The Dragon's Promise (Six Crimson Cranes #2)

luce (currently recovering from a hiatus)

Rating: really liked it
why are all my most anticipated 2022 releases so disappointing 😭

Please, let there be no love triangle

If you’ve read my review for Six Crimson Cranes you know just how much I loved that book. While I was concerned that the sequel would include a wholly unnecessary love triangle angle, I wasn’t at all preoccupied with the possibility of not liking it. And of course, 2022 being my underwhelming reading year, it turns out that *plot twist* I low-key disliked almost everything about this book. With a few modifications, Six Crimson Cranes could have easily been a stand-alone novel, and I actually think it would have resulted in an even stronger book. Alas, as this is a duology, we get The Dragon's Promise, a lukewarm finale that came across as boring and repetitive. Characters I previously enjoyed reading came across as very one-dimensional, the villain was far less compelling than the (apparent) one from Six Crimson Cranes, and the meandering plot failed to grab my attention. One too many chapters end with Shiori falling and or possibly facing some other type of danger (being attacked etc.). While the story doesn’t include an actual love triangle it teases one, something that I almost found more annoying than having to put up with a proper love triangle.
If you, like me, loved Six Crimson Cranes I’d still recommend you check out this sequel as you might find it a more captivating read than I did.

If you don’t mind reading minor spoilers here is my more in-depth(ish) review:

The Dragon's Promise picks up right after the cliffhanger Six Crimson Cranes. Shiori and Seryu have gone to the kingdom of dragons so Shiori can give the dragon’s pearl to the king of dragons, Seryu’s grandfather. But, Shiori doesn’t really plan on handing him the pearl as she promised her stepmother on her deathbed that she would return the pearl to its true owner. How she planned on escaping the consequences of not doing what she said she would is a mystery to me. Of course, the king is not pleased with her refusal to hand the pearl over to him and this results in a lot of back-and-forths where Shiori repeatedly believes that her newfound allies may or may not have betrayed her. Shiori is imprisoned, freed, imprisoned, freed, and so on. She comes across a character that will quite clearly play a role later on in the story but I didn’t find him as amusing as the narrative tried to make him into. Seryu’s character becomes rather unlikable and his bond to Shiori didn’t feel particularly believable. He confesses to having feelings for her (or something to that effect) but Shiori loves Takkan so she turns him down. She does now and again seem to entertain the possibility of being with Seryu but not in any serious capacity. For plot reasons, the two are of course forced into an engagement. It would have been far more refreshing to have their relationship as strictly platonic as I am tired of these YA novels where we have these two hot guys falling in love with the spunky clumsy heroine who has only very superficial and off-page friendships (here there is a weak attempt at giving her a positive relationship with a girl her age but funnily enough this friendship is mostly relegated off-page because of plot reasons).
After what felt like forever Shiori returns home and reunites with her beloved and her own family. Her brothers, who felt like such a crucial element from 1, are given very few lines and the remainder of the book sees Shiori and Takkan travel from place to place in an attempt to defeat the Bad Guy and are later on aided by a witty side character we met earlier in the book. I didn’t feel the stakes, the Bad Guy was very cartoonish, and the plot was just repetitive. In no time Shiori’s act-now-think-never attitude started to irritate me and while the story seems intent on portraying her as extremely special or whatever I didn’t feel that she was a particularly memorable or unique character. I missed the atmosphere of the first book as here that spellbinding magic is lost to samey action sequences.
Additionally, the dialogue was distractingly anachronistic. I don’t understand why the author randomly dropped archaic words into the characters’ dialogues as they merely stood out and consequently took me out of the story.
This was a deeply disappointing sequel. Not only did it make me fall out of love with the characters and setting of its predecessor but it was just a painfully ‘meh’ read. The content struck me as boorishly vanilla and Disneyesque (not in a good way as, so far as i remember, there were no lgbtq+ characters…).
I wish I could have loved it but as things stand the only reason why I gave The Dragon's Promise a 3-star rating is out of my love for Six Crimson Cranes.

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Nihitha

Rating: really liked it
It's been ten minutes since I've completed Six Crimson Cranes, such a perfect and beautiful book. Ten goddamn minutes. Sure, it had a satisfying, exquisitely written ending but I still want more. How the hell am I going to survive a whole year waiting for the sequel? HOW?

GUYS! WE HAVE A TITLE!!!

POEKURA

Rating: really liked it
MANIFESTING NO LOVE TRIANGLE

🕯PLEASE GOD HERE ME OUT🕯

dian

Rating: really liked it
after that cliffhanger i need it sooner than in 2022

lisa (lewis hamilton's version)

Rating: really liked it
Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for providing me with this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. This opinion is my own.

Let's say that was an interesting choice to end a duology to say the least.

