A review by lexiscee
Descendant of the Crane by Joan He

3.0

I really enjoyed the layers of politics and history in this book. Joan He created a very complicated world where soothsayers are persecuted, where a group of people called the Eleven overthrew the government 300 years ago and created a set of Tenants to guide the kingdom. I also appreciated how the author blurred the lines between hero and villian in the story, even if it made the ending confusing.

The world had me interested from the start, and can we talk about how gorgeous the cover is?

So why did I think about DNFing this book halfway through?

The characters and the pacing. Hesina's character often confused me. It didn't seem like she had a good foundation to rule the kingdom. Whenever she made a decision, I found myself thinking, "But...how did she come to that decision?" Her opinions seemed to sway too much.

I didn't find myself really caring about any of the characters. They all seemed a little one-dimensional. They all seemed to have one major characteristic and that was it.

I guessed the main reveals of the first half of the book early on. But I did not see the plot twists of the second half coming, so I was pleasantly surprised by those.

However, a ton of information was revealed around page 300. I waited 300 pages in for a ton of critical information, and some of it seemed to come too late. Near the beginning of the book, there was a reference to a reason why Hesina and Sanjing had tension between them that was only referenced as "the lake." But then this wasn't revealed for another couple hundred pages! There was also a kind of weird romance between Hesina and Akira that was referenced way too early on. And when they first kissed, I missed it and had to re-read it because it was written weirdly.

Overall, I think the worldbuilding was great, but I just didn't find myself caring about the characters enough.