The Dragon's Promise is the concluding book of Elizabeth Lim's Six Crimson Cranes dilogy.

A dynamic concluding volume, of whichI loved every aspect, from the challenging storyline, to the development of the characters and their relationships.

Shiori's journey was adventurous and exciting, sparkling and eventful. A journey that has been able to involve and entertain me from the first to the last page.
I will miss this world and these characters!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC!

The second volume of this duology follows Shiori, her brothers and Takkan as they try to return a Dragon's pearl.

The book immerses you in so many different settings in this world - Ai'long, the home of dragons, Tambu, the home of demons and Lapzur the Wraith's prison. They are all rich with life - though I do think the book spent a little too long under the sea.

The journey these characters are on is set up well, but much as I wanted Shiori to have a happy ending (if you aren't part if the Shiori and Takkan ship, just go away) - I struggled to stay invested in her journey. The pacing, which was so well controlled in the first book, felt over slow in this one and my attention drifted.

That said, I still continued to read, I was invested whilst actually reading and the twists and turns, the character development and the love story underpinning this book were all as good as I wanted them to be.

I'll be reading more from this author very soon!

A lovely follow up to 6 Crimson Cranes which delves more deeply into the dragon culture that was introduced in the first novel. Shiori enters the kingdom of the dragons to honour her promise to her stepmother Raikama to retun the dragon's pearl to its owner. Her quest leads her to a better understanding of her true power and love for her betrothed Takkan.

Princess Shiori must fulfil her promise to her stepmother and return her dragon's pearl to its rightful owner after escaping her fatal curse. Shiori must deal with unusual situations as the journey includes a time-traveling dragon's lair and an island that is the home of demons. Shiori must deal with the pearl as its disordered state threatens to damage people around her while negotiating human politics and its disregard for the magic that runs in her veins. Will she cut the strands of fate or can she mend everything she's done?

The second book of this wonderful series was magical, fantastical and entirely epic! I loved every minute of it and could not put this book down.

Highly recommended!!

**I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

The Dragon’s Promise is a sequel that was just as fun and magical as the first book.

The story picks up exactly where Six Crimson Cranes left off and has us following Shiori on her mission to uphold her promise by travelling all over the kingdom.
I avoid revealing too many plot details when reviewing a sequel due to spoilers but honestly I wouldn’t even know how to summarise the storyline more here. This is one of those books that you won’t be able to guess what direction the adventure will take you next.

There is still a Studio Ghibli / fairytale adventure vibe overall but the scope is a lot broader. From diving deep into the depths of the dragon kingdom to voyaging across the seas to far isles Elizabeth Lim allows us to further explore this beautifully rich world she has imagined which was one of the things I really loved about this book.
Another was Shirori and Takkan. Rereading book one before picking this up made me become enamoured by their slow burn relationship once again and my heart was just swelling watching it continue to blossom here.

Alongside exploring new parts of this world there is a lot more emphasis on the political tensions particularly in Gindara, as well as how the opinions and superstitions of the people surrounding magic come into play. Themes of grief, fear and loss are deeply explored but also love and remembrance.

I felt there was a slight set back however, in that there were various new (and old) characters and lore being introduced which weren’t given enough time to be explored as the focus was very much on Shirori and her journey. The pacing was also quite fast so some of the action scenes felt a little bit rushed and over as soon as they started but it was all so entertaining through and through.
Final Rating – 4.25/5 Stars

This is a little disappointing for the follow up and final novel of the Six Crimson Cranes duology. The problem with basing the first book in your series on a fairytale is how do you follow it up? A similar problem to Sarah J Maas' series. The first novel leans on the fairytale structure; it's outline is already decided, the author just fleshes it out with new characters, a few twists, et voila. Then the author has to write a sequel, so does she pick a new fairytale? Or does she try to build on the finished fairytale? Better to go the Naomi Novik root and just write standalones.

There's a half hearted love triangle in this one, which is the standard requirement for a YA these days, and the heroine is thrown into a lot of self perpetrated peril. The villains are a little one dimensional and overall it's just much more mediocre. Worth reading of you liked the first book, but perhaps don't anticipate a story up to the same hype.

Words cannot describe how good this book was. Elizabeth Lim did it once again. The writing, the plot, the characters (officially comfort ones now) will forever have my heart. The world is truly magical and even though there were parts that didn’t go how I expected (or wanted) I still really enjoyed this book! The story wrapped up well regardless so yes definitely read this!

