying and beautiful resolution.

Written with huge thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the eARC of The Dragon’s Promise.

I read the first book in this series only a couple of months ago and I couldn't wait to get into the next one. And I wasn't disappointed, My favourite character is still Kiki and the paper bird was a great relief from some of the darker themes in the book. This book did feel slightly like it was two separate books as the first half was in the dragon realm and was about Shiori's week with the dragons and the second half was about her and the demon from the first book and the dragons were barely mentioned in the second half which did put me off a little bit as I loved the dragons and the dragon realm sp much and wanted more form them.
The writing in this book was also amazing and I was never drawn out of the book and was always rooting for the characters and was sad at times when they got hurt.
I did think that it dragged on a little bit at the end and thought that some of the parts that happened at the end did come out of nowhere I loved every second of reading this and will definitely be getting the physical book to go with my first book.

I nearly started ugly crying before I even got to the first page, so I think that summarises how I felt about this book.

The imagery and world building, once again, was beautiful, and it was easy to visualise everything from the dragon realm, to the food dishes. The world building was a lot better than six crimson cranes and the plot flowed easily, despite a lot happening.

The story introduces us to new characters almost immediately, which I was very excited by, as I loved the entire portion of the story that was set under sea in the dragon realm, and thought the new dragon's would be interesting character's, however it was short lived and most of the dragon's didn't seem to have major roles, even though it was insinuated they would. We saw Seryu, very briefly for the first few chapters, but then he was dismissed and wasn't seen again for the rest of the story, as it mostly focused on Shiori and Takkan's romance and the demons. The newest character Gen, a boy Shiori saves in the dragon dungeons was a great addition to the story, and added a lot of light and humour.

I wasn't a very big fan of the focus changing from the dragons to the demons, but I understood why it happened, I just personally would have loved to see more of Seryu, his appearance was brief, the story line of him growing as a dragon felt rushed and there was a hint of a love triangle which I am glad wasn't continued from scc.

Shiori didn't have much character growth, and became even more reckless and impulsive than the first book, and that at times became quite annoying, and repetitive. Due to the story focusing on the romance, which was cute and had great chemistry, I felt the story lost the strong familial bond that I loved so much in scc, as the brother's were not the focus of the story.

The writing redeemed the minor problems I had with the book, and the small moments where Shiori was surrounded by love and support were very sweet. I thought the plot was great, and wrapped up nicely, and had a nice balance of magic and action.

Overall, the story was beautiful, and as one of my most anticipated reads of the year, I was not disappointed.

This story was just excellent and such an excellent continuation to Six Crimson Cranes (which I also loved). I also adored this book and gave it 5 shiny stars!
The story picked up right where the last book had left, with Shiori about to embark on an epic quest. I was instantly brought into an adventure.
I loved the character growth and enjoyed all of the characters from the first book having their time to shine. I also enjoyed meeting new characters. Kiki was as bossy and hilarious as always and I think may be my favourite character. She was far more vocal in this book and I loved it!
I feel like so many of my questions from the first book were answered. I absolutely loved getting more backstory, I think that was my favourite part.
I really enjoyed getting to know more about the world and the different environments.
During the last 15% of the book I could barely read the words as I was crying so hard (full on ugly sobbing!), but I persisted and was rewarded with a beautiful ending.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ebook in exchange for an honest review. I have this book on preorder and cannot wait to own a physical copy!

The Dragon’s Promise is a great sequel! It only improves on the gorgeous storytelling and world building that we’re introduced to in Six Crimson Cranes.

Six Crimson Cranes used to come on my amazon shopping page more times than I can remember. I would open the book description, stare at the beautiful cover, add it to cart, and then not buy it because the second part wasn’t out.

So imagine my eagerness when I saw ‘The Dragon’s Promise’on NetGalley. I couldn’t not request it. And I was over the moon when my request was approved.

I loved reading ‘Six Crimson Cranes’. It is a fairytale retelling which binds a beautifully story with threads of love, family, and magic. And for once I didn’t have to wait for the next part when I finished it.

‘The Dragon’s Promise’ was a little less impressive than my expectation but it has still done a brilliant job of continuing Shiori’s story and tying the different threads together. It combines the world of dragons, demons, humans,and Gods and I love how they are all given representation and a chance to live out their true selves.

It almost felt like reading three books. Shiori’s journey to Ailong, to Lapzur, and her struggles in Kiata. It felt stretched at times but it had big shoes to fill with Six Crimson Cranes.

I don’t want to give too many details in case it spoils the fun for those waiting. But the world is much more vibrant and wide and full of surprises. Shiori’s character for me grew selfish(not always a bad thing) but someone who took her family and brothers for granted. But, I loved Takkan’s character. Even Seryu grew on me a little more. And Shiori’s brothers are the most selfless bunch ever.

