I am disappointed..

Six Crimson Cranes was one of my favorite books so I dived into the sequel with high expectations. Unfortunately, The Dragon’s Promise failed to fulfill them. For most of the times, the plot feel dragged and my love for the characters were not enough to keep my attention engaged. Still, I love them and enjoyed the part where Shiori visited Seryu’s home.

DNF at 32%

Six Crimson Cranes was literally one of my best reads of last year, so needless to say, I was hyped for this book! The former ends with Shiori needing to go into the dragon realm and it's exactly that. The magic system was very great (as in the first book!) but I think what didn't really work was the pace of the plot. There wasn't much happening in the beginning, and also the inclusion of the love triangle trope made me drop the book. I hope that I can pick this up in the future and enjoy it, but now's clearly not the time

Thanks to the Publisher for sending me an e-ARC via Netgalley.

The pace of the book is quite moderate, yet the action is never still for the characters. As soon as one issue is remedied, a new one needs to be addressed right away. This may help to avoid tale lulls that would cause a reader to lose interest, but it also creates a fast-paced environment that makes reading tiresome. Even supposedly tranquil times, like when Shiori bakes cakes in Sundau, don't last for more than a few paragraphs before a fresh catastrophe strikes the group of people. Shiori isn't as impulsive today as she was at the beginning of the duology, so perhaps the reader should also be given a rest from time to time? I know this speed mirrors Shiori's own temperament.

This could have been a fantastic sequel if the focus of the first book had been the realm of dragons. It didn't feel necessary in the way it was written, and it made me question if Six Crimson Cranes would have been better off as a solo novel that was a few chapters longer to wrap up loose ends.

A great read to learn more about our MC, I enjoyed learning more about the dragon kingdom and seeing KiKi again!
Exploring Shioris relationship with her family and learning more about her step mothers past. All the way through I was thinking I'd love to read a book about her and then saw the news about the new book!
Shioris romance I love in this, it really moved me. Their connection and the threads that connect us through life.
I found this a bit more young adult, and know that is who it is directed too! Loved revisiting her brothers and the journeys they have been on to.
Highly recommend this read!

Elizabeth Kim’s books are impossible not to love, the world building, the character development and the storytelling are just exquisite. I always worry with a sequel that it won’t live up to the first but I adored it.
This world filled with magic and daemons and dragons and wonder is incredible and I never want it to end! Magical!

While I enjoyed this and was overall happy with it I did feel it lacked some of the atmosphere and warmth from the first book. The characters were still all great but this fell a little flat compared to the first one. But it was still enjoyable and I did like reading it. The audiobook was done well and I really appreciated the narrator.

This book was written so well. The setting, the characters, the plot. I enjoyed how all the characters interacted with each other and how they gelled

I was immediately drawn into this series with the author's whimsical and enchanting world-building. It's a fairy tale come to life, with soft pastels and a magical ambiance that transports you to a different realm. This book offers the perfect blend of comfort and action, making it an ideal read for anyone seeking an adventure without all the anxious moments that you’d typically encounter. A real comfort read for me.
Although this book was unlike anything I've read before, I was captivated from beginning to end. I enjoyed learning about a different way of life and immersing myself in the camaraderie and folklore that infused the story with charm.
While the second book didn't have the intensity of the first, it was still a good read. The first book set a high bar.
Elizabeth Lim has crafted a masterpiece that I would highly recommend to anyone seeking a captivating and enchanting read. She appears to effortlessly craft magical kingdoms that the reader is immediately immersed into without any laborious world building or info dumping - something rarely seen in other fantasy books. I'm eagerly looking forward to more work from this talented author.

As with many YA fantasy duologies, I'm not sure this second book was as strong as the first, Six Crimson Cranes. It's still an enjoyable story, but it seemed to lack the narrative oomph of the first book - I read them back to back and I think I would have been satisfied to end with Six Crimson Cranes, but I did like the extra time I got to spend with these characters. The writing and atmosphere are still beautiful, so that's worth a lot!

I absolutely loved continuing the story of Six Crimson Cranes and diving back into the work Lim created.

Very well written story by the author. A great sequel to the first book. Loved the Chinese traditions. Beautiful story.

4.5 stars
I loved being back in this magical world and with these amazing characters. Elizabeth Lim is an amazing author whose writing is just pure bliss and I cannot wait to read more of her work in the future.

I think I enjoyed this one even more that the first and whilst I'm sad it's over I feel like this story wrapped up well!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Sorry the review is so late!