Six crimson cranes was one of my absolute favourite reads of last year and so I could not wait to pick the second book in the series up.
Unfortunately I didn’t love it as much as the first but I still absolutely loved it - such a magical and beautiful sequel. Elizabeth Lim’s writing is just my kind of perfect.

I want to thank NetGalley, the author Elizabeth Lim and the editor for this ARC. This is my honest opinion.

I loved the magical universe of volume 1 but unfortunately, I had a much harder time following the story of volume 2. This is, of course, my opinion and I do not want to discourage other readers because in fantasy books like here, details that do not pass me, may not pose a problem for others.
I would try to reread this series at another time because I really want to give this book a second chance.

I still love the universe the author created, her imagination, and her way of writing.

I loved six crimson cranes so much and was so excited for this sequel. Lets say this did not disappoint at all. I loved how all of the relationships in this book developed. The new character that was added had me laughing so much.

The plot was so gripping and had me hooked from the first page and that ending was spectacular. I loved how this book was different from the first where it strayed from the fairytale vibes of the first book and i really enjoyed it.

I think this has firmly place Lim in my list of instant buy authors

Off the back of Six Crimson Cranes (which I loved) I was really looking forward to reading the sequel and finding out how it would all end. The story picks up where book 1 left off, with Shiori heading to the dragon kingdom.

Whilst there was a hint of love triangle I am glad that that was not the main focus of the story, I think Shiori was a good main character if not a little too trusting.

I enjoyed Kiki the sassy paper bird sidekick, I do enjoy my characters to give a little sass, I think it makes the characters seem more.. human? I know I definitely rib my friends, a good rule of thumb: if I am mean/tease you it means I like you. (Might be a British thing!)

Without spoilers it is hard to say my true feelings about this book but I do think that Six Crimson Cranes was the better book and could have even been a standalone. I wasn't disappointed by this book it was just not what I thought it was going to be.

Learning about the dragon kingdom was great and whilst I adored the description and world-building of it all, I was a little disappointed that we did not spend more of the story there nor was it brought up again throughout the rest of the book, it made it feel like a loose thread to me.

Can we just share a moment for the beautiful cover art though.. i love it!

Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for providing me with this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I'm so sad I didn't love this cause I loved the first one so much.
It felt rushed, and the first third of the book felt like a completely different story. The villain was average compared to the villain in the first book and the plot was a lot less intriguing.

I still love this world and these characters but this just didn't hit the way it should :(

I loved Six Crimson Cranes so much, so this was so highly anticipated by ME. And I was just waiting to dive into this world again, to get back into the story and see what my favourite characters are up to...But right off the bat, this didn't feel like the same world to me.

It's like something about the writing, or how the author shaped these characters and the story is different. And it was very confusing for me because I kept waiting for it to feel familiar, but it didn't. It just felt off.

I don't think this is a good sequel, and I'm sad I have to say that since I loved Six Crimson Cranes so much.

This was simply the sequel which we did not need. I really enjoyed the first book but this book just felt all over the place.

While I found Shiori's impulsive behaviour endearing in the first book, in this one she just annoyed me to no end. Everyone kept following her into one absurb plan to another without much thought or strategy.

Plotwise, it felt like the author was trying to cram many different storylines into one book which resulted in everything feeling rushed and not of greater significance. Every conflict kept getting resolved very easily because of which the stakes never truly felt that serious.

I like the romance a bit and glad that the author didn't pursue the love triangle but other than that this should have been a standalone.

I have always liked the character - Shiori! She is an adventurous, faithful person who would go to any lengths to keep her word. The book has an engaging arena set-up that makes you delve into it, with little or no realization of real-time. This is also a bonus as the book is 450+ pages long.

Disclaimer: It's the second book in the series, so I recommend that readers go for The Six Crimson Cranes before reading the Dragon's Promise, as the plot is interrelated along with the characters. Plus book two could be a spoiler for book one.

Sadly, I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I did it’s predecessor, Six Crimson Cranes.

Whilst it picked up where we left off, and we got to spend time in the Dragon Kingdom, I really felt we would’ve had more input from Seryu and his family within this book.

I found myself at points in SCC feeling that it was taking a long time to not do very much, and unfortunately found that again within the conclusion in this duology.