Overall a great duology to pick and add to your collection. I am dying to get my hands on the book once it comes out.

The beginning was full of action and commotion, which I enjoyed, particularly when Shiori ventured into the sea, which the author beautifully depicted. Despite the quick start, the pace started to slow around halfway through. The plot becomes multi-layered; apparently, Shiori must complete many tasks, so it feels jumbled, disconnected from the rest of the plot, and rather boring.

I kept pushing it despite my exhaustion because I adore the characters, particularly Takkan 😭

Shiori was much more reckless and tough here; her bravery in returning dragon pearls many times made me worry about the safety of the people she cares about, but what I like best is her loyalty to someone she loves remains strong despite the fact that this book implies a love triangle.

Although Shiori's underwater adventure with Seyru was a lot of fun, Seyru appears ineffective here. However, one character's appearance caught me off guard. This character was in the author's previous duology, and their brief meeting helped to heal my longing for him ♡

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC ♡

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. It is a beautiful and immersive experience full of twists and turns and provided a great conclusion to Shiori's adventure. I am very grateful to have been given the chance to read it as an eARC since I was so curious to find out what happened next!

The pace of The Dragon's Promise felt much faster than that of Six Crimson Cranes and much more adventurous. We are thrown right into the action and it rarely ever slows down (which felt really great). I love how Shiori grows and evolves throughout both books but especially in this one. Also, and without giving a lot away, really enjoyed finding out more about some of the characters that were introduced to us in the first book - it's a great way to allow for proper character exploration (testing the waters in book one and delving deeper in book two). I think having it as a duology was a good decision for pace but I do wish we had gotten longer to explore certain relationships and regions of this gorgeous world!

The ending was very satisfying too (I feel like not everyone does their characters justice in this genre so I am very appreciative when this happens) and I am very much an Elizabeth Lim convert - certainly an automatic buy author from now on!

PS: Im the future, I will be found campaigning for more Seryu stories.

I'm sad to rate this so low but it falls flat in comparison to Six of Crimson Cranes. I was so excited to read this book and am left somewhat disappointed.

Lim's writing style was as beautiful as always and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about shiori again I just felt the story took a turn from what I expected. Six of Crimson Cranes would have been better as a stand alone . This felt like a different story with the same characters.

Six Crimson Cranes was my favourite book of last year. The prose was wonderful, the setting was fantastic and the characters were so fun to follow.
The Dragon's Promise didn't live up to the first book for me. The pacing was all over the place - I frequently thought I was coming to the end of the book only to find I was barely halfway through. There were so many plot points packed into it but it felt like very little development happened.
Lim's world-building is exquisite but we just didn't get to see enough of it. She flashed through so many plots and areas there just wasn't time to flesh it out properly and it lost the meandering fairytale feel of Cranes. I was hoping desperately it would slow down so we could explore the new places, characters and developments but the pacing was almost manic in its brevity.
I honestly believe it would have benefited from being a longer series, with extra space for the world and characters to breathe.
The Dragon's Promise was fine and enjoyable, but slightly missed the mark for me and lacked that captivating spark that Six Crimson Cranes had. I still want more from this world and it's characters and it feels like there's plenty more behind the scenes we never got to see.
It is still a duology I recommend, though perhaps with slightly less gusto than before.

I was so excited to see more of Seryu in this book, and that was truly the highlight for me! He is a stand out character with loads of personality.

The romance in the book was also really sweet, and were my favourite parts of this story.

Unfortunately, I do wish we’d seen more of the brothers and the other characters had more development. They still felt a little flat to me, and left me just wanting a little more all round.

If you loved Six Crimson Cranes I don’t think you’d be disappointed!

Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to start by saying that Six Crimson Cranes was one of my favourite fantasy releases of last year. Action, Romance, Dragons… What more could you ask for?

This sequel is not quite as spellbinding as the first novel. For me I found that a lot of the pacing was off. In the first book I was far more interested in the plot than the romance, so I was expecting that to be the case in this book too.

Boy was I wrong. I really enjoyed exploring Ai’long - the worldbuilding was excellent and exciting - The romance was the main driver of the book for me. They were very much in puppy love (and no love triangle!)

Outside of that, It felt like a lot of the characters from the first novel were left behind in the plot (not unexpected but a little dissapoinintg) and there was much less of the sibling relationship that shone in the first novel.

Bandur, the villan was much more stereotypical and therefore less interesting than Raikama who’s twisted motivations made the plot more compelling.

Overall a little underwhelming, but still a solid fantasy book. I can’t help the feeling that SCC could have become a much more satisfying standalone.