I really struggled to build a picture of the setting and characters in this series as a whole. I was s so excited to read this and explore the mythology that inspired it but i just could not get into it, perhaps it was just slightly too young a YA for me.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Characters: 6.5/10
Enjoyment: 6/10
Plot: 5.5/10
Worldbuilding: 7/10
Writing: 10/10

Unfortunately, after reading more than half of the book, I found myself no longer invested in the plot. Shiori started getting on my nerves. Her brashness can be endearing for only so long. A lot of her actions in this book were dumb. Luckily, for her, Takkan had enough patience to put up with her. Kiki was amazing as ever. I didn't really see the point in the love triangle with Seryu. It seemed as if that (and helping her out of Ai'long) was the only reason he even existed as a character, which is a pity. He had potential.

Too much was crammed into the book, as some things felt rushed and resolved a bit too easily. Brotherly and sisterly love was probably supposed to be one of the main themes. That aspect wasn't done quite well. Yes, we're told how much they love each other. But that's just about it. Her brothers are more of a backdrop. They aren't very developed and don't have any distinct personality that would differentiate them from each other. Readers do not get to know them the way Shiori does. The relationship between Takkan and his sister Megari was portrayed better. Unlike Shiori's brothers, Kiki is an amazingly developed character and I absolutely adored her.
Six crimson cranes left a really good impression on me, but the sequel was a miss and did not conclude the duology in a satisfying manner. The first book would have been near perfect, were it a little longer and with a different conclusion to make it a standalone.

like the first book more but okay. still would die for the dragon boi.

- thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC.

As always, I provide a caveat at the beginning of my review of a sequel. The first kind of person who is looking at this is one who has read both books and is comparing notes. The second is someone who has read the first and is wondering if they should pick the next up. The last has not read the first, and the only thing in here for them is whether they can read this as a standalone.
Since this review, in its entirety, will help with the first kind, I will start with the next point. If you have read the first (or my review of it), you will know that it is a retelling of an older 'fairy tale', and it has its own whimsical voice. There was a lot to unpack towards the end of the narrative, and the romance at its centre was familiar but sweet. It would even make sense to be happy with that plot and assume there's a happily ever after and not read the second.
I am not providing that recommendation because the book is bad - it is unlike the first. The tone of the narration and the plot here felt more in tune with other fantasy books where a central figure goes on a quest for lasting peace. The quest is littered with hurdles, and the world under the sea is not friendly. Our princess spends a large part of the book trying to survive the dragons only to come onshore to find her being viewed with more suspicion than the events should have warranted.
There is a lot of travel, and a lot more ground (literally and figuratively) is covered in this tale. I actually found a physical copy of the book in the library, and it is definitely a treat. The cover draws you in.
For the last kind of person, I think this is a book where one can take a calculated risk. The emotional factor focuses on other people in this adventure, with a very different feel. So if one is used to plunging into a narrative and figuring out where they stand, this is one of the few sequels where it might just work. Especially since I have mentioned multiple times, the 'feel' of the tale works out in a different fashion than the first.
I would recommend this series to those people who have tired of the more generic tales in this genre! I would definitely pick up another book by the author.
I originally received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience of the physical book.

I started off with very high expectations for this book after six crimson cranes, which I truly enjoyed. I have to say that overall, I found The Dragon's Promise a little underwhelming in comparison to all the hype surrounding its release.

Initially, it was enjoyable being reintroduced into Elizabeth Lim's beautifully crafted world, and seeing the characters we had all missed. However, as the novel went on, the number of plot points introduced began to feel overwhelming and rushed. Rather than concluding each plot point and taking the time to properly build another, it felt like there was too much being shoved into the one book, especially as the final book to the duology.

Even so, the writing was amazingly carried out as Elizabeth Lim's past works, and the book proved to be another fascinating piece into her world.

A sweet ending to this duology that added new information and tied up the loose ends created from the last book. I enjoyed that we got to find out more about the dragons and the world under the ocean, as well as Shiori discovering more about Raikama and the magic of their world. However, I did feel that Six Crimson Cranes could have been made stronger if the main elements from this sequel were added to it to make it a strong stand alone. I felt like there were lots of extended scenes that didn't add a great deal to the story and Shiori often ended up in similar situations to the first book, attesting to a lack of character growth. Overall, I did enjoy it because it added to the detail that I wanted from book one, but it took awhile to get there!

I will genuinely read anything that Elizabeth Lim writes - THIS WAS SO GOOD!!!! I love this book so much and I can't wait for Her Radiant Curse!!!!!!! Shiori is one of my all-time favourite characters now, absolutely adore her.
Thank you for the eARC, I ended up buying both the Fairyloot and Waterstones editions because I really am unhinged and shouldn't be allowed adult money

I dnfed this one ! It didn't have the same effect or magic like the first book. I tried to push through it that much but I was not able to connect with the plot or characters that much and I felt like the story was dragging so much