I adored Six Crimson Cranes and since I finished that book, I have been waiting endlessly to have this one in my hands, but now that I have finished it, I can't help but be bitterly disappointed. This book follows the events at the end of Book 1 (iykyk) and Shiori has to visit the dragons' realm, Ai'long in order to save her country. She is accompanied by Seryu, her friend, but also a prince of the realm.
The first part of the story I really enjoyed. I love seeing Shiori, Kiki, and Seryu navigating the complicated politics and the unexpected problems in Ai'long. The action was thrilling, and I was very excited to see how the rest of the book would play out (spoilers alert: I was disappointed).
To sum up, this part of the book was a solid 4-stars but the rest was barely a 2-stars, and I want to explain why.
First of all, the characterization in this book has gone completely off-railed. Reading about Shiori, whom I loved and loved in Six Crimson Cranes, just annoyed me to no end in this book. You might think that with all she had experienced in Book 1 and in this book, she would have acted differently (or at least, more thoroughly, because, despite everything, she is still a 17-years-old princess). But TDP feels like reading about Shiori acting recklessly all over again with no repercussions, which brings me to my next point.
Everything in this book is so damn convenient it feels like an old-time Disney movie. This universe has HUGE stakes, but somehow everything is resolved so smoothly despite poor planning and very, very reckless actors. And the ending oh my god. I was so angry at the end because it was so convenient it seems impossible (right intervention at the right time)
Moreover, this book has SO MUCH potential with the new plotlines, but everything is wrapped up so quickly that we barely have the time to thoroughly enjoy the fresh elements. For example, we meet a new character who appeared like three times, and then they are gone, while if explored thoroughly, they could have been such a good character and a key element to the intrigue. Additionally, there is also this new plotline concerning a cult, and I really think that it would have been a wonderful addition to the story if it were developed sooner.

I want to mark this as a spoiler although it isn't really one, to be honest, I don't really get the title and the cover. Seryu appeared for like 30% of the book and then he just left Shiori alone on the mainland. Is it because of that ending?

To sum up my thoughts The Dragon's Promise was a very disappointing read for me considering how much I loved Six Crimson Cranes. I only give this 3/5 because I love Takkan (he deserves the world) and Seryu (the one the only the bitch). Otherwise, this is an underwhelming conclusion to a duology with a lot of potential but was unfortunately torn up by bad choices from the author.

Diane

Rating: really liked it
Please don’t be a love triangle Please don’t be a love triangle Please don’t be a love triangle..

Laney

Rating: really liked it
Me jumping into underwater dragon kingdom



WHEEEEEEEE

hiba

Rating: really liked it
i really enjoyed six crimson cranes when i read it last year so it hurts to acknowledge how painfully average its sequel is.

the first 30% was completely disconnected from the rest of the plot and felt like a whole other story. the magical underwater dragon city is a pretty nice concept so i don't understand why the author decided to abandon it for the demon plotline, which was frankly lame and boring as hell. the main goal was vague and not as compelling as the one in the first book. the plot after the first 30% felt random and all over the place, especially towards the end - it felt like the author was coming up with ideas on the spot to keep the story going somehow. plus, some ideas from the first book were repeated here - it almost felt as if the author was forced to write this sequel.

personally, i think characters like shiori and takkan can only remain charming for one book - the more i got of them, the more they started to wear me out (although i admit their romance is cute). there were a couple of new characters introduced who had a lot of potential but sadly they turned out to be pointless and played no significant role in the plot.

honestly, the dragon's promise feels a bit of an unnecessary book to me - six crimson cranes would've worked perfectly well as a standalone.

overall, this is still a fast-paced, compulsively readable book with a nice writing style and if you really really love the characters, i think you'll like it (most of the early reviews are positive so i might be in the minority).

thank you to netgalley for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Zoe (Marauders version)

Rating: really liked it
Hareem if you see this look away immediately
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I'm not even halfway through this book but i am already disappointed by my most anticipated read of the year.

Elizabeth got rid of my favourite character and the entire reason I was reading this book, I literally could not care about anything else but him. But hes gone, and hes not coming back.

I don't know if i will ever actually finish this book because i could not care less about fucking Takken i am team Seyru for life.

I still love book one so much, I think you should all read that book and ignore that this book exists, except if you actually like Takken but hey whatever floats your boat.



i'm not mad, just disappointed

Alina Vale

Rating: really liked it
Edit: bawling my eyes out





I will even read Elizabeth Lim’s grocery list as long as she’s the one writing it. Yet again, being one of the first people adding it makes me super happy. Also, the fact that the title is THE DRAGON’S PROMISE doesn’t help my in-love-with-Seryu heart.

Lyn

Rating: really liked it
The Dragon's Promise could be written by anyone obsessed with the 💫Asians💫 without actually having any knowledge about Asia outside stereotypes. I liked the plot in Six Crimson Cranes enough to not throw a book with a full cast with Obiwan Kenobi-like names out of the window and to give TDP a try. But it gets worse and I dare to say that Lim doesn't have any knowledge about the Japanese language and culture (have you watched her pronunciation guide of the names?) or have sensitivity readers who actually speak Japanese.

A) The main character, Shiori, said literally in the book that her her name 'literally means a knot'. But IT DOESN'T and I felt embarrassed for the author. (imagine getting the important symbolist *big reveal time* of your book wrong.. )
Shiori is one of the few actual Japanese name and still Lim managed to get the meaning wrong. Shiori is a Japanese word that means bookmarks, but in girl names it can mean MANY different things depending on the kanji chosen to make up the name. One of the possible kanji that can be chosen for the name Shiori means 'thread'. But that's a long stretch to mean a knot.
The word thread is used 69x the the book and the word knot 28x... (no not in an omegaverse way💀). The name explanation part, while symbolically meant, was unnecessary and inaccurate.
B) I complained about the abundance of Obiwan like names in SCC but at least they don't immediately give me bad associations (*just* orientalist vibes). In TDP there's a respectable, mysterious shaman named oshri.
Oshiri means ass in Japanese.
If it's not Lim's intention to make him juicy (which I seriously doubt), then it's another moment as embarrassing as finding typos on the title of a published book.

C) Minor characters with Korean names and vaguely Chinese names..what are they doing here?? Is this what the Japanese dreamed about when they invaded China and Korea? Is it the well-known Great East Asia Co Prosperity Sphere?

I find it hugely problematic that a book blurred the lines between various Asian folklores.
The book used MANY uniquely Chinese elements: smaller elements like the peach of immortality, the way the time pass in the immortal realm and the mortal realm, the elixir of immortality, but also bigger, more problematic ones. The world-building is a mess (but still Chinese.. and def NOT Japanese).

The Four Seas - It's a Chinese concept (like Seven Seas to other cultures). Metaphorically there are four oceans that make up the boundary of ancient China. There's one dragon king residing in one sea. Just like in TDP.

The dragons- while the dragons can be found in Korean and Japanese folklore, they are not as fundamental to Chinese people, who literally call themselves 'descendent of the Dragons' (Jackie Chan's Chinese name literally means Become a Dragon..). Most Japanese dragons have Chinese loanwords as names. But in TDP, they have names like Nahma, Solzaya. Another choice I don't understand.

So to summarise, everything in this book points to the direction that the world-building of this book is mainly inspired by the Dragon King of the Four Seas, and not the Japanese dragon counterpart.


But there are zero Chinese names in the book.

I've seen people praising it as an ownvoice story and I STRONGLY disagree. It's a Chinese American author viewing East Asia through a western gaze, generalising East Asian countries, giving all characters Japanese names while the story is mainly Chinese. It's just a book that uses Asian aesthetics to stand out in the publishing industry. East Asia is really diverse and very East Asian culture is unique, but that's not what I feel from this book and it's definitely not the rep I want to see.

Ayesha the Great (Happier Than Ever)

Rating: really liked it
if there's a love triangle, I will wring Eros' goddamn neck

Please, I ship Shiori and Takkan way too much

UPDATE: THE UK COVER IS HERE BITCHES! LOOK AT HOW STUNNING IT IS!

☾

Rating: really liked it
this account is PRO SERYU. i repeat- this account is PRO SERYU.

-
3.8 for the whole duology. actually, maybe 4.0. mmmmm yeah, 4.0 final decision. overall enjoyable!

angie

Rating: really liked it
Okay. I think I'd give this book 3.75 stars. After the somewhat disappointing follow-up to Spin the Dawn, I was worried that Elizabeth Lim would leave an unsatisfactory sequel to her second duology.

I think Lim is still finding her footing on how to finish a duology, but The Dragon's Promise was definitely better! I think the first 30% of the book was amazing & so interesting. But then the story lulls a bit.

Outside of that, all of my praise for the first book still stands. The world is magical, the writing is eloquent, Shiori is still an amazing main character. Overall, a pretty good end to this duology. I can't wait to see what Elizabeth Lim comes up with next! I'm so proud to see her books grow in popularity & for her to get the recognition she deserves :)





(Past review, before reading)
*sits in the corner, waiting for July 2022*

The title of book 2 seems to be The Dragon's Promise :)

-edit: the paperback of unravel the dusk says "The Dragon's Pearl" 😳

-edit 2: the book's been delayed a few months 😭

Diann Aguasviva

Rating: really liked it
I'm hoping we get to see more of shori x seyru. I know people don't want love triangles but I genuinely enjoyed their relationship and I did not nearly get swept away as much with Takkan. He is a sweet guy though, I just prefer Seyru.