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guessgreenleaf's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Grief, and Violence
fragrant_stars's review
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I loved this book! Not a much as the first, but I still loved it nonetheless. I love that we got to learn more about Shiori's stepmother and her background. I already have Her Radiant Curse open on my kindle ready to be read.
I think my favourite thing was the relationship in this book. The romance between Shiori and Takkan was so beautiful- Such a breath of fresh air that there was no silly relationship drama between them! I wish we had more Seryu stuff, too. Romantic relations aside I love how all the characters interact with each other.
I think my favourite thing was the relationship in this book. The romance between Shiori and Takkan was so beautiful- Such a breath of fresh air that there was no silly relationship drama between them! I wish we had more Seryu stuff, too. Romantic relations aside I love how all the characters interact with each other.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death, Violence, Confinement, and Blood
Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Pregnancy and War
itsnotalakeitsanocean's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Huge disclaimer that I came into this book not realising it was the second book in a duology (or should it be a trilogy considering one of the deceased characters in this book is getting a prequel apparently?) so unlike a lot of the other reviewers who viewed this as a sequel, my review is based on the book as a standalone.
This book... was a mess quite frankly. It felt more like a mishmash of ideas strung together than a coherently though out plot, causing some truly atrocious pacing. Sometimes it felt like the plot was geared to go in one direction but then it would gently shy away and go in another. As a result certain parts lingered on for much longer than they should have - causing me to skim a lot - and action scenes felt too fast paced.
And the title? The title only applies to about 10% of the actual book. A better title would be The Forgotten Realms, seeing how it was more about the spaces different inhabitants resided in outside of Kiata. As someone who picked it up expecting dragons to be a huge focus I am sorely disappointed. I'm sure Seiryu featured a lot more in the previous book so I'm willing to give some benefit of the doubt, but he feels like a wasted character in this book.
As does Gen. Gen feels like his role was almost cut entirely from the plot save for him and Shiori escaping the dragon palace, and that cutting him out completely meant Shiori wouldn't be able to escape.
Speaking of Shiori, I have mixed feelings on her. On a subjective note, I'm not a fan of her personality. Subjectively, I think her personality could have worked IF there were more consequences to her actions. So many times she gets off with the narrative equivalent of a slap on the wrist and things go her way far too easily. Not entirely - especially towards the end - but there's no tension when you just know everything is going to go her way and the only other consequences happen to other characters. Who are just kind of there. Even her fiancé doesn't give a damn that shehad some very mild romantic tension with a dragon and called off and ran away from their wedding AGAIN.
This is especially true in the ending where Shiori manages to cheat her way out of death thanks to her having the Moon Goddess' favour. Arguably I might be missing some context from the first book, but I physically scowled and rolled my eyes at this literal deus ex machina. Doubly so that we don't get to see what happens in the Moon Kingdom/Realm/Whatever. Because goddess forbid our heroine have any consequences to her actions.
This book... was a mess quite frankly. It felt more like a mishmash of ideas strung together than a coherently though out plot, causing some truly atrocious pacing. Sometimes it felt like the plot was geared to go in one direction but then it would gently shy away and go in another. As a result certain parts lingered on for much longer than they should have - causing me to skim a lot - and action scenes felt too fast paced.
And the title? The title only applies to about 10% of the actual book. A better title would be The Forgotten Realms, seeing how it was more about the spaces different inhabitants resided in outside of Kiata. As someone who picked it up expecting dragons to be a huge focus I am sorely disappointed. I'm sure Seiryu featured a lot more in the previous book so I'm willing to give some benefit of the doubt, but he feels like a wasted character in this book.
As does Gen. Gen feels like his role was almost cut entirely from the plot save for him and Shiori escaping the dragon palace, and that cutting him out completely meant Shiori wouldn't be able to escape.
Speaking of Shiori, I have mixed feelings on her. On a subjective note, I'm not a fan of her personality. Subjectively, I think her personality could have worked IF there were more consequences to her actions. So many times she gets off with the narrative equivalent of a slap on the wrist and things go her way far too easily. Not entirely - especially towards the end - but there's no tension when you just know everything is going to go her way and the only other consequences happen to other characters. Who are just kind of there. Even her fiancé doesn't give a damn that she
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, War, and Confinement
Minor: Pregnancy and Death of parent
gardens_and_dragons's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, and Violence
pixellatxd's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Torture, and Violence
yaoipaddle's review
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I preferred the first book. I felt like the pacing was not as well done as the first book. Too much time was taken up by Shiori pining over her boyfriend or rehashing the same things she has done in the last book. The few new and interesting settings or concepts were far too brief.
I'm just a little tired of Shiori being head over heels for Takkan when he does not show himself to be outstandingly amazing in this book more than other characters. I do appreciate that there is no Twilight/Hunger Games level pandering over who has Shiori's love though.
The further exploration into Shiori's feelings over her stepmother are sweet and some of my favorite parts of the latter part of the book. I like how towards the end Shiori showed a lot of maturity and the theme of "what is 'home'" really came around neatly. So for general themes and concepts I felt a nice closure.
As for the actual nitty gritty details and actions...
The ending felt rushed and parts of it were poorly explained to the point where I had to stop reading and try to piece it together myself before continuing.
I would say this is an OK end to the series but could have been better. Feel free to pass on it and make up your own ending tbh.
I'm just a little tired of Shiori being head over heels for Takkan when he does not show himself to be outstandingly amazing in this book more than other characters. I do appreciate that there is no Twilight/Hunger Games level pandering over who has Shiori's love though.
The further exploration into Shiori's feelings over her stepmother are sweet and some of my favorite parts of the latter part of the book. I like how towards the end Shiori showed a lot of maturity and the theme of "what is 'home'" really came around neatly. So for general themes and concepts I felt a nice closure.
As for the actual nitty gritty details and actions...
The ending felt rushed and parts of it were poorly explained to the point where I had to stop reading and try to piece it together myself before continuing.
I would say this is an OK end to the series but could have been better. Feel free to pass on it and make up your own ending tbh.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Death
Minor: Alcohol
azrah786's review
4.25
**I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
CW: violence, blood, death, murder, confinement, torture, grief, injury, self harm
--
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
CW: violence, blood, death, murder, confinement, torture, grief, injury, self harm
--
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Blood, Violence, Death, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Torture, and Self harm
chrisljm's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
i cried until i couldnt breathe
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Confinement, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Self harm and Grief
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