The plot of The Dragon’s Promise felt disjointed and like there was many routes that could’ve been explored that weren’t.

I worry my expectations were maybe just a little too high for this one, nevertheless I truly appreciated the E-ARC of this one from the publisher via NetGalley.

I really enjoyed 'Six Crimson Cranes', so I had high hopes for its sequel, 'The Dragon's Promise'. Like its predecessor, Elizabeth Lim was really successful in recreating a fairy-tale atmosphere through her lovely writing. I loved Shiori as a character, and it was great to see her continue to grow in this book.

One of the only downsides of this book was that the pacing was a little slower than 'Six Crimson Cranes' and at times the book dragged a little. However, this didn't hamper my overall enjoyment of the novel.

So if you liked 'Six Crimson Cranes', you'll definitely love 'The Dragon's Promise'.

Six Crimson Cranes is my favourite read of 2022 so far so I was eagerly anticipating the follow up. In The Dragon's Promise, you have an enjoyable follow up that continues the magic of Book 1 really well.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I didn't have time to reread Six Crimson Cranes before I read this, so I only read a recap, which I think did alter my reading as Lim dives straight into the story without a recap of her own, so I felt like I was floundering a bit at the beginning. However, once I settled back into the story I did enjoy it, though it felt quite episodic in places and the writing sometimes did feel like it was aimed at a younger audience, which I don't remember feeling from Lim's other work. It tied up some loose ends very nicely and I particularly enjoyed getting to explore Raikama's past. But I think overall I still prefer the Spin the Dawn duology over this one.

Nooooo! I really wanted to love this, but I found it meh! Nooooo!

I think the blurb is misleading, a lot of what is written there doesn't happen, or if it is in there it's more hinted at ot 'told' than shown. There's no political intrigue, Shiori never tries to cultivate the perfect princess persona (though she does moan about having to try to sometimes), but my main difficulty was how fractured this book felt!

It starts off right where the first one ended, with Shiori heading out to sea with Seryu, and I was so excited, the underwater realm is great, the dragons suitably threatening, and there's some real fantasy peril, but the way she is put into various dangerous situations, but then gets out of them because the villains change their mind, or something random happens started to grate. And what on earth has happened to Seryu!

<spoiler>
Apart from just vanishing for the last half of the book, like just that's it, his story's done, over, we don't need to see him anymore, when he is involved, it's to try and force Shiori into marriage!!! She forgives him extremely quickly as it seems to transpire he didn't really mean it, and had a plan all along, but there was no real reason why, if that was the case, Shiori couldn't be in on the plan, since the author had already established that the dragons couldn't read her mind, and she could communicate with Kiki. Also, there was so much mention of Seryu's disappointment with Shiori's unwillingness, that it seemed clear that if she had gone ahead with the marriage/bonding, even if it was in a time of duress and danger, he would have let the whole thing happen.
That is not ok, and I am not a fan of Seryu any more! But anyway, he lets her go (how kind of him!) and we never speak of him again.
</spoiler>

After leaving the dragon kingdom, I did like the relationship with Shiori's brothers and that her father, the emperor got more page-time, but rehashing abandoning Takkan at the betrothal ceremony, despite being deliberate, felt a bit lame and like it would have been unconvincing and unnecessary, and was just there because a quick scene shift was needed.

I still like Takkan, but again, he didn't get that much attention. The back story of the stepmother from book one was nice, and I think it would have been nicer for more of this kind of character connection, and less of the plot jumps. As with the first book, the climactic defeat of evil was not the end, there was another bit of work to be done. I didn't really understand why it finished the way it did <spoiler> i.e. why by using the strands of her soul, they then also randomly got taken by the demons, meaning she had to die and be brought to life again</spoiler> and I didn't get the sudden appearance of the moon goddess, there hadn't really been any mention of her before, so her intervention seemed out of the blue.

So, yes, I know this isn't the opinion of most of the readers, so do read other reviews, most I've seen are rave reviews, and I did like parts of the book, I just wish it had lived up to the Dragon's Promise of the title!
(I think I also missed the point of the title, not sure which dragon or which promise we're talking about, the dragons kinda faded from the picture after the first third of the book or so, and no-one really promised anything, or at least, if they did, I can't remember.)

For me, I'll keep Six Crimson Cranes as a standalone, and try and ignore the cliffhanger at